D

Deposited by the
Linonian and Brothers Library

1908

CATHAEINE OF ARAGON
9 AND THE SOURCES OF
THE ENGLISH REFORMATION.
VOL. L

CATHARHE OF AKAGON

AND THE SOURCES OF

THE ENGLISH REFORMATION

ALBERT DU BOYS

EDITED FEOM THE FRENCH, WITH NOTES

CHARLOTTE M. YONGE
AUTHOR OF
"THE HEIR OP REDCLTFFE,"
&c., &c.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL, L

LONDON:
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1881.
All rt(ifiis reserved.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

ITONSIEUR DU BOYS looks at the history of
-'-'-¦- Henry VIII. from a different point of view from
that of an Anglican, and there are many of his con
clusions to which we cannot assent. Nevertheless, it
has been thought well to translate his book, as an
ably drawn-up compendium of the documents re
lating to the dissolution of the marriage of Catharine
of Aragon. The documents cited therein have been
taken direct from the original (when English), not
re-translated from the author's rendering, which is
not always perfectly exact. Sundry incidental
errors have also been corrected, such as are always
apt to be found when great attention has been paid
to a single period without proportionate pains being
taken with general history.
M. du Boys cannot be expected to realise that

vi editor's preface.
though Clement VII. was quite right in the indi
vidual case of Henry and Catharine, since all evi
dence went to prove that the marriage with Arthur
had been only nominal, yet he was bearing the pen
alty of the laxity of former popes in tampering with
holy wedlock.
The theory was a just one that an impediment
according to the Scriptural law could never be set
aside ; but that one which had been decreed by the
Church (such as cousinship, former betrothal, or
sponsorship), the Church, in cases where it was
thought expedient, had power to remit by dispen
sation. In point of fact,, in order to gratify kings
or serve their policy, the Divine law had been disre
garded in some of these dispensations, and the most
futile pretexts had been allowed for the dismissal of
a wife. On the one hand, Catharine's own sister
Mary was the reigning wife of the undoubted hus
band of her deceased sister, Isabella, and in the next
generation, Philip II. actually took his own niece as
his fourth wife ; while, on the other, the history of
Spain alone is full of cruel and unmerited divorces ;
and Henry VIII.'s own contemporary, Louis XIL,
had been permitted to discard the unfortunate Joan
of France with far less shadow of excuse than Henry

EDITOR S PREFACE. vii
could show for putting away Catharine. She was
childless, and Anne of Brittany was a duchess in her
own right, — that was all. Moreover, being an orphan
French Princess, she had no one to take her part
but the poor, who shouted, after hearing the bull
annulling the marriage, " There go Caiaphas, Annas,
and Herodias, who have condemned our holy
queen !"
Surely this may account for the belief entertained
by Henry, Wolsey, and Gardiner that the difficulty
lay, not in the conscientious scruples of Clement, but
in the strength and power of Charles V. We need
not ask whether, if the wife had been obscure and
friendless, the bull would not have been granted as a
trifle in which the pope was ready to oblige his
Majesty. Henry and his statesmen evidently expected that
so it would be, and were angered at the resistance.
Wolsey acted out of policy, thinking Anne Boleyn
too obscure to be the object of a lasting passion, and
hoping for a useful foreign connd^ction. Gardiner
appears to have been actuated by the strong desire
to do his utmost as an agent. It is curious to look
at that reraarkable scene when he threatened the
pope with the secession of England in connection

viu EDITOR S PREFACE.
with his conduct when reproached by Queen Mary'®
victims. Then he confessed his error ; and on bis
death-bed he declared that he had sinned like Peter,.
and hoped that he was repenting like Peter.
That the rupture with the Roman Church was by
no raeans the Reformation in England, M. du Boys
does not understand, nor does he see that Wolsey
and Warham had already been meditating an in
quiry into the state of the monasteries. Still less
does he acknowledge that the Council of the Church
was as honestly desired by Henry as by Charles V.,
and that it was staved off by the Italian cardinals
because of their corruptions, and by Clement VII. on
account of his own illegitimate birth, Francis L
assisting them out of hatred to the eraperor.
The truth was that, but for the violence of Henry
in breaking with the Continental Church, the English
clergy would have been present at the Council of
Trent, and added weight to the reforming party, as
they had done at Constance, so that a really effici
ent reform might have taken place. The persons
who had become imbued with the doctrines of
Luther and of other reformers naturally rejoiced in
the separation from Rorae ; but, as long as Henry
lived, they found that this by no means meant

EDITOR S PREFACE. IX
toleration of any teaching save that of the Roman
Communion. No changes either of doctrine or ritual
(except the use of vernacular Lessons and litany)
were made until the ensuing reign. The destruction
of fraudulent relics and of the monasteries (though
shocking to a devout Roman Catholic) was not
connected with any church doctrine. Erasmus and
More had been as much shocked by the absurd ex
hibition at Canterbury as the staunchest Protestant
could be.
M. du Boys has thus written the history of the
causes of the English separation, but he has not
written the history of the Reformation of the English
Church. This was indeed rendered possible by the
breach with Rome ; but it had not yet begun when
he closes his history with the retribution upon Anne
Boleyn. He has shown how, whatever was the
effect on England, her fascination was utterly fatal
to the once noble, generous, and pious nature of
Henry VIII.
C. M. YONGE.

DEDICATION.

Mt Lord,
Your Eminence having vouchsafed your
permission allowing me to dedicate to you my work on
Catharine of Aragon, this book has the peculiar good for
tune to appear under the auspices of the famous name of
Cardinal Newman.
On a late solemn occasion, Your Eminence made a
strong protest against the pretended equaUty of all forms of
Christianity in the sight of God, as well as the most various
demonstrations of the religious sentiment. But, on the
other hand, you allowed that in the state of modern society,
especially that of England, a government cannot exact in
formation as to his belief or form of worship from every
individual hefore granting him the rights of citizenship.
Such political neutrality has become a necessity of the
period. At the same time, you stated that persuasion is the only
means that can be employed for the restoration of unity in
a divided country, and thereupon quoted the words of
Scripture, Mansueti hmreditahunt terram.

xu DEDICATION.
The English Church was established by an exactly
contrary process. Violence was used by its founder, not
for the preservation of unity, but for its destruction. I
have collected sonie fresh information conceming the melan
choly origin of that Church. The schism that gave it hirth
was thrust upon the nation by government with the exer
cise of violence almost unexampled in our modern times.
No one has more ably shown than Your Eminence how
the divine direction in Anglicanism has gradually given
place to a kind of purely civil constitution.
In the attempt to cast a Uttle more Ught on the sources
of this work of darkness, I shall endeavour to give the
present generation grounds for estimating the value of this
Caesarian reUgion, only propagated by treading under foot
the most noble and lofty souls of England, and by punishing
as crimes of high treason the most lawful resistance of con
science, the inviolable sanctuary that no human hand should
violate. I beUeved that I should act in accordance with the
views of Your Eminence by giving prominence to the hero
ism of some of the martyrs who then adorned the CathoUc
faith in England. I am, with respect.
Your Eminence's most obedient servant,
ALBEET DU BOYS,
Late Magistrate.
La Combe, July 25, 1879.

REPLY

HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL NEWMAN.

The Oratory, July 28, 1879.
Sir, I thank you for the compliment you pay me in
proposing to dedicate- to me your work on Catharine of
Aragon. Certainly, as you say, the Anglican Church became the
established reUgion by the application of tyrannical force.
I trust that now there are very few of its members who
wish to use such means of upholding it, or would profess
or act upon tbe principles of Caesarism.
I am, sir.
Your faithful servant in X°
JOHN St. card. NEWMAN.

PREFACE.

HISTORY would be unworthy of its mission if it
confined itself to recording the results of great
occurrences without informing us of the concealed
springs that set them in motion, or giving us its
stern teaching respecting the morals of the men who
took part in them.
The men of the present century are more than
ever anxious to obtain the instructive and character
istic particulars which cast so great a light on the
weaknesses and passions of man. We are therefore,
so to speak, more on the watch for any fresh infor
mation exhumed from the dust of our own archives,
or from those of neighbouring countries, and the
attention of the more intelligent public is sure to
be attracted if such information be placed within its
grasp. We have thought it desirable to gratify this con
temporary inclination by writing the life of Catharine

xvi PREFACE.
of Aragon from docuraents previously unpublished,
and lately brought out in England, bearing on the
reigns of Henry VIL and Henry VIIL
The life of Catharine of Aragon reaches back to
the commencement of the glorious reigns of Ferdi
nand and Isabella. The second portion of Catharine's
career was implicated in all the disturbances of the
sixteenth century, in the rivalry of Francis I. and
Charles V., in the vicissitudes of the papacy, and in
the greatest event of modern times, namely, what is
called the Reforraation, and which was, in fact, the
rending of the searaless vesture.
_InJSn.gla-Bd aohiara-hadvJi.£eculiar origin. Itowed
its birth to an irapure passion of King Henry VIII. ;
for the satisfac tionofJJiat-paaaiQB_hie_chose_toJbreak_
the indissolublebonds that united hira to the noble
'~liaxtght:er-x!f~th"S""gfeal Queen Isabella of Castille,
aunt of the Emperor Charles V., and to bid defiance""
to the thunders of_the Vatican.
The history of this suit of nullity of marriage, or
of divorce, perhaps the most memorable of the kind
that has ever been argued in the world, has received
new and unexpected revelations from the documents
that have just been made public. Therein may be
seen the weaving of unheard-of plots against an un
happy princess who at one time seemed entirely
deserted, and who was even invited to go to Rome,
and to give up her own cause. Her haughty and
noble bearing during the progress, and especially at

PREFACE. xvu
the end of the suit was already attested by history.
When still better known it will excite admiration of
her individual self. On another side we shall show
how consistently Charles V. was . able to maintain
the honour of his nation, his blood, and his race,
without exclusive regard to politics. Lastly, it will
be seen bow the sovereign pontiff had to resist the
-detestable pressure of the agents of Henry VIII. ; and
Orvieto in some respects may remind us of Anagni.*
Glement VII. in his turn saved the honour of the
papacy, possibly with less firraness than Boniface
VIIL, but with less obstinacy. At last, amid the
members of his consistory on whom the acts of cor
ruption had been vainly tried, he pronounced in
favour of the indissolubility of the marriage tie, one
of those decrees that re-echo loudly throughout
history. Henry VIII. replied to the sentence of the Church j
by separating his kingdom frora the Church ; and
this was the miserable origin of the still existing
schism. n.
Some historical notes appear to us to be requisite
before actually entering upon the life of Catharine of
Aragon. The interest of the life of that princess turns upon
her two marriages, the histories of which are closely
* The scene of the contention between Boniface VIII. and
PhiUp the Fair. (Ed.)
vol, i. i

XVIU PREFACE.
connected together; for the second was only im
pugned, and, in fact, was only made liable to attack,
by the fact of the first having taken place.
Besides, the manners and politics of the time must
be considered. Royal marriages were then affairs of
state far more than family raatters. In some coun
tries, where the sovereigns were able rulers, they
became methods of {Aggrandisement more secure and
less sanguinary than conquests byforce of arcos^
The' Austrian motto raay be remembered :
Tu feUx, Austria, nube !
They were also considered firm, nay, almost indis
soluble, pledges of alliance between dynasties.
The marriage of Catharine of Ara'gSB'^^Titli Arthur,
Prince of Wales, was preceded by very important
negotiations. It may be said to have had more dis
tinctly a political bearing than most of the princely
marriages contracted about the same time.
Catharine of Aragon's second marriage was the
occasion of events still more strange than arose
from the first, and of complications, we might even
say intrigues, of mucb greater variety.
Thus, between Ferdinand of Aragon on one side,
and Henry VIL, King of England, on the other,
diploraacy, properly so called, had a very consider
able part to play.
In the collections before alluded to have been
gathered all the despatches and letters of the sove-

PREFACE. xix
reigns of each country, and their ambassadors, re
lating to these diplomatic and matrimonial negotia
tions. These various documents had hitherto been
unpublished.* Laying stress chiefly upon these new documents,
we have thought it needful to study and explain, in
an introduction of no great length, the characters of
three great historical personages, Henry VII. of
England, Ferdinand of Aragon, and Isabella of Cas
tille. Indeed it was they who gave the first impulse
* The first of these collections is entitled " Calendars of letters, des
patches, and state papers relating to the negotiations between England
and Spain, preserved in the archives at Simancas and elsewhere," five
vols., royal Svo. We say five volumes by including a supplement to
vol. ii. " London, Longman & Co." The secoud has for title " Letters
and papers, foreign and domestic, of the reign of Heury VIII., pre
served in the public record office, the British Museum, aud elsewhere
in England, arranged by J. S. Brewer, M.A. London, Longman & Go.
Four volumes Svo. have appeared, and these publications will be con
tinued. The learned Bergenroth pubhshed the three first volumes of
the former of these collections, including the supplement, having spent
two years at Simancas inspecting the archives ; he there contracted an
incurable fever, and shortly afterwards died of it at Madrid. The
Spanish savant, Gayangos, edited the third and fourth volumes of this
collection. As to the secondj three volumes of documents, abridged, set
in order, and catalogued, were first publiahed by Longman. In 1875
there appeared a fourth volume, with a long and learned introduction
by Professor Brewer, editor of this coUection. This writer has given
proof of much sagacity, aud eveu impartiality, in the review of the
documents he edited. He is a distinguished member of the EngUsh
High Church. We have also placed nnder contribution a third calen
dar, that of Rawdon Brown, who has given us the despatches and re
ports of the Venetian agents from the commencement of the reigu of
Henry VIH. to his condemnation by the Court of Rome. Lastly, we
have made use to the utmost of our power of the manuscript of Arch
deacon Harpsfield, lately published by the Camden Society, an edition
of only two hundred copies.

XX PREFACE.
to this profoundly tragical drama by devising the
idea of these two raarriages, the first of them so
short in duration, the second so fruitful of various
events. We are therefore about to trace a sketch of
the portrait of the first of the Tudors, Henry VIL,
and the two Catholic sovereigns who accomplished
the union of the whole Spanish peninsula under one
sceptre.

CONTENTS

OF

THE FIRST VOLUME.

Historical Introduction

PART I, — The Two Marriages and Coronation of
Catharine of Aragon,
CHAPTER I,
Birth of Catharine of Aragon — Her Childhood spent in Camps
and the Palace of the Alhambra, Grenada — Negotiations for
the Marriage between Catharine of Aragon and the Pruice
of Wales — ^Isabella's Letter — Latin Correspondence between
Arthitt and Catharine  33
CHAPTER II,
Catharine's Arrival at Plymouth — Her Warm Welcome — Difficul
ties of Spanish Etiquette removed by the Authority of Henry
VII, — Renewal, of the Promise of Betrothal — Baynard Castle
and the Alhambra — Catharine's Mairiage celebrated at St,
Paul's, London — Tom^nament and Symbolical Representa
tions — Stage Appearance of Alphonso the Wise — Arthur and
his Com:t at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire — His Death — What
was the Cause of it? — His Monument at Worcester — Cruel
Situation of the Young Widow  49

xxu CONTENTS.
CHAPTER in.
Grief of Queen Elizabeth, Catharine's Mother-in-law— IsabeUa
Wishes to recaU her Daughter to Spain— Ferdinand desires
to Marry her again in England to the new Prince of Wales
— ^The Young Prinoess at flrst appears not to favour this
Union — Henry VIL proposes to marry her Himself — Indig
nant Eeply of Isabella— Renewal of Negotiations— Treaty of
Marriage arranged between Catharine and her Brother-in-
law, Henry, Prince of Wales— The Pope's BuU— The Be
trothal— Death of IsabeUa of CastiUe— Pecuniary WrangUngs
between Ferdinand and Henry VII. — Catharine is held by
the Latter as a Living Pledge— Protest of the Prince of
Wales against his Betrothal to Catharine — Henry VII. wishes
to Marry the Queen-Dowager of Naples — Remarkable Nego
tiations on this Matter  59
CHAPTER IV.
Opposition of a Divine to the Betrothal of Henry, Prince of
Wales, and Catharine — Henry VII. seems to have Serious
Thoughts of a Marriage with the Queen-Dowager of Naples
— Remarkable Negotiations entered upon Through the Me
dium of Catharine — Matrimonial Catechism — ^The Queen de
clares that she will not marry again — Destitution of Catharine
— Doria Juana and the Archduke Joseph in England — Henry
VII.'s Exercise of Constraint to keep them in England — He
does not aUow Freedom of Communication between Catha
rine and Juana — The Archduke's Departure — Urgent Letter
from Catharine to her Father, Ferdinand — Cathariae's Suf
ferings — Troubles connected with Royal Marriages . 79
CHAPTER V.
Why does not Ferdinand pay Catharine's Marriage Portion ? —
Puebla himself comes at last to pity this Princess — ^Death of
the Archduke Phihp the Fair — Hemy VII. asks the Widow
Juana in Marriage — Ferdinand makes Delays, but gives
Hopes — Henry VII. is satisfied, and treats Catharine better
— She serves him as a go-between in his Matrimonial Nego
tiations — Under Henry's Influence, she writes a very Strong
Letter in favour of this Marriage — Subtlety and Uttle Dis-

CONTENTS. xxiii
simulations of the Princess required by the Necessities of her
Position— The Treaty of Marriage between Henry VH. and
Juana absolutely comes to an End — This Check makes Ca
tharine's Wretched Condition stiU worse — Ferdinand's Great
Anger with Henry VH., for he neither vriU marry her to the
Prince of Wales, nor let her go back to Spain — ^Ferdinand is
on the point of declaring War against England, when he
hears of the Death of Henry vn  lOa
CHAPTER VI.
Clerical Education of Henry VIII. — A Stop to aU Misunder
standing between Ferdinand and England — The New King's
CouncU recognize the VaUdity of the BuU of Dispensation of
Pope JuUus II. — Marriage and Coronation of the Queen —
Popularity of Henry VTH. — Restrictive Explanations given
by Henry of his Coronation Oath — Affectionate Correspond
ence of Henry and Ferdinand — Dexterity and Diplomatic
Artifices of Ferdinand — Henry VIII. goes to Fight in France
— Catharine Regent — The Victory of Flodden — Coolness be
tween Henry and Ferdinand — ^Marriage of Henry's Sister to
Louis XII. — Presents of Ferdinand to Henry, and Recon
ciliation of the Two Bangs — Charles V.'s Voyage to England
— ^Work of Henry VIII. against Luther — He Receives the
Title of Defender of the Faith— Portrait of Henry VHI., by
a Venetian Ambassador  125

PART II. — ^Divorce of Henrt VHI. and Catharine of
Aragon, Sufferings and Death of that Princess.
CHAPTER I.
How was the First Idea of the Divorce coi^eived by Henry
vm. ? — Fears of Fresh Civil Wars, if the King had no heir,
by the Lords and Grandees of the Realm — CooUng of King
Henry VIII.'s Affection for the Queen after Fifteen or Six
teen Years of Marriage and United Life — Excuses given for
Henry VIII.'s Conduct by his Apologists — Falseness of these
Excuses — Tardy Scruples of Henry VIH. — Theology and
PoUcy furnish him with Pretexts after the Deed . . 156

XXIV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER n.
Was Henry VIII.'s Conduct Exemplary during the Fu'st Years
of his Marriage ?— Did the Real Piety that he professed pre
serve him from aU Moral FaUings? — What is to be thought
of the Business of Compton, lately made pubUc in the Dip
lomatic Correspondence of Louis Carroz? — Was not this
Strange and Mysterious Adventure the real Origin of Henry
Vm.'s Hatred for Buckingham ? — The King's Connection
with EUzabeth Blount — Recognition of his Natural Son the
Duke of Richmond — Honours heaped upon the Young Duke
even before he was out of his Childhood . . . 163
CHAPTER IIL
Henry VIH.'s Love-affair with EUzabeth Blount — Almost Royal
Homage paid to her Son, the Young Duke of Eichmond —
Increasing Coolness of the King to Catharine . . 173
CHAPTER IV.
Picture of the Court of England by Erasmus during the Youth
of Henry VIH.— Origin and Social Position of the Boleyns
— Their MoraUty and that of their Society — Anne Boleyn at
the Court of France— Her Sister Mary Mistress of Henry
Vin. — Anne recaUed to England— Her Portrait — Her Suc
cess at Henry's Court — Plots contrived against Catharine by
Anne Boleyn and her Family  I79
CHAPTER V.
Wolsey and Longlands were the Originators of the King's Doubts
and Scruples as to the Validity of his Marriage— Judicial
Farce contrived between Wolsey and Henry VTTT concerning
the Pretended NulUty of Marriage with Catharine of Aragon
—This Farce remains a Secret and without Result  Capture
and Sack of Eome by the Imperial Army — Henry VHL and
Francis I. try to renew and strengthen their AUiance against
the Emperor— The first Notion of Divorce falsely attributed
to the Bishop of Tarbes— Matrimonial and other Negotiations
between France and England— Proposed Marriage of the
Princess Mary to Francis I., or his Second Son, the Duke of
Orleans — Difficulties are raised in the Clauses of the Treaty

CONTENTS. xxv
between Wolsey and the French Ambassador — Conclusions
of the Treaty — Solemn Reception and Festivities at Green
wich Palace  . 195
CHAPTER VL
Perfidious plans of Cranmer — Catharine claims her Defence —
Arrival in London of Mendoza, the Spanish Ambassador —
He is long prevented from seeing the Queen in private —
Wolsey goes to France — Mendoza takes advantage of it to
communicate more easUy with Catharine — Unpopularity of
Wolsey, Popularity of the Queen — Catharine's Letter to
Charles V. — ^Mendoza discovers and announces the prepara
tions for the Divorce Suit — Consultation of Divines and
their Evasive Answer — Cruel Conversation of the King with
Catharine — Mendoza informs the Emperor of this Domestic
Scene — Charles V. takes his Aunt's Side with Henry VIIL,
and at the same time uses influence with the Pope in her
favour — Insidious Advice of Gardiner to Mendoza — Affec
tionate Letter of Charles V. to his aunt — Catharine endea
vours to prepare her defence  214
CHAPTER vn.
Cardinal Wolsey's Double Mission — His Splendid Train — His
Meeting vrith Archbishop Warham, and afterwards Fisher,
Bishop of Rochester — He works for the Divorce and against
Catharine — Wolsey's Prayer at the tomb of Saint Thomas
of Canterbury — Expedients proposed in his Correspondence
with Henry VHL — Wolsey in France — Charles V. seems to
treat him gently — Wolsey at the Court of Francis I. — ^The
Hand of the Princess Mary is promised to the Duke of Or
leans — The other Clauses of the Treaty of AlUance are also
settled and signed — Wolsey at last opens the Question of
Divorce — But Queen Louise of Savoy vriU not leave him any
Hopes of the Eventual Marriage of a Daughter of France
with Henry Vni  238
CHAPTER Vin.
Wolsey in England — Henry VlU.'s Theological Treatise against
the vaUdity of Ms marriage — Clement VII. a Prisoner in the
Castle of Saint Angelo — Henry sends him his secretary.

XXVI CONTENTS.
Knight, who faUs in his Mission — Wolsey resumes the con
duct of the business, and gives Instructions and a fresh
Commission to Casale living in Italy, and then to Fox and
Gardiner ; they go from England, and find the Pope escaped
from the Castle of Saint Angelo and gone to Orvieto —
Destitution and Isolation of Clement VH. — Curious Letter
given by Wolsey to Fox and Gardiuer — Violent scene be
tween Gardiner and the Pope — He obtains the Conditional
Dispensation he had requested, but the terms of the Commis
sion are reviewed, and do not give an absolute power without
appeal to two Legates sent to determine the matter of the
Divorce — Cardinal Campeggio, as Legate and Member of the
Commission or Ecclesiastical Court, is united to Wolsey —
Wolsey protests before Fox that he wUl judge conscientiously
whatever may happen  253
CHAPTER IX.
The Two Kings' Defiance, and the Emperor's Reply — ^PoUcy and
Attitude of Wolsey before the Arrival of Cardinal Campeg
gio — The Appointment of the Abbess of WUton — ^Discontent
of Henty VIH., and his Correspondence with Wolsey on this
Business — The Sweating Sickness — Henry's Momentary Re
turn to Catharine — His Letters to Anne Boleyn, and hers to
Wolsey  287

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

SECTION I.— HENRY VIL, KING OF ENGLAND.
RICHARD IIL thought he had secured his own
triumph by the murder of his nephews, after
the entire destruction of the direct line of the House
of Lancaster.
But the partisans of the red rose derived fresh
strength from the very hatred excited by the base
and cruel king ; they were determined to find a fresh
representative of Lancaster to become their chief and
avenger. They succeeded ; the required person was
found in the Earl of Richmond, the descendant of a
bastard of this House of Lancaster, whose legitimate
line seemed to have been exhausted by the intermin
able civil wars.* He was recalled from exile in
* In virtue of letters patent of Richard IL, confirmed by Par
Uament, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, had caused his
natm-al children to be legitimated, but in their case there was
added -to the deed a clause of exclusion from aU claims to the
throne of England,
VOL. I. B

2 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
France, that he might undertake the conquest of
the throne of England.
Thus, in the eyes of the enemies of the House of
York, the Earl of Richraond was only a king for
expediency's sake ; but such as he was, he succeeded
in gaining the victory of Bosworth over Richard IH.
Thus at first the Lancastrian clairaant had the judg
ment of God on his side, and soon afterwards the
Parliaraent recognised him as legitimate sovereign ;
thenceforward he entitled himself "King by the grace
of God," and caused himself to be soleranly crowned
by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Margaret, the mother of Henry VIL, was the last
survivor of the direct line of Beaufort. Her hus
band, Edmund Tudor, was the son of Owen Tudor,
a Welsh gentleman who had married Catharine of
France, widow of Henry V.
He afterwards married, according to a promise
made even before his coming to England, the Prin
cess Elizabeth, who, after the violent death of her
two brothers, was, as the daughter of Edward IV.,
the representative of the elder branch of the House
of York.
There is not rauch evidence respecting the appear
ance and physical qualities of Henry VII. It appears
that he was of middle stature, and did not enjoy
vigorous health. Foreign diplomatists, who were in
personal communication with him, said that he had a
good deal of expression and much play of counte-

HISTORIOAL INTRODUCTION. 3
nance. His long sojourn in Brittany and France had
given him great facility in the use of the French
language ; he spoke it very well to the end of his
life. It is stated that his air and manners were
those of a Frenchman rather than of an Englishman.
He wrote with equal ease in both languages.
English historians have not denied the defects of
this prince ; but they have extolled his mercy and
cleraency. Placed in history between the monster Richard
III. and the tyrant Henry VIIL, he owes rauch to
this juxtaposition. The comparison could not be
otherwise than favourable to him.
The best thing that can be said of him is that his
thirst for gold was greater than it was for blood.
He was very willing to accord a certain measure
of forgiveness to the vanquished Yorkist nobles for
their defence of the sovereign to whom they had
promised fidelity. He did not condemn them to the
fearful death of a traitor. It must be owned that
this was a kind of innovation in the long list of poli
tical reprisals in England. But these lords were con
strained to submit, and place themselves, as the
phrase ran, at the king's mercy, and this was granted
to them by a magnanimity which only seized their
property. It is true that Henry VIL was not so indulgent in
the instance of the Earl of Warwick, son of the Duke
of Clarence, and the last scion of the younger branch
B 2

4 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
of the House of York. This young prince, who
might have become a dangerous claimant, had been
confined in the Tower of London. Weary of a cap
tivity that seemed likely to be interminable, the
young prince attempted to escape. This innocent
attempt was construed into a crime of high treason.
The unhappy prince was conderaned to death.
Henry VII. signed the sentence, and the execution
took place.
The private life of this king was free from irregu
larity, but he showed little consideration, and evinced
little affection towards his queen, Elizabeth — at least,
during the early part of his married life. The Prior
of Santa Cruz says that he considers this princess as
the most noble woman of England, and that she was
condemned to the most mournful and wretched exist
ence ; only he implies that the cause of this was not
tyranny and oppression by the king himself so rauch
as by his raother, the Countess of Richmond, a
haughty and imperious person.*
King Henry had few friends among the higher
ranks of English society ; his tastes did not range so
high. He showed a real friendship for the Spanish
envoy, Doctor Puebla, who was intimate with hardly
any person in England but the king.
* She was a charitable and pious princess, a patron of letters •
but such virtues are not inconsistent with a temper hard to deal with.
Irideed, a person may be a combination of most eminent quaUties
and yet a bad mother-in-law.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 5
Henry VII. was selfish and avaricious. Like
misers and professional usurers, he buried his gold,
or hid it carefully in a chest. Nevertheless, on the
occasions of his solemn receptions, he sometimes
displayed magnificence and ostentation.
This prince showed great vigilance and real dex
terity in the defquce of his crown against constant
insurrections ; but he did not exhibit the same supe
riority in his foreign policy.
He did not love war, yet, notwithstanding all his
dexterity, he aUowed himself to be repeatedly drawn
by Ferdinand into hostilities with France, without
obtaining any advantage from them.
His especial deficiency was in generosity and
largeness of mind. He always had a smack of the
adventurer and parvenu. His captious pettiness is
betrayed in his correspondence, as well as his com
plete want of frankness and sincerity. Numerous
proofs of his political duplicity will appear in the
account of his negotiations with Spain, and of his
conduct towards Catharine of Aragon; In our opin
ion an indelible stain is attached to his memory by
his crafty and persistent harshness towards that
unhappy princess. •

SECTION IL— ISABELLA OF CASTILLE,
QUEEN OF SPAIN.
The proclamation of the claims of Isabella to the

6 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
crown of Castille, and her accession to the throne in
1474, were hailed with great joy by the Spanish
nation, who were heartily disgusted with the spec
tacle of immorality presented by King Henry IV.
and his Court.
This feeble monarch lived under the same roof as
his queen for a long time without ever suspecting
that one of his courtiers, Beltran de la Cueva, was
enjoying all the privileges of her favoured lover.
If questions of political law were dealt with ac
cording to maxims borrowed from Roman jurispru
dence, slaying the spirit of them while interpreting
them according to the letter, this matter raight be
reduced to the dimensions of a civil suit, and it
might be pleaded that Isabella was a usurper, and
that the true heiress of the crown was Dona Juana,
daughter of Henry IV.* But though this lady was
born on the steps of the throne, and was not volun-
* There is in existence a very curious memorandum concerning
the illegitimacy of the birth of this princess. It was prepared to
prove the suitability and desirabiUtypf a marriage between Charles
V. and the Princess of Portugal. Dona Juana, caUed la Beltraneja,
was then still ahve, conflned in a convent near the banks of the
Tagus. Several years before, Alphonso, King of Portugal, had
chosen to take up her cause. He was conquered, and died soon
after. But there was some black spot in the business that
stiU excited uneasiness in the minds of the CastUUans. It was
thought that a marriage would be very poUtic which would give
Charles V. or his heir aU possible claims to the inheritance of the
throne of Portugal, and hinder any claim being set up in that
country to the crown of Spain for the Beltraneja. See Calendar
of State Papers, vol. ii, pp. 396, 397. The memorandum gives
conclusive proofs of the iUegitimacy of Doila Juana.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 7
tarily disavowed by the king, it was immediately
evident that she was most decidedly rejected by
public opinion. It is well known that the nickname
of " Beltraneja " — that is to say, daughter of Beltran
de la Cueva — was instantly bestowed on her. This
was the contemporary opinion, and it was confirmed
by posterity and history.
The Spanish people were too proud to continue to
put up with royalty thus dragged through the mire.
The movement in favour of Isabella, that pure and
austere young princess, owed its origin to a reaction
of all that was honourable against all that was
corrupt, of all that was noble against all that was
vile. This impulse became so strong that Henry IV.
himself was obliged to yield to it to avoid the
danger of losing his crown and his life. The as
sembly of the nobles of Castille, meeting at Toro de
Guisan do, declared that Isabella was his heir pre
sumptive, and must be proclairaed Princess of the
Asturias. Isabella had already, with firm, wise gentleness,
repulsed the premature offer of the throne of Castille
that had been made to her. On that occasion she
had contented herself with obtaining a recognition
of her freedom and complete independence in the
choice of a husband. And, as is well known, she
profited by this permission to marry Ferdinand of
Aragon, in spite of the opposition of her brother,
Henry IV.

8 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
As long as that prince lived, she paid most
scrupulous respect to his powers and rights. But, as
soon as he was dead, she seized the reins of govern
ment in a firm grasp, in faithful execution of the sort
of compact she had made with Castille. In her
youth she had undergone many strange adventures
and reverses, and had throughout evinced great
dexterity and infinite tact. After various romantic
adventures she had married the Infant Ferdinand
of Aragon, and placed him beside her on the throne
of Castille, thus putting herself into a position of
difficulty and delicacy. She had given a share of
her power to her royal spouse, a share which he
always thought less than his due. It needed all the
graces, and the charms, and the tact of Isabella to
lull the umbrageous jealousy of Ferdinand. She
succeeded in raaking him understand that any divi
sion of power between them could be but norainal,
since their interests were in common, and their
principles and ideas exactly identical, but at last she
thoroughly convinced him that they would always
proceed together in perfect and affectionate unity,
Isabella effected a complete change in the evil
custoras that had prevailed in the court of the two
kings, her predecessors. A strong vigour and
esteem for authority took the place of the spirit
of anarchy and revolution; perfect decorum pre
vailed instead of scandalous licence, and for the
former rudeness of manners was substituted that re-

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 9
finement of morals and habits which renders strength
polished, and even audacity deferential. She took
advantage of the disposition of her Spanish people,
who still remained the most chivalrous in Europe,
to exercise over them an influence only belonging to
her sex, and of her sex, only to persons, like herself,
endowed with supreme dignity of demeanour, lan
guage, and tone, even in the expression of the
countenance, the certain reflection of the mind.
We have a portrait of Isabella before us ; it is an
engraving after an obscure master. The picture
was, a few years ago, in the palace of Don Bias at
Madrid. On a comparison of this portrait with that
by the first master of colour of the sixteenth century,
Titian — which we have seen and admired in the
gallery at Augsburg, in Gerraany — this is the idea
that may be formed of Queen Isabella.* She must
have been of rather less than middle height, and
remarkable for her fine figure. Her hair was a light
chestnut, and shone with a slight touch of gold ; her
eyes were dark blue, and sparkled with a bright
expression of intelligence and resolution, softened
with heavenly sweetness. In the engraving we
have mentioned she is represented in a liigh dress,
* The splendid colouring of the noble Venetian exalts the fine
complexion and beautiful features of the great queen, Titian
cannot have painted this portrait, to the order of Charles V., tUl
twenty-five or thirty years after Isabella's death ; but it is most
probable that it was composed from portraits made of that princess
during her Ufe.

10 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
her head covered with a veil encircling the whole
face ; she holds a breviary in her hand. At first she
seems to bear some resemblance to Giotto's virgins,
whose pure and lofty expression has a certain religi
ous severity. But a more attentive examination
seems to show that the Queen of Spain's meditations
are more bent upon the duties of royalty than the
glories of heaven. There is something determined
in her expression, announcing a positive and tena
cious will. The serenity, the reserve, the self-con
tained dignity, so visible in her attitude and all her
features, are evidences of her moral strength, and
inspire the beholder with involuntary and profound
respect. The expression of resolution in the features of this
portrait of Isabella is not deceptive; determination
was the basis of her character, but it did not exclude
grace and kindness.
She never yielded to popular insurrection.* But
above all things did she strive with inflexible severity
against the usurpations of the grandees of Castille,
applying the laws to them just as she would have
done to the least among her people.
"The chiefs of the Houses of Cadiz and Medina
Sidonia," says the latest of Spanish historians,! " the
* Her presence of mind and indomitable courage on the occasion
of the terrible insurrection at Segovia are well known.
t La Fuento, Historia General de Espana, pt. U, Ub. v, pp.
Ill, 112, second edition, Madrid, 1869,

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 11
Guzmans, the Ponce de Leon, the Aguilars, and Porto
Carreros, who kept the whole country in a state of
trouble and disturbance, must have experienced
astonishment akin to stupefaction, when they saw
this young queen intrepidly enter Seville, receive the
acclamations of the people, and administer justice
with a calmness as imperturbable as if her rule had
long been established in the country. Of these
independent lords, who seemed so formidable, some
restored to the crown the property that had been
given in pledge to them, others presented themselves
before the queen to excuse their past conduct, and
promise to be more peaceable and submissive for the
future." It was Isabella who gave the greatest encourage
ment and legal sanction to the Santas Hermandades,
those popular institutions which had originated iu
the towns of Castille for the restraint of the disorders
and robberies that prevented any sense of security.
It was one of her special characteristics to be per
fectly impartial, and to allow no consideration to
interfere with strict justice, a greater merit in princes
than clemency. Her judgraent may sometimes have
erred, but, when once she had taken up a really clear
view in a matter of justice, nothing would sway her
aside from it.
Thus a Knight of Galicia named Yanez de Lugo,
who had committed a crime, begged to be ex
cused from prosecution, offering for his letters of

12 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
pardon the sum, enormous for that time, of forty
thousand doubloons of gold. Isabella was much in
want of money, and her councillors pressed her
strongly to accept it ; but she was inflexible in her
refusal.* Here is another specimen of her severity even to
wards the persons of her Court, and of what may be
called her passion for justice.
One day in the guard-room of her palace at Valla
dolid, a quarrel arose between two young men,
Rarairo NuHez de Guzman, Lord of Toral, and
Frederick Henriquez, son of the Admiral of Castille,
who was uncle to King Ferdinand. As soon as the
queen was informed of this dispute, she gave a safe
conduct to the Lord of Toral, to protect him till a
reconciliation should take place. However, Don
Frederick, iu spite of the royal protection, took with
him three of his companions, lay wait for his enemy
at night in the streets of Valladolid, and treacherously
beat him with a stick.
The moment Isabella heard of this ambuscade and
violation of her safe conduct, she mounted her horse
in the midst of a dreadful storm and torrents of rain,
and galloped away to the Castle of Simancas, then
occupied by the admiral, father of the culprit ; her
guards could hardly keep up with her, and she
reached the fortress before them. She immedi-
* Pulgar, Reges catoUcos, pt, U, cap. xcv. L. Marinoso, Cosas
memorabUes, fol. 180.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 1 J
ately summoned the admiral to deliver up his son to
her, but he asserted that Frederick Henriquez was
not within the walls of the castle, whereupon she
caused all the keys to be delivered to her, and ex
amined all the rooms, and every corner of the
dungeons; and, as her search proved fruitless, she
returned to Valladolid. Next day, either in conse
quence of the fatigue, or the disappointment she had
experienced, she was obliged to reraain in bed. Being
asked what ailed her, she replied, " My body is bruised
all over by the blows given by Frederick to Guzman,
in despite of my safe-conduct."
The admiral saw that it was undesirable to with
draw his son from the queen's justice, lest he might
himself incur disgrace. Two days afterwards, there
fore, he sent him to the palace at Valladolid in the
custody of his uncle, the Constable de Haro, who
interceded with Isabella for the culprit. The queen
would not allow herself to yield to their supplica
tions ; she thought it absolutely necessary to make
an example. She therefore gave orders to the
alcaldes to publicly lead the young man across the
grand square of Valladolid, and to keep him in soli
tary confinement in a narrow cell. At last, on the
entreaty of the king, who was nearly related to the
young prisoner, she consented to commute his im
prisonment for an exile of several years to Sicily.*
With a like sense of justice, taking a different
* Prescott, Ferdinand and IsabeUa, vol. i, pp. 175, 176.

14 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
direction, when she thought any eminent person
peculiarly marked out by merit for high office, she
guarded herself against all influence, and even the
bias of her own affections, so as not to betray that
first duty of royalty which consists of making the
best possible choice for the public welfare. Thus,
when the metropolitan see of Toledo was vacant,
instead of the young Don Alphonso of Aragon, who
was already Archbishop of Zaragoza, and was warra
ly recommended by Ferdinand hiraself, she chose
that pious and austere monk who is known as
Ximenes. But it was in the part she took in the Moorish war
that the great qualities of this queen were chiefly
displayed. She understood better than anyone what
was wanting in the Spanish knights, who daily per
formed the most heroic exploits, but who, contented
with the glory acquired by their prowess, would
have on the morrow abandoned all that had been
gained and sought merely repose after victory. It
was owing to her that the war became something
more than a course of adventures; she brought
into play foresight, perseverance, combination, and
regularity of operations.
Thus she would not allow the capture of Alharaa,
that great blow to the Moors, to be rendered a raere
barren feat of arms by the retreat of the army which
h'ad planted the banner of the cross upon these
towers hitherto deemed impregnable. This place

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 15
was certainly so distant frora the other strongholds
occupied by the Christians as to be exposed to
continual attack from the enemy, but she viewed it
as tbe first post to be held upon the road to
Grenada. Dating from this time, it was she who
undertook the raising of recruits and collecting of
food and stores. Nothing could withdraw her frora
her one aira, the capture of Grenada and the con
quest of the Moors.
One day Ferdinand declared that he intended to
apply the resources of his little kingdom to the ex
tension of the frontiers of Aragon, not of those of
Castille, even announcing that he should set off to
reconquer Roussillon. On this, Isabella declared
war against the infidels, and she was actually pre
paring to do so when Ferdinand returned. Fortun
ately for his fame, the Cortes of Aragon had refused
him a subsidy.
While the Spaniards were besieging Baza their
aramunition failed, and the treasury was exhausted ;
the queen pledged her jewels and personal orna
ments to supply the needs of war.
Nevertheless, the Spaniards were discouraged, and
were gradually giving up the siege, as it became
protracted, when the queen herself appeared in the
camp, accompanied by Cardinal Mendoza and a
brilliant escort. On the spectacle of this numerous
cavalcade issuing from the valleys, and at the sound
of the enthusiastic acclamations of the Spanish army,

16 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
the inhabitants of Baza, struck with dread and
astonishment, offered to capitulate.
Again at the siege of Malaga she ran personal
risks. She watched above all things over the soldier's
welfare ; they called her the inother of the camps —
mater castrorum. She it was who was the first to
establish ambulances and military hospitals ; she
often personally superintended the care of the sick
and wounded.
Under her strict superintendence the moral disci
pline of the camp was excellent ; garabling, vice,
nightly revels, oaths, and licentious talk were alike
prohibited, yet all the tirae this austere queen con
tinued to be most popular among the gentleraen of
every degree, and even among the soldiery. The
tents were left open, and no thefts took place. On
Sundays and holidays divine service was regularly
celebrated. Not only was this war in Isabella's eyes
a crusade which must be carried on, but the observ
ance of religious ordinances was moreover a raeans of
maintaining morality among the soldiery and sup
porting military discipline.
When Grenada itself was besieged, Isabella used
the same means, rendered still more perfect by ex
perience, and with redoubled vigilance and activity ;
she herself fixed the route of the convoys, distributed
the stores, and encouraged with gracious words the
warriors who approached her. When almost all the
tents had been consumed in a single night by a ter-

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 17
rible conflagration, she caused stone buildings to be
raised with incredible rapidity in the stead of these
frail canvas shelters, so that a town stood where a
camp had been planned in the form of a cross. It
was proposed to call it Isabella, but she modestly
refused, and by her wish the name of Santa Fe was
given to this city built under the protection and in
the honour of the God of Sabaoth.
When Grenada capitulated, it was universally
allowed that the chief of the, success was owing to
her who had made it the business and passion of her
life, to her who had been the soul of the enterprise
for many long years — to the great Queen Isabella of
Castille. Isabella was free from the bigotry imputed to her
by certain Protestant writers. Her religion was un
doubtedly severely exact and faithfully carried out,
but she was always large-minded and devout. The
remnant of her correspondence with her directors,
especially Talavera, displays in its fulness her ad
mirable spirit.
It is untrue that narrow prejudice had sealed her
heart against pity. It was with great difficulty that
she was induced to accept the idea of the Inquisition ;
and, when the bull for its foundation had been ob
tained from Sixtus IV., she delayed its publication '
and execution, while making trial of gentler means
of conversion with the Judaisers and New Chris
tians. She agreed on this point with Cardinal
VOL. I. C

18 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
Mendoza, who had drawn up a catechism for the
special use of this class of Christians not as yet
established in the faith, and had ordered it to be
taught and explained throughout his diocese.* But
when she was shown that all zealous efforts failed in
shaking indomitable persistence, when learned doc
tors and prelates highly esteeraed in the Church
assured her of the necessity of establishing a special
tribunal for criraes against religion, the perpetual
occasion of sedition and tumults, then Isabella gave
way, thinking it her duty to submit to the authori
ties whom she was accustomed to regard as the
safest guides of her conscience. We may further
observe that this was one of the occasions when
Isabella yielded her opinion to that of her royal
husband. Moreover, a feeling as rauch national as religious
was irapelling Spain to unity of faith at the sarae
time as to political unity,t being in a manner the
consequence and the completion of the splendid vic
tory over Islam, and the desire to efface all traces of
that faith from the soil of the Peninsula. On the
other hand, Isabella's attentive and vigilant human
ity is proved by the witness of Las Casas, the apostle
of the poor Indians.
It was Isabella who appreciated Christopher
* Historia de Espana, by La Fuente, part u, lib. iv, p. 137.
t See the wise reflections on this subject by M. de Pidal in his
exceUent history of the dissensions of Aragon.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 19
Columbus, and who upheld him against the preju
dice of the courtiers, and of King Ferdinand hiraself,
as well as against the caluranies and persecutions of
his slanderers. She was high-minded enough to
coraprehend the spirit of that great man, who was
so cruelly misunderstood by others in his lifetirae.
Her affections were unshaken in their fidelity. She
never would part with Beatrice de Bobadilla, who
had been devoted to her during the tiraes of isola
tion and desertion in her youth ; and she treated
with the like favour Cabrera, Marquis of Moya, who
had rendered her great services at the sarae time,
and who became the husband of Beatrice.
She had early learnt to speak Spanish with ele
gance, but she had had so few opportunities of
intellectual improveraent in her earlier years that
her education was very incoraplete, until she laboured
to supply her deficiencies with an energy raost meri
torious in her situation. Tearing herself from the
whirl of occupation in the Court, and avoiding as
much as possible absorption in business, she daily
devoted some hours to study. Thus she learnt
Latin, the language of the Church as well as of
science and diploraacy, and she was afterwEhrds able
to write in Latin to her confessor. She likewise
studied several living tongues.
Her example made study fashionable among the
ladies about her. The Court, hitherto so frivolous,
seemed to have adopted serious literary tastes, and.
c2

20 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
step by step, these tastes were transmitted through
out the nation, and thus it may be said that in this
respect, as well as in morals, a complete transforma
tion was effected by the influence of one woman
during a reign also distinguished by generous under
takings. It is evident that such a princess as
Isabella could not but exercise a strong influence oh
the education ofher daughters. Her son, Don Juan,
was brought up among boys chosen from the Castillian
youth. He was grounded in all the branches of
huraan knowledge, and profited admirably by the
lessons he received ; but he died in early youth, just
as he had inspired the Spaniards, over whom he was
to have reigned, with the most brilliant hopes.
As for the princesses, his sisters, they received
instruction from the learned and pedantic Peter
Martyr, who thus boasts of them :
" I was the Uterary foster-father of almost a,ll the
princes, and of all the princesses of Spain."
Erasraus, who much adraired the education be
stowed on the Spanish Infantas, gave the epithet of
" learned " to the youngest of them. Dona Catalina,
or Catharine, the sarae whose history we have under
taken to write.
Alike in the governraent of her people and in the
education of her children, although Isabella had the
widest and loftiest aspirations, in practice she guided
the carrying out of her plans to some sense. There
was nothing visionary or Utopian about her. No

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 21
doubt she thought of more reforms than she had
time to execute, but she completely succeeded in
those she actually undertook. Thus the reform in
the religious orders which she attempted in concert
with Ximenes was a work carried on with a steady
gentleness full of ability. She restored cloistral
seclusion and observance of discipline in all the
nunneries which she visited by mingling persuasion
with authority. Neither did Ximenes tolerate the
existence of laxity in monasteries for the other sex,
but suppressed several. The merabers of some bro
therhoods actually revolted against the requirements
of their reformers, broke from the cloister, and threw
away their frocks and cowls on the bushes in the roads,
so much less successful was the iron hand than the
velvet hand.
No one can guess at all the reforms Isabella would
bave effected had she lived longer. When we see
what she did in a thirty years' reign, we are araazed,
and wonder what she might have arrived at if the
fifteen years of Hezekiah had been granted her. But
Isabella never seems to have wished for that fresh
lease of life, that respite or that favour ¦vj^bich was
accorded to the King of Judah, and never entreated
Divine power for it. On the contrary, we are told
that, remarking the tears shed round her death-bed,
she said, "Weep not for me, and lose no time in
useless vows for the restoration of my health, but
rather pray for the salvation of my soul." We are

22 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
also told that she received the sacraments with ten
der devotion, but that, when extreme unction was
administered, she objected to haviug her feet un
covered according to the usual custom, thus show
ing even to her last sigh those instincts of modesty
which, without detracting from her raasculine cour
age and raanly resolution, had always betrayed her
peculiar feminine delicacy.
She expired on Friday, the 26th of December,
1504, in the fifty-fourth year of her age. As the
Spaniards adored their good and great queen, her
death caused throughout the Peninsula a grief almost
amounting to despair.
Shortly before her death, Isabella had drawn up,
with her own enfeebled hand, a very detailed will,*
in which, with admirable wisdom, she had provided
for the interests of Spain and of her family.
If we have sketched at some length the details of
this admirable figure, it is because it seemed needful
to know the mother in order to explain the daugh
ter. After having studied Isabella of Castille, it will
be easier to understand Catharine of Aragon.
* The autograph of this wiU is preserved among the manu
scripts in the royal library at Madrid. At the head of the Ust of
executors stand the names of Ferdinand and of Ximenes de Cis
neros. Faithful in friendship to the last, the queen warmly com
mends to her executors, especiaUy to the king, the Marquisa de
Moya, Beatrix de Bobadilla.

-HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 23
SECTION IIL— FERDINAND OF ARAGON,
KING OF SPAIN.
We would not have King Ferdinand become lost
in the brilliancy of the rays that, like a dazzling
aureole, encircle the brow of Isabella. If he had
possessed a less illustrious companion of his life and
throne, he would hold a much higher place in public
opinion. Besides, he survived the queen, and for
several years had to stand alone in the government
of the dominions so disproportionately increased.
His individuality, which was never lost during the
former part of his life (whatever may be said), be
came much more evident in his latter years. We
must take account of the various phases of this
prince's life in the character we are going to sketch ;
and though we may be obliged to be hard upon his
memory, we shall always try to be just.
Ferdinand was scarcely eighteen years old when,
urged both by the dexterous calculations of his father,
and by his own chivalrous aspirations, he set forth to
accomplish that almost clandestine marriage with Isa
bella, which, while seeming a feat of knight-errantry,
was in effect a grand stroke of policy. To obviate
delays to a wedding where haste was needful to pre
vent the encountering of invincible obstacles, Ferdi
nand of Aragon brought to his betrothed a forged
£(,nd fictitious papal bull of dispensation for marriage,
thus causing tbe Princess Isabella violent remorse.

24 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
almost araounting to despair, on afterwards learning
this unjustifiable artifice. She could not rest till she
had obtained from Pope Sixtus IV. a bull relieving
her from all previous blarae, and a fresh dispensation
authorising her to contract the raarriage more regu
larly, and, in consideration of her good faith, de
creeing the legitimacy of the children already
born. If the heir-presumptive of Aragon had thus de
ceived his own wife, it is no wonder that, as king, he
often deceived the various sovereigns with whom
he maintained diplomatic relations.*
Certainly he was not more deficient in openness
and sincerity in politics than were most of his con
temporaries,! only he was more adroit than most of
them. To this acuteness he added indefatigable activity,
both physical and moral, doing everything himself,
and, according to the expression of one of the tirae,
taking his repose in action.
Skilled in all bodily exercises, dexterous in the
use of the lance, and in controlling a restive horse,
he had all the endowraents of a complete cavalier.
Even in the command of armies he had given proof
* Learning that Louis XI. complained that he had twice
been deceived by him, Ferdinand exclaimed, " He lies, the rogue,
I have deceived him more than ten times."
t " Deceit regarded as a legitimate means of success, did not
cause any feeUng of shame, no more than theft among the Arabs."
Cantii, ItaUan History, Trad. Franc, by Lacombe, vol. vu, p. 188.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 25
not only of great courage, but also of real military
, capacity. Nevertheless what constituted his especial su
periority was the instinct of government and political
foresight. In Spain itself, where the ideas and tra
ditions of the middle ages still seeraed in full force,
Ferdinand ventured to run counter to thera by op
posing the separation and partition of provinces.
Like a sovereign of the present day, he was con
tinually advocating, even for neighbouring states,
the same system of union. For example, he main
tained that Scotland should as soon as possible be
fused into England ; but he further desired that the
kingdoms thus enlarged should be compact, and
formed of contiguous provinces. Therefore he did
not approve of the entirely artificial union of Austria
and Germany with the Spanish peninsula ; but, on
the other hand, when there was a proposal of re
establishing the Kingdom of Aragon for Ferdinand,
the younger brother of Charles V., although the
young prince was his favourite grandson, Ferdinand
the Catholic flatly refused to hear one word about
this mischievous project. " Aragon and Castille, have
been joined beneath the same sceptre, and must
remain welded together for ever."*
* Instruction to Pedro de Qumtana, Archives of Sunancas,
tratados con Inghilterra, Legais, vol. iv, p. 87. See also in the
Calendar, vol. U, the letter to Armengol, p. 160, September 22nd,
1513, and that to Ferdinand de Lanuza, p. 187, December 20th,
1513,

26 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
According to several distinguished Spanish au
thorities, the Inquisition, which Isabella regarded
principally from the religious point of view, raust
have been, in Ferdinand's hands, a powerful means
of centralisation of the royal house. That prince
foresaw that such a tribunal would touch the great as
well as the small, that it would set the example to
ordinary justice of showing no respect of persons,
and that the mightiest nobles would be called to
account by judges giving sentences in the name of
God, before whom all men are equal.
Thus was this king, at the close of the middle
ages, led by modern ideas to the establishment of
the Inquisition.
Prudent and moderate in everything, he disliked
wars too long protracted, and over-excessive con
quests. His system was, that it was first necessary
to consolidate each moderate acquisition of his arms
before going further, thus giving time to the victorious
troops to rest while making fresh preparations, so as
afterwards to renew the war with greater success.
He it was who inaugurated a method entirely
different from that of Louis XL, and certainly nobler
and more honest, and put an end to all the machinery
of espial and corruption in operation in foreign
Courts, and substituted for it the system of am
bassadors,* with a recognized character and cre
dentials, and an established position.
* According to some authors, the very word ambassador is

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 27
Although possessing good sense and business
capacity, Ferdinand was illiterate. Some Spanish
authors, even some of great authority, have ex
pressed a doubt whether he could sign bis name.
Nothing is more unfounded than such a doubt. Not
only could Ferdinand give his signature, but whole
autograph letters, written by him in pure Castillian,
have lately been discovered.* In some of them,
addressed to Isabella, there is very affectionate lan
guage, and great delicacy of feeling. There is one
that seems to us so remarkable as to be worthy of
full quotation.!
" Ml Senora,
" Now at least it is clear which of us two
loves best. Judging by what you have caused to be
written to me, I see that you were happy, while I
was losing my sleep, and messenger after messenger
brought me no letter from you. The reason why
you do not write is not because there is no paper to
be had, or that you do not know how to write, but
because you love me not, and disdain rae. You are
living at Toledo, I am living in sraall villages !
derived from the Spanish word embiar, to send. See Prescott,
Ferdinand and IsabeUa, vol. i.
* There are several of these letters at Simancas, in the posses
sion of the Duke de Frias, at Madrid, and in the coUection of
manuscripts in the Ubrary at Madrid. Bergenroth says he saw
and read a large number there. Introduction to 1st vol. of the
Calendar, p. 36.
t Bergenroth. Calendar, vol. i, 1485-1500, p, 36.

28 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
Well, every day I direct the vows of my old affection
to you. Doubtless you do not wish to be my dream.
Such a sin would be too heavy on your conscience.
"Write to me, and let me know how you are.
There is nothing to say about the affairs which keep
me here, except what Silva will communicate to you,
and what Ferdinand Pulgar has told you. I beg
you to believe Silva. Do write to me.
"The affairs of the princess* must not be for
gotten. For God's sake remember her as well as
her father, who kisses your hands, and is your
servant,
" The King."
This letter shows that, if the married pair had
loved one another passionately in the earlier years
of their advancement to the throne, there were still
some considerable remains of it in the maturity, and
even in the decline of their age.
Isabella's firmness in sustaining her personal rights
as Queen of Castille, corapelling the corapliance of
such a proud and haughty raan as Ferdinand, must
certainly have been the cause of some clouds be
tween them. But when once it had been fully
established that the great crown, corona, was the
queen's right, and that the little crown alone, coro
nilla, was the portion of the King of Aragon, Isabella,
* No doubt the Princess Catharine. The letter bears nb date,
but it seems to belong to the latter part of the fifteenth century.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. ' 29
as may be seen by a passage in the letter just quot
ed, continually conferred with her husband on all
business of any importance. Thus, when she had
fully established her authority, she raade skilful' con
cessions to Ferdinand, and succeeded in being loved
as well as respected.
However, although the affection shown by the
Catholic king for Queen Isabella was both sincere
and constant, he had four natural children by three
different mothers. Yet his loose morals were com
bined with habits of devotion with scandalous in
consistency, as comraon among princes at that period
as was chicanery in political negotiations, accorapani
ed by the most lofty pretensions to honour and
chivalrous loyalty.
It was characteristic of the national spirit and
prejudices of the Spaniards of the period that, though
indulgent to these derelictions, they were extremely
scandalised at the marriage that Ferdinand contract
ed, very soon after Isabella's death, with Germaine
de Foix, niece to Louis XIL, a young princess who
might have been his daughter. It is true that this
union was, on his side, a stroke of policy which
obtained him the relinquishment of the.claims of the
French royal family to the crown of Naples. But
to establish indeed these rights, so clearly recognized
in word, Ferdinand and his successors were several
times obliged to assert them sword in hand.
We ought here to present the outward portrait

50 historical introduction.
of this prince, but the artist who represented him
has left us two pictures not resembling each other.
Nevertheless there is a concurrence of testimony to
show that he had a fine countenancee, but wore a
kind of cold, perpetual smile, which served to con
ceal his strongest feelings. For, says Pulgar,
^'neither anger nor pleasure, nor any of the most
intense emotions of the soul made the smallest
¦change in his face." John Stile, who was am
bassador ofthe King of England in 1509, writes that
this prince squinted with the left eye, and lisped in
consequence of the loss of a front tooth.* It seems
that Ferdinand was at this time very well preserved,
and felt full of life and vigour.
Yet he did not attain to an advanced age ; and
was only sixty-four when he died. . He had reigned al
most two-thirds of his life over Castille as well as over
Aragon.! He was much regretted by the subjects of
* Bergenroth. Calendar, vol. i, p. 35. (Ed.)
t As he mounted the throne of CastiUe four years sooner, the
calculation is that he reigned forty-one years over that country',
and thirty-seven over Aragon. He died January 23rd, 1516.
He desired to be buried at Grenada, in the monastery of the Al
hambra, by the side of IsabeUa, as if to renew his union with her
in the grave.
Note. Calendar, 1509. Brewer, xxxi. The portrait of Fer
dinand, as drawn by contemporaneous and independent writers, is
scarcely more flattering. Peter Martyr, who was in constant at
tendance upon him at VaUadoUd, ridicules his uxoriousness,. in
common with the rest of the world, and MachiavelU, with equal
truth, condemns his suspicious and niggardly disposition. His
ungenerous or timid poUcy had estranged from his councils the

HISTORICAL introduction. 31
his little hereditary kingdom, but not so much by
the Castillians. And yet he had contributed to the
greatness of the whole of Spain, and, with Isabella's
help, had raised her to the rank of a first-class
kingdom. Nevertheless, he had not the [prestige that seems
always attendant on true, practical genius. In that
respect he needed Isabella to supply what he lacked,
and, when sbe was gone, a terrible blank in the
Government of Castille made itself felt.
Perhaps it is well here to give a list of the children
of Ferdinand and Isabella.
The eldest of the infantas, called Isabella after her
mother, was born at Duenas in 1470, and much re
sembled her in mental qualities and intelligence. Her
first husband was Don Alphonso, heir of the crown
of Portugal. A few months after the marriage, she
lost this young husband to whom she was much
attached. She was then asked in marriage by Don
Emmanuel, who had recently raounted the throne at
Portugal; at first she refused this alliance, but at
last yielded to the persuasions of her royal lover and
perhaps of her raother. She had scarcely been girt
with the crown when she died from a violent attack
of illness in the month of August, 1498.
The second of the children of Ferdinand and Isa-
ablest of his nobiUty. In his single hand he stiU grasped aU the
administrative functions of the State, which had long since
outgrown his powers.

, 32 historical introduction.
bella was, as before mentioned, Don Juan, Prince of
the Asturias, who was born at Seville in 1478. A
double marriage was arranged on the one side be
tween this prince and Margaret of Austria, daughter
of the Emperor Maximilian, on the other between
the Archduke Philip the Handsome, son and heir of
the Emperor, and Dona Juana, second daughter of
Isabella, born at Toledo in 1479.
In 1497 the Prince of the Asturias died when
nearly twenty years old.
The Princess Juana had several children by Philip
the Handsome. Queen Isabella in joke called her her
little mother-in-law, because of her likeness to Ferdi
nand's mother. It is well known that Juana, during her
married life and in her widowhood, showed signs of
mental aberration. She died in 1555, at Tordesillas,
at the age of seventy-six years.*
The Princess Mary, born at Toledo in 1482, was
third daughter of Isabella, and married in 1500 her
brother-in-law, Don Emmanuel, King of Portugal.
The Infante Dona Catalina or Catharine, whose
whole life is described in this volume, was the fourth
daughter and fifth child of Ferdinand and Isabella ;
she was born at Alcala de Henares in 1485.
* Some authors say seventy-three years, but they are those who
suppose that she was born in 1482, confounding her with her
sister Mary. She was confined as insane and harshly treated for
more than forty years of her Ufe.

CATHAEIM OF AEAGOX.

PART I.
the TWO MAREIAaBS AND CORONATION OF CATHARINE
OF ARAGON.

CHAPTER I.
Birth of Catharine of Aragon — Her Childhood spent in
Camps and the Palace of the Alhambra, G-renada —
Negotiations for the Marriage between Catharine of
Aragon and the Prince of Wales — IsabeUa's Letter —
Latin Correspondence between Arthur and Catharine,
CATHARINE of Aragon came into the world at
Alcala de Henares in 1485. Alcala was then
a little, unimportant town.* How then did it
happen that Isabella of Castille should there have
given birth to her youngest child ?
The queen, whose indefatigable activity in the
* It was not till 1498 that Ximenes founded a university there
which became celebrated, and gave the town some importance,
VOL. I. D

34 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
Moorish war has been described, wished to make
her presence occasionally felt in the north of her
kingdom. About the end of November, 1485, leav
ing the array engaged in the siege of the ancient
and very strong town of Ronda, where the Moors
were making a valiant defence, she set out for
Toledo, then the metropolis of Spain, where she
reckoned on keeping her Christmas, a few days
before her confinement. But on the way, at Alcala,
she was surprised by the pains of childbirth, and
brought into the world, before her tirae, Dona
Catalina, or Catharine, the last of her children.
A very few days afterwards she learnt that the
citadel of Ronda had surrendered to Ferdinand.
At the beginning of the spring of the year 1486
Isabella returned to Andalusia, and pursued the
laborious work she had undertaken, naraely, the
subjugation of the Arabs, and the victory of the
cross over the crescent.
The first years of Catharine's life were spent in
camps. She was before the walls of Grenada when
the tents of the Spanish array were destroyed by,
fire. She lived in Santa Fe, the town that took
the place of the carap after its destruction and
disappearance in the flames. She was little more
than six yearS old when the city of Grenada sur
rendered to Isabella.* Then the Alhambra became
the abode of Catharine, and her hours of recreation
* She was born in 1485. Grenada was taken in 1492.

CHILDHOOD OF CATHARINE. 35
were spent among the pomegranates, orange-trees,
and gushing fountains in the delicious thickets ofthe
Generalife. We speak of the young princess's hours of recrea
tion ; for already had a portion of her time been
devoted to study. Beneath the tents, as well as
beneath the ceilings of the Moorish palaces, did
Isabella add the care of the education of her
daughters to all her other labours.
She also, from their childhood, had been devising
princely alliances to be contracted for them at some
future time ; and even before her entrance into
Grenada she had been raaking arrangements for
Catharine's future marriage.
When a matrimonial union between Catharine,
Princess of Castille, and Arthur Tudor, Prince of
Wales, was first discussed, the one was not three
years old, the other, at eighteen or nineteen months,
was hardly out of his nurse's arms.
In the ordinary ranks of society such distant
projects of union are sometimes formed, but they are
made conditional upon the suitability of the parties
chiefly concerned, who are one day to belong to
each other; and the fulfilment of these plans, con
ceived so long beforehand, very seldora takes
place. In the marriages of princes one question is neces
sarily felt to be pre-eminent, namely, political in
terests. The persons united by premature betrothal
d2

36 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
are not allowed to put forward personal objections
nor to mention any instinctive repugnance. They
must needs bend to the will of kings and govern
ments as to the decrees of fate. From the very
opening of life they are made to feel the burden
of those golden but weighty fetters which are the
heritage of the great.
It was with the greatest delight that Ferdinand
received the first overtures made him by the English
Cabinet for this matrimonial alliance, because he
was desirous of detaching King Henry VII. from
France, though that prince, unlike alraost all other
Englishmen, was, as we have before stated, favourably
disposed towards that country. His residence at
the Court of Charles VIII. had made him much
raore French than was agreeable either to the
Spanish raonarch or to the British nation itself.
It was then desirable to put into Henry Tudor's
political scales such a counterpoise as might pre
vent his inclining toward the rivals and enemies of
Spain. This counterpoise was to be the marriage
of an infanta of Castille with the heir-presumptive
of the crown of England.
In reply to the overtures of Henry VII. Ferdinand
and Isabella sent arabassadors to England to treat
of the conditions on which this marriage could take
place. These ambassadors were Doctor Puebla and Juan
de Sepulveda.

GREED OF THE TWO KINGS. 37
It was strange that the first difficulties to be en
countered were pecuniary. Henry VII. was covetous,
Ferdinand showed himself avaricious. The English
commissioners* asked why, as the money was not to
come out of the strong boxes of the king and queen,
but out of the pockets of their subjects, they should
not be more liberal.!
Certainly there was neither delicacy nor generosity
in this language. The Spanish ambassadors could
not boast of any more loftiness or disinterestedness ;
while the English demanded four times more, they
offered four times less. Besides, they said there was
a risk to be taken into the account, namely, that the
Princess Catharine was to enter a family newly seated
upon the throne of England, not very firmly rooted
there, that might be overturned by one of the revolu
tions so frequent in Great Britain during the, last
century and a half.f
However, the Earl of Richraond, the representative
* Richard Fox, Bishop of Exeter, and GUes, Lord Daubeny.
See Bergenroth,, Calendar, vol. i, p. 7. Puebla to Ferdinand and
IsabeUa. ! The marriage portion was fixed at 200,000 scudos,^each scudo
4s. 2d. sterUng, £41,66§ 2s. M. Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i,
:p, 23. Treaty.
t " Bearing in mind what happens every day to the Kings of
England, it is surprising that Ferdinand and IsabeUa should dare
to give their xxviu (daughter) at aU. This was said with great
¦courtesy in order that they might not feel displeasure or be
enraged." Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p, 7. Puebla to Ferdinand
and IsabeUa. (Ed.)

38 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
of the House of Lancaster, who was reigning as
Henry VIL, thought he had extinguished all possible
competition by espousing the Princess Elizabeth,
daughter to Edward IV., and sister to the two young
princes who had been murdered in the Tower of
London by order of Richard III. He thus claimed to
have united the white and red roses, and, according
to him, no one could dream of disputing the crown
with him, his marriage having united the claims of
the House of York to his own.
The Spanish arabassadors did not think that the
question of legitimacy had been so entirely disposed
of, and did not share the security that King
Henry VIL appeared to enjoy. They said so plainly
to the English comraissioners. However, if Puebla's
testiraony can be trusted, this objection was present
ed with a smile and so much courtesy that the matter
was redeemed by the manner, and there was no
offence to the British pride.
Then the pecuniary question was taken in hand,
and the royal raarriage was haggled over like a
bargain in the London raarket. This was really
acting like those who would then have been termed
the meaner sort. At last, after prolonged debate, the
English commissioners consented to a considerable
abatement of their pretensions, reducing the amount
of their original demand. They said they would be
contented with a sum of two hundred thousand
crowns as the princess's portion.

EMBASSY TO HENRY YII. 39
As to the second part of the treaty, that which
bore on the hostile attitude that England was to
assume towards France, in concert with Spain, there
were a good many more difficulties. When Henry
was directly addressed, he praised Isabella and
Ferdinand in the most exaggerated language, and
said he was completely devoted to them, but that
he could not honourably conclude a treaty directly
and absolutely adverse to Charles VIIL, td whom he
was under great obligations. The arabassadors de
clared themselves dissatisfied with this reply. They
wanted something more precise.
At last the English commissioners concluded by
taking " a mass-book, and swearing in the most
solemn way, before a crucifix, that it is the will of
the King of England, first to conclude the alliance
and the marriage, and afterwards to make war upon
the King of France, according to the bidding of
Ferdinand and Isabella."*
Sepulveda, having to return to Spain, demanded a
farewell audience of the king. Puebla went with
him. Every time the names of Ferdinand and Isabella
were raentioned, Henry VII. humbly " took his bon
net off his head," and showed the greatest respect
towards those sovereigns.
He said he was aware of the oath taken by the
commissioners who had been charged to conclude
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 9. Puebla to Ferdinand and
IsabeUa.

40 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
the alliance in his narae, and he added "that we
raust accept it for plain truth un raingled with double
dealing or falsehood."*
The real character of this covetous, obsequious,
and undignified king may be recognized in these
little details. In order entirely to gain over the
Spanish ambassadors he wished them to be presented
to his family. And therefore Sepulveda and Puebla
went to visit the Queen and the Prince of Wales^
who were then living in the country. The little
prince had just attained the venerable age of twenty
months. He was dressed to be shown to the ara
bassadors, and then undressed and put back into his
cradle. He was probably a fairly handsorae child,
but the praises lavished upon him by Puebla were
beyond measure. The utmost that flattery could
invent withia the bounds of possibility was poured
upon the Prince of Wales by this skilful courtier.
Henry accepted the flattery in all simplicity, believ
ing that his son already possessed all possible per
fections, and requested Sepulveda to take his portrait
to Spain, to give Ferdinand and Isabella some notion
of the charras of their future son-in-law.
He seemed on the poiut of attaining his object.
The draft of the treaty of alliance and raarriage,
which was signed on July 7th, 1488, by his cora
raissioners and the Spanish ambassadors, contained
* Bergenroth, Calendar, voL i, p, 10. Puebla to Ferdinand
and Isabella.

DEMANDS OP FERDINAND. 41
nothing that could comproraise his interest^, The
mutual assistance to be given by the allied monarchs
was restricted to the event of invasion of their
respective countries by France. It was a purely
defensive treaty.
But, before this treaty could take effect, it had to
be ratified by the king and queen of Spain. On
the return of Sepulveda, Ferdinand blamed him for
over-haste, and for having yielded too much. The
king wrote in the same strain to Puebla, who had
been left in England, stating that he had never
intended to exceed a sum of one hundred thousand
crowns in Spanish money, as the portion of his
daughter Catharine. As to the clause respecting
France, he did not care to have it inserted in the
principal treaty, saying that he would accept it as
an additional clause, but that, in reality, he wanted
an absolutely offensive alliance. That is to say,
he required the King of France to restore to hira
Cerdana and Roussillon, and, if this restitution were
not effected within a certain tirae, Henry VII.
should be bound, on the first summons, to give
Ferdinand his assistance against France.
Such a proposition, couched in such language, did
not seem acceptable. Counter propositions from
Henry were submitted to Ferdinand, and at last
accepted. These were the new conditions, which
gave sorae reciprocal advantages.
" In case the King of France voluntarily restores

42 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
Normandy and Acquitaine to England Henry shall
be at liberty to conclude peace with him without
the consent of Spain ; or in case the King of France
restore Roussillon aud Cerdana to Spain, then Ferdi
nand and Isabella shall be at liberty to make peace
with hira without the consent of England, all other
clauses of this treaty remaining in full force." *
On this basis was concluded the treaty of March
27th, 1589.
In fact, a war against France was carried on by
England and Spain; the King of England having
withdrawn his troops from Brittany, made an expe
dition against Boulogne, after which the King of
France restored Cerdana and Roussillon to Spain.
Henry VII. could therefore treat with France with
out violating his engagements. Only there was
no immediate advantage to Spain from the matri
monial alliance of Catharine of Aragon and the
Prince of Wales from the moment when Henry VII.
refused to make a second treaty with Spain, or
enter into a fresh coalition against France.
A little later, in 1497, negotiations were re-opened,
and reached what appeared to be a definite con
clusion. After the treaty of marriage had been ratified by
both parties, it was determined that the religious
ceremony should be conducted with great secrecy in
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 22. Treaty between England
and Spain. (Ed.)

MARRIAGE BY PROXY. 43
the royal chapel of the Manor of Bewdley. The
Bishop of Lincoln had scruples about assisting in
this ceremony, because tbe dignitaries of the Church
were forbidden to celebrate a clandestine marriage.
Doctor Puebla at last succeeded in overcoming all his
objections. The marriage therefore took place,
though only by procuration, on May 19, 1499.
Meanwhile, there occurred the young Earl of War
wick's unfortunate attempt at escape, his trial, con
demnation, and execution. The death of the last of
the Plantagenets is alleged to have put an end to
the indecision of Ferdinand and Isabella respecting
their daughter's marriage, by removing their doubts
of the stability of the Tudor dynasty. They must
have mentioned it to Catharine herself, for in the
next reign, after her divorce from Henry VIIL, she
allowed the expression to escape her that she had
never expected much happiness from her union with
the Tudor family, since that union had been purchased
at the price of royal and innocent blood.*
However, the fresh delays to Catharine's departure
for England, which were interposed by the Spanish
Government, may be attributed to other reasons,
certainly neither honourable nor lofty. It seeras
that, on closer exaraination of the treaty of marriage,
Ferdinand thought that he had been tricked in the
* HaU, 51. Bacon, 112. Lingard ed., Lond. 1837,, vol. v,
p. 822. The execution of the young Earl of Warwick took
place Nov, 28th, 1499.

44 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
value of the dowry assigned to his daughter. This
difficulty, which would seem hardly worthy to create
a hindrance in the case of private individuals, was
the occasion of a somewhat sharp discussion between
the two kings. The irritation on both sides became
so great that the marriage was on the point of being
broken off.
These epistolary disputes lasted a considerable
tirae. In the year 1500, in consequence of an inter
view of Henry VII. with the Archduke Philip, a
report arose that the three princes had discussed
the marriage of the Prince of Wales with Margaret,
Archduchess of Austria, whose first husband, the
Infant of Spain, was just dead.
Then the matter seemed to be at an end. The bar
gaining over the marriage portion and dowry came
to an end. A multitude of practical details were
discussed, their object being to regulate the rank
and private life of the Princess Catharine in Eng
land. Thus she had hitherto only drunk water,
arid it was requested that she might gradually ac
custom herself to mix wiue with it, because almost
all over England the water was bad and unwhole
some. Again there was a promise that she should
take advantage of the residence of Margaret of
Austria in Spain to learn French. Then Ferdinand
and Isabella desired that there should be a certain
nuraber of raale and female attendants in her suite;
and Henry, ou the other side, wanted them to be

delay in sending CATHARINE. 45
as few as possible. But on one point the latter
king insisted, and seemed to have very much at
heart ; and that is that all the matrons or maidens
sent to England should be beautiful, or at least
very agreeable, and that the ugly, or deformed,
should be pitilessly excluded. In his eyes this was
a most important matter. He saw in it a means
of regenerating the lines of nobility in England
by marriages with persons of pure blood and rare
beauty. Next the question was whether Catharipe of
Aragon should be sent at once to England. Don
Pedro d' Ayala* was of opinion that the Court of
Henry VII. was not a very desirable place for so
young a princess. On the other hand he acknow
leged that, if her coming to England were put off
too long, she would find it very difficult to become
accustomed to so very different a climate, and
especially to rougher ways and customs, to a less
luxurious life, without those surroundings of courte
ous politeness to which Spanish ladies were habitu
ated. He laid these doubts and considerations before
Queen Isabella of Castille.
Isabella thought it best to wait till *the young
Arthur, Prince of Wales, should have reached his
fourteenth year; at that time the period fixed for
kings' attainment of their majority. Learning that
vast sums were to be expended on the reception
* Spanish Ambassador to England,

46 CATHARINE OF ARAGO>f.
and wedding of her daughter, this noble queen
estimated and criticised beforehand the exaggerated
pomp of these preparations in these forcible and
dignified terms : —
" I am told that the king ray brother has ordered
great preparations to be made, and that much money
will be spent upon her reception and her wedding.
I am pleased to hear it, because it shows the mag
nificent grandeur of my brother, and because demon
strations of joy at the reception of my daughter
are naturally agreeable to me. Nevertheless, it
would be more in accordance with my feelings, and
with the wishes of ray lord (King Ferdinand), if
the expenses were moderate. We do not wish that
our daughter should be the cause of any loss to
England, neither in money nor in any other respect.
On the contrary we desire that she should be the
source of all kinds of happiness, as we hope she
will be, with the help of God. We therefore beg
the king our brother to moderate the expenses.
Rejoicings may be held, but we ardently implore
him that the substantial part of the festival should
be his love ; that the princess should be treated by
bim and by the queen as their true daughter, and
by the Prince of Wales as we feel sure he will
treat her. Say this to the King of England.
" Dated March 23rd, 1501."*
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 253. Queen IsabeUa to De
Puebla.

early letters. 47
Long before, in the year 1497, the time when
the first promises of matrimonial alliance had been
exchanged between the Sovereigns of Spain and
England, Isabella had sanctioned a correspondence
in the Latin language between the betrothed, with
the double object of cultivating feelings of mutual
affection and promoting their improvement in good
Latinity, But, though this language still continued
to be the tongue of diplomacy and science, it was
not that of love. Besides, the letters of the young
lovers were inspected by an army of tutors, precep
tors, confessors, bishops, governors, and governesses,
who superintended, and, when needful, revised these
laborious compositions.* Thus there is no chance
of finding anywhere a spontaneous expression of
feeling. All the correspondence is hackneyed and
artificial. As literary exercises, several of these
letters are not devoid of raerit. One letter may be
mentioned from Prince Arthur, dated from Ludlow
Castle in 1499, expressing with some eagerness
tis impatient desire to see and embrace his very
dear wife. The reply from the Alhambra is colder
and more strained. The traces of Spanish eti-
* Miss Strickland, Lives, &c. Catharine of Aragon. We
regret that she does not give the Latin text of any of these
letters. Bernaldes, in his memoir on the Catholic kings, men
tions a last official EngUsh embassy of the King of England,
reaching Grenada May 21st, 1501, that received the final
consent qf the Sovereigns of Spain to the union of Catharine and
Arthur.

48 CATHARINE OF ARAGON. , ; '
quette are perceptible. But, in Ciceronian elegance,
Catharine is not inferior to her literary rival.
The whole bears the character of that period of
revival of learning, when small regard was paid to
the vulgar languages so newly formed, and there
was an attempt to recall classic antiquity.

49

CHAPTER II.
Catharine's Arrival at Plymouth — Her Warm Welcome —
Difiiculties of Spanish Etiquette removed by the Authority
of Henry VIL — Renewal of the Promise of Betrothal —
Baynard Castle and the Alhambra — Catharine's Marriage
celebrated at St, Paul's, London — Tournament and Sym
bolical Representations — Stage Appearance of Alphonso
the Wise — Arthur and his Court at Ludlow Castle in
Shropshire — His Death — What was the Cause of it ? —
His Monument at Worcester — Cruel Situation of the
Young Widow,
IN the month of August, 1501, Catharine embarked
at Corunna for England. Contrary winds drove
her back to the coast of Old Castille, and she was
seriously ill. As soon as her health was restored she
embarked, on the 26th of September, in a better
vessel, and, after a good passage, landed at Plyraouth
on the 2nd of October. Her arrival was % signal for
public rejoicings A nuraber of the gentleraen of the
neighbourhood collected to form an escort for their
future queen. Henry VII. had sent Lord Brooke,
grand seneschal, to meet the princess, and provide
for all her wants ; the Earl of Surrey and Duchess
of Norfolk were to be especially attached to her
VOL. I. E

50 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
person. The duchess was immediately admitted, and
from that moment continually kept her company, and
served as her guide and adviser.
Henry VII. himself left his Palace of Shene on the
4th of October, to meet his daughter-in-law. But
the weather was so rainy, and the roads so abomin
able, that he was compelled by weariness aud tem
pest to stop at Chertsey to rest for the night. Next
morning the king and persons in attendance set
forth again for Hampstead, where he found Prince
Arthur. It seems that the arrival of the young
queen was not yet known, for the king halted at this
place, and only set forth again in a leisurely manner
the next day. At last the king beheld the proto
notary of Spain, followed by some horsemen in full
splendour, coming to meet him and bring him an
official message. This was to forbid, in the narae
of King Ferdinand, the Prince of Wales and his
father from seeing the young bride until she appeared
at the altar ; for in Spain it was not thought proper
to raise the princess's veil before the celebration of
her marriage, nor might an English eye, not even
that of her future spouse, behold her features.
" This truly Asiatic injunction of King Ferdinand
threw the whole royal party into consternation, and
brought them to a dead halt."*
King Henry was not an absolute foe to etiquette,
and his Court observed a certain amount of ceremony,
* Miss Strickland, ed, i, 1842, vol. iv, p, 78,

journey of CATHARINE. 51
but these truly Asiatic prohibitions could not but be
highly repugnant to an English prince. So, after a
minute's hesitation, he called the raembers of his
privy council around hira in the open field, and pro
pounded to them this strange problem for solution.
Although exposed to an icy autumnal rain, the mera
bers of the council gave their opinions in tolerably
lengthy harangues. The result of their delibera
tions was that, as the Infanta of Spain was now in
the heart of Great Britain, Henry was the sovereign
master, and might do with her as might seem good
to him.
Henry VII. took this advice to the very letter, and
in consequence, making his son reraain on the down,
he rode without drawing bridle to Dogmersfield, the
nearest village, where the infanta had only arrived
two or three hours before. The king's demand to
see Catharine put all her retinue into a terrible per
plexity. She had with her the Archbishop of Santiago,
the Bishops of Osma and Salamanca, the Commander
of Cardenas, and Dona Elvira Manuel, first Lady of
Honour. The Archbishop of Santiago and another
prelate opposed the king's entrance into the prin
cess's apartments, saying that she had retired to her
chamber. This resistance only stiraulated Henry's
curiosity, and he cried out that " if she were even in
her bed he raeant to see and speak to her, for that
was his raind and the whole intent of his coming "
through all this bad weather. The Spaniards did
E 2

52 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
not venture to carry their opposition further. Catha
rine dressed herself, and received tho king in a room
close to her chamber. Neither understanding the
language of the other, each could only catch a few
of the polite expressions almost the same in botb
tongues. After this short interview the king went to take
off his riding dress and attire himself. Half an hour
afterwards Arthur arrived, who had soon wearied of
spending more of a November afternoon on the open
downs. In a short time the king again desired to be
admitted to the infanta's presence, and to introduce
his son. This time the bishops were present, and,
by the help of Latin, notwithstanding the difference
of pronunciation, they served as interpreters for
Henry VIL, and the parties managed to understand
one another. The king desired the betrothed to
renew by word of raouth their promise of marriage,
and this they immediately did.
The two companies then travelled together. When
Catharine was tired, or the weather was bad, she
was carried in a litter.* The Spanish mules ridden
by the prelates and ladies in attendance were not
inferior in their paces to the horses of the princes of
the blood and English lords.
By several stages Richmond was reached, and then
* A Utter placed betvfeen two horses or mules, carrying it one
in front the other behind, as might be seen in Sicily a few years
ago.

THE RECEPTION. 53
Baynard Castle. In the first of these residences,
Catharine found her future mother-in-law. Queen
Elizabeth, who received her raost affectionately ; in
the second there were lakes, cascades, old centen
ary oaks, and a multitude of delightful spots.* But
Elizabeth of York could not make the young Spanish
infanta forget Isabella of Castille ; and again there
waa no comparison between the damp and foggy
residence on the banks of the Thames' and the
dazzling marvels of the Alhambra.
A few days afterwards, Catharine entered London
with a great attendance of lords and ladies ; on her
right was the Duke of York, on her left the pope's
legate. Her beautiful light chestnut hair hung down
beneath the brim of a large hat, and flowed abund
antly over her shoulders.
The men of the City had made great preparations
for tbe reception of the infanta on the feast of her
patron saint, St. Catharine. At the door of St.
Paul's was a very fine triumphal arch, and the young .
princess was led through it to her destination, that
is to say, the bishop's palace near the church where
the raarriage was to be soleranized. The interior of
the sacred edifice was arranged and defcorated with
great skill and magnificence, and on November
* This seems to be an embeUishment of "situated right
pleasantly on Thames side, and full weU garnished and arranged,
and encompassed outside strongly with water." Miss Strickland,
vd. iv, p. 80.

54 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
14th, 1501, the young Duke of York, afterwards
Henry VIIL, her future second husband, conducted
the young princess frora the bishop's palace to St.
Paul's Cathedral. The English were much surprised
at the strangeness of Spanish fashions ; it v/as re
marked that the bride wore a headdress of white silk
wreathed with a scarf having a golden fringe, en
riched with pearls and precious stones. This scarf
hung down like a veil, concealing some portion
of her face and person. This was the Spanish man
tilla, said to be a legacy from the long veils of the
Moorish women ; only the mantilla bordered the face,
and did not hide it entirely.
The Archbishop of Canterbury performed the
nuptial ceremony, assisted by nineteen bishops and
mitered abbots.
Festivities of all kinds followed the celebration of
the raarriage. There was a brilliant tournaraent held,
and the prizes were given to the victors by the young-
bride. There were also pageants and allegorical
representations. In one of these presentraents Catha
rine was syrabolised by the western star, Hesperus,.
and Arthur by Arcturus, the most brilliant of the
stars at night. But attention was most excited by
the appearance on the stage of Alphonso the Wise,
one of the ancestors of the young princess, who
came forward with all the insignia of astrology, a
science that this learned monarch was said to have
cultivated with success; and the royal astrologer

WEDDING REJOICINGS. 55
did not fail to predict a brilliant fortune for Catharine
and a long and glorious life for Arthur.*
Alas ! this may well seem a double mockery of the
fate that awaited the young couple I Arthur was
fated to live only a few months, and, though his
young consort was destined one day to wear the
crown, this crown was woven with bitterly en
venomed thorns.
A short return of fair weather and a few rays of
the sun had favoured these nuptial feasts. But the
thick fogs of Noveraber soon arose, spreading their
dark mantle over London and all England.
Catharine was a little more than sixteen years old,
and in all the bright freshness of her youth ; Arthur,
born September 20th, 1486, was only just fifteen.
The young princess's appearance had given rise to
raost agreeable predispositions in ber favour at the
Court of Henry VII. Those who had been able to
approach her were charmed with her beauty and
graceful modesty. Her angelic piety bad struck all
the members of the royal family she had joined, and
especially the Prince of Wales, who seeraed equally
to love and adraire her.
Arthur himself was a handsome and engaging
youth, but as yet far from manhood. His learning
was very precocious, and, if his tutor's testimony
raay be trusted, he had read and annotated with his
own hand the principal classics of the ancient
* Miss Strickland, vol. iv, p, 82.

56 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
heathens even before his marriage. This did nofc
prevent his attention to all the physical training
that was then an essential part of a royal educa
tion. King Henry VII. had raade a gift of Ludlow Castle,
in Shropshire, to the Prince of Wales. Arthur held
his Court there during the winter after his raarriage.
It was then that, in order to complete his political
education, he obtained careful instruction from learned
men and distinguished statesmen on the principles
of administration and government, as well as on the
constitution of Great Britain. His good qualities,
and his ardent desire to raake hiraself worthy of one
day wearing the crown, were the delight and hopeof
all England, This hope was sadly disappointed ; he
died a few months after his marriage, on the 2nd of
April, 1502.
Most authors say that the young prince's health
was delicate, and gave way under the severity of
the winter ; but this is contradicted by the Spanish
chroniclers, who derived their information from
Catharine herself. They say he was strong and
robust, but was carried off suddenly by the plague,
which was then prevalent in part of England. This
statement is indirectly confirmed by the HeraMs
Journal, which, after describing the magnificent fune
ral of the prince at Worcester, mentions that at the
very time of the ceremony the principal inhabitants
of the city had assembled in the cathedral to delibe-

DEATH OP ARTHUR. 57
rate on the measures to be taken against the prevail
ing disease.*
Arthur was buried in the cathedral at Worcester.
His body was placed on the right of the sanctuary.
The tomb destined to enclose his mortal remains
was enshrined upon the side wall of a charming little
Gothic chapel. This exquisite jewel of sculpture was
very much injured by the fanatical rage of the Puri
tans, when they bad gained the famous battle of
Worcester over Charles 1.,! and raade the whole
cathedral a stable for their horses ; however, there is
still left plenty to interest antiquaries in the numer
ous statuettes of kings and queens of England to be
found there, and the quantity of coats-of-arms and
carvings that cover the walls. On the raonument of
Prince Arthur bis little prince's coronet and his
shield, engraved with the royal arms of England,
are supported by two angels, whose countenances
are those of Henry VII. and his queen Elizabeth.
The face of Catharine, the virgin widow, as Miss
Strickland calls her, appears in several places on the
bas-relief. On one side she wears the coronet of
Princess of Wales, with a slight drapery and a veil ;
on another side she holds in her right hand the castle
emblematic of Castille. Lastly, in another compart
ment, she is represented again with the attributes of
* Miss Strickland, vol. iv, p. 88.
f The author means the first battle of Worcester, between
Prince Rupert and Essex. (Ed.)

58 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
Saint Catharine wearing a nun's veil, but bearing
the pomegranate upon her breast as a distinctive
mark. The unfortunate princess found herself alone and
desolate in a foreign land, of whose very language
she was ignorant.* Absorbed in ber grief, she would
willingly have spent the most of her life in prayers
over the grave. But diplomacy takes but little ac
count of these conjugal feelings, and was fated to
make this princess the plaything of political negotia
tions, in which her destiny was coldly discussed,
being connected with the interests of two great
states, Spain and England.
* Catharine only learnt EngUsh later, when she gave up aU
expectation of returning to Spain, and determined to accept the
hand of the new Prince of Wales, who was afterwards Henry
Vin. At the time she became a widow she was a Uttle more
than sixteen, being born at the end of the year 1485. Arthur,
born September 20th, 1486, was nearly fifteen ; he died April
2nd, 1502.

59

CHAPTER III.

Grief of Queen Elizabeth, Catharine's Mother-in-law —
IsabeUa Wishes to recall her Daughter to Spain — Ferdi
nand desires to Marry her again in England to the new
Prince of Wales — The Young Princess at first appears
not to favour this Union — Henry VII. proposes to
marry her Himself — Indignant Reply of Isabella — Re
newal of Negotiations — Treaty of Marriage arranged
between Catharine and her Brother-in-law, Henry, Prince
of Wales— The Pope's Bull— The Betrothal— Death of
Isabella of CastiUe — Pecuniary Wranglings between Fer
dinand and Henry VII. — Catharine is held by the Latter
as a Living Pledge — Protest of the Prince of Wales
against his Betrothal to Catharine — Henry VIL wishes
to Marry the Queen-Dowager of Naples — Remarkable
Negotiations on this Matter.

IN the early days of Catharine's widowhood. Queen
Elizabeth, overcoming her own intense grief at
the death of ber son, was much occupied herself
with her daughter-in-law, procured her raourning
garments, and raade her return to her at -Croydon
Palace. She treated her with the most affectionate
consideration. It seems that the two royal ladies
wept together for the object of their common affec
tion. On the other side, IsabeUa's first thought is said

€0 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
to have been to recall her daughter to Spain. A
mother such as she was could not but understand
the cruel desolation of her daughter's condition, and
long to give her maternal consolations. But by her
side was Ferdinand, who put forward political neces
sities, and was in no such haste for the return of his
daughter; so as he had the chief influence, and kept
the right of decision in the raanagement of foreign
affairs, he gave full scope to Isabella's wishes in the
first part of the instructions given to the Duke of
Estrada, whom he sent to England, but in the
second part he furnished his ambassador with the
means of doubling back according to circumstances.
So the noble duke was ordered :
1st, To reclaim from the King of England the
one hundred thousand scudos which have been paid
as the first instalment of the marriage portion of the
said Princess of Wales.
2nd, To demand that the King of England should
deliver to the Princess of Wales those towns, manors,
lands, etc., which have been assigned to her as her
dowry, which is to amount to one third of the
revenues of Wales, Cornwall, and Chester.
3rd, To beg the King of England to send the
Princess Catharine to Spain in the best manner,
and in the shortest time possible, and, if necessary,
himself to superintend the arrangements • for her
departure.* * Bergemoth, Calendar, vol. i, p, 267,

PLANS FOR CATHARINE'S MARRIAGE. 61
This seemed categorical enough, but the post
script desired the plenipotentiary to endeavour to
ascertain whether the marriage of Henry, the new
Prince of Wales,* to his sister-in-law, the Princess
Catharine, was desired in England; and, in that
case, he was authorised to negotiate this union
in the names of the Catholic Sovereigns.
Ferdinand had authorised the Duke of Estrada
to make use of any means in his power to discover
whether the first marriage of Catharine had really
been consummated. Dona Elvira, the first of the
ladies of honour to the princess, had written to
Isabella that the young couple had never lived
together. This letter of Dona Elvira's has not been
preserved, but tbe queen makes an evident allusion
to its contents in a dispatch to the Duke of Estrada.
" Our daughter remains such as she was here ; for
so DoSa Elvira has written to us."!
Isabella says, in the same despatch, that, accord
ing to secret information which she had received,
she has reason to believe that Henry VII. wishes
the young widow to raarry the Prince of Wales;
but she adds that he raust wait, and not let it
be supposed that the Spanish sovereigns* have the
same views, for, if he suspected it, Henry VII. would
make harder conditions.
* This title had been conferred by Henry VH, two months
after Arthur's death,
t Bergenroth, Calendar, vol, i, p. 272.

62 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
However, Henry VII. did not hurry himself to
declare his intentions ; he neither said nor did any
thing that could comrait him for the future.
In all these negotiations no one seems to have
taken the slightest account of Catharine's personal
wishes ; but she showed great repugnance to this
union that was to be forced upon her. She wrote
to her mother that it was very repugnant to
her to promise obedience to a prince considerably
younger than herself, and hardly beyond boyhood.*
As if to show ber aversion to any project of mar
riage in England, and her desire to return to Spain,
she obstinately refused to learn English. !
And so the correspondence of Queen Isabella at
this time would almost lead to the belief that she
neither hoped nor desired to succeed in her matri
monial negotiations. She displays in it some very
fine sentiments, worthy of a tender mother and
good Christian, and yet the woman of policy awakes
at times most unexpectedly. The first impulse is
all motherly, the second is due to the promptings
of reasons of State. She says to the Duke of
Estrada : —
" I comraand you, because it is very necessary,
that you press much for the departure of the
Princess of Wales, my daughter, so that she may
* Miss Strickland, vol. iv, p. 89. Lingard, vol. v, p. 333 ; note.
t There could not be anything more significant in the case of
a clever and studious woman.

LETTERS OP ISABELLA. 63
imraediately come here. You must say that the
greater her loss and affliction the more reason is
there for her to be near her parents, as well for
her consolation as on account of her age. Besides,
the Princess of Wales can show the sense she en
tertains of her loss better here, and give freer vent
to her grief, because the customs of this country
better permit it than do those of England.
" You shall say to the King of England that we
cannot endure tbat a daughter whom we love should
be so far from us when she is in affliction, and
that she should not have us at hand to console
her ;, also it would be more suitable for a young girl
of her age to be with us than to be in any other
place."* Isabella then asks tbat the King of England should
appoint an honourable person to accompany the
Princess Catharine, and to have a vessel freighted
at once to receive her, and take her back to Spain.
So far the language is motherly, full of fore
thought, affection, and care. But there was in the
Queen of Spain another person who speaks in her
turn. It is the politician who dictates the following
words. After desiring demand to be made for the
one hundred thousand scudos, paid as part of the
marriage portion, to be returned, and the dowry
handed over, she says :
" If, whilst urging the abovesaid two things, they
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. 1 , p, 278,

64 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
should speak to you about the betrothal of the
Prince of Wales with the princess you shall hear
what they have to say, and ask how it is to be
done, and in what manner, and all the particulars ;
not showing any desire for it or any goodwill to
wards it. If they merely mention it, however, in
order that you should talk about it, then, without
going so far as to press it, say that, if it be not
proposed only in order to delay the departure of
the princess, you will consult us about it."
Events turned out as perhaps the mother had
feared, and as the politicians had too cleverly calcu
lated. Henry VII. at last made overtures to Doctor
Puebla, the Spanish ambassador, for the marriage of
the Princess Catharine to Henry, Prince of Wales.
In order to bring about this fresh union he offered
most advantageous terms to Spain ; he proraised that
he would satisfy Catharine in every point as to the
payment of her dower, and that it should be done
within a year.
The negotiations at first were pursued on both
sides with an equal desire for success. But an un
expected incident suddenly altered the state of
affairs, naraely, the death of Queen Ehzabeth, wife of
Henry VII.
It is said that the king greatly lamented her, as
she well deserved ; but, if his regrets were keen and
sincere, it will soon be shown that they were not
very lasting.

PROPOSAL OF HENRY VII. TO MARRY CATHARINE. 65
We bere meet with an astonishing fact hitherto
unknown to historians, but whicb is revealed by the
unpublished letters collected and made public in the
"Calendar of State Papers." When the learned
editor, Bergenroth, had deciphered them, he could
not believe his own eyes.
Henry VIL, the very day after the death of
Elizabeth, hardly waits to wipe away his tears ;
be is already contemplating a fresh marriage, and to
whom 1 — is it credible 1 To the widow of his son
Arthur— to the Princess Catharine herself !
Doctor Puebla was requested to sound the Catholic
sovereigns. In a letter frora Queen Isabella we find :
" The Doctor (Puebla) has also written to us con
cerning the marriage of the King of England with
the Princess of Wales, our daughter, saying that it
is spoken of in England."*
The learned editor observes : " It is true De Puebla
seeras only to have written that the English said, 'a
marriage between King Henry and the Princess of
Wales might be contracted;' the words ' the English '
might mean the Privy Council, according to the
manner in which De Puebla was accustomed to ex
press himself. But there is very little doubt that it
here meant the king himself."!
This time Queen Isabella could not restrain herself,
her indignation broke forth in bitter language; she
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 294.
t Introduction, p. xcvi.
VOL. I. F

66 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
wrote to Puebla himself that she could not under
stand how he could have allowed King Henry to
conceive such a notion : " We clearly cannot patiently
suffer anything more to be said about a thing which
is so devoid of truth and virtue, or right and reason,
and which is so disrespectful to our own persons, and
towards the Princess of Wales, our daughter. There
fore, if a remedy be not speedily found for these
things, we shall consider that the principal responsi
bility of the failure rests upon you."*
As Isabella knew Puebla's intimacy with the King
of England, she had some grounds for conjecturing
that he was acting in concert with that prince, of
whose full confidence he was recipient, especially on
the affairs of Spain.
The sarae day, or the next, the queen wrote again
to the Duke of Estrada a letter no less vigorous, aud
at much greater length.
" The Doctor has also written to us concerning the
marriage of the King of England with the Princess
of Wales, our daughter, saying that it is spoken of in
England. But as this would be a very evil thing —
one never before seen, and the mere mention of
which offends the ears — we would not for anything
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 294. Queen EUzabeth died
February llth. Isabella's letter from Spain to De Puebla is
dated Alcala, April llth. The letter to Estrada, also dated April
llth, is endorsed as received by him at Durham House, London,
on May 14th, so that nearly six weeks were consumed in transit.
(Ed.)

APPEALS OF ISABELLA. 67
in the world that it should take place. Therefore, if
anything be said to you about it, speak of it as a
thing not to be endured."*
She had informed Puebla of the approaching de
parture of her daughter, and, in the further portion
of the sarae despatch, addressed to the Duke of
Estrada, she still raore strenuously insists on her
leaving England.
"However, should the King of England not be
willing immediately to settle the betrothal of the
Princess of Wales with the Prince of Wales, as afore
said, in tbat case the Princess of Wales shall depart
at once for Spain. She shall do so, moreover, with
out waiting to recover the one hundred thousand
scudos of the portion of which the King of England
has to make restitution, should he not immediately
give them.
" For it would not be consonant either with reason
or with right, human or divine, but would, on the
contrary, be a most barbarous and dishonest proceed
ing, if the King of England (provided he could)
were to keep by force that which the Princess of
Wales took with her, and which belongs to her.
"If the King of England should not bte inclined
to give the money, it will be sufficient on our part
that the affair should have received an explanation.
"We now deera it right they (i.e. the King of Eng
land and his kingdom) should know that if she remain
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 295.
f2

68 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
in England, it is by the wish of the King of England^
and not by ours.
" Having made these two explanations, let the
said Princess of Wales, our daughter, depart iramedi
ately without any delay, God willing, and without
consulting us any more about the matter. Let her
also come in the above-mentioned merchant fleet, or
in some other ships belonging to our subjects, which
you shall be assured by the navigation company now
established are seaworthy."*
Considering this very decided language, and these
formal commands, it would seera that all chance of
raatrimonial alliance between Catharine and the
House of Tudor must be broken off. But it ap
pears that, after the copious expression of her in
dignation, Isabella remembers that, though she is
a mother, she is also Queen of Castille, and must not
be too ready to sacrifice the interests of Spain, and
that it may be not impossible to come to an arrange
ment. She thinks that if she gives scope to the
matrimonial fancies of Henry VIL, and offers him
a raarriage both flattering to bis pride and satis
factory to his avarice, he will relinquish the sense
less and culpable idea that he has allowed himself
teraporarily to entertain, and that, being thankful
to the rulers of Spain for this advantage, he will
resurae his wishes in favour of the union of his
son Henry to the Princess Catharine.
=* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, pp, 300, 301, 302.

MATRIMONIAL PLANS OF HENRY VII. 69
In consequence, after having written or dictated
the letter frora which we have quoted, and signed
it, Isabella caused to be appended a postscript,
which made the ambassadors believe that she did
not intend to press any decisive measure that raight
lead to a rupture, or her daughter's departure.
She desired thera to sound the King of England
and find out whether it would suit him to raarry
the Queen Dowager of Naples, Ferdinand's niece.
This queen was, at most, six and twenty years
old. She had lately become a widow, and had in
herited from her husband some very considerable
¦estates in the kingdom of Naples. Ferdinand pro-
raised to add two hundred thousand ducats. Henry
seemed to like this proposal, or, at least, to take
it into very serious consideration, and thereupon
renewed negotiations for the marriage of his son
and the Princess Catharine, who, understanding her
mother's postscript like the ambassadors, had not
started for Spain. These negotiations were actively
pursued ; they terminated in a marriage contract,
which was agreed upon, and signed at Richraond
on the following 23rd of June, by Henrj VII. on
the one hand, and the Spanish ambassadors, re
presenting Ferdinand and Isabella, on the other.
We give the clauses and conditions of this treaty
in full, as it is very iraportant to study them in order
to be able properly to follow the history of the
future Queen of England.

70 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
"1. Ferdinand and Isabella, as well as Henry
VIL, promise to eraploy all their influence wdth the
Court of Rorae, in order to obtain the dispensation
of the Pope, necessary for the marriage of the
Princess Catharine with Henry, Prince of Wales.
The Papal dispensation is required because the said
Princess Catharine had, on a former occasion, con
tracted a marriage with the late Prince Arthur,
brother of the present Prince of Wales, whereby
she became related to Henry, Prince of Wales, ia
the first degree of affinity, and because her marriage
with Prince Arthur was solemnized according to
the rites of the Catholic church, and afterwards
consummated. "2. If the aforesaid dispensation be obtained,
Ferdinand and Isabella on the one side, and Henry
VII. on the other, promise that a marriage per verba
de praesenti shall be contracted within two months
after this treaty shall have been ratified by both the
contracting parties.
"S. When the Princess Catharine contracted her
marriage with Prince Arthur, Ferdinand and Isabella
promised to give her a marriage portion of two
hundred thousand scudos, each scudo being worth
4s, 2d. of English money. Of this sum one hundred
thousand scudos were paid into the hands of King
Henry VII. at the time when the said marriage
was solemnized. Ferdinand and Isabella renounce,
in their names, and in the name of the Princess

PORTION OF CATHARINE. 71
Catharine, all right to demand restitution of this
payment. " 4. Ferdinand and Isabella promise Henry VII. to
pay, on the marriage of their daughter to Henry,
Prince of Wales, a marriage portion of two hundred
thousand scudos, each scudo being worth 4s. 2d. of
English money. Henry VIL, on the other hand,
confesses that be has already received one half of the
said two hundred thousand scudos. The remaining
one hundred thousand scudos are to be paid in the
following manner, viz., sixty-five thousand scudos iu
coined gold ; fifteen thousand scudos in plate and
vessels of gold and silver, according to the valuation
of silversmiths in London ; twenty thousand scudos
in jewels, pearls, ornaments, etc., of the Princess
of Wales, according to their price in London, which
is to be fixed by sworn valuers. All these payments
are to be made in London within ten days before
or after the solemnisation of the marriage. The
marriage is to be solemnised as soon as Prince
Henry shall have completed the fourteenth year
of his age, and as soon as Ferdinand and Isabella,
or their successor, can show that the whole marriage
portion is in London, ready for delivery. "Ferdinand
and Isabella pledge their and their subjects' fortunes
as security for the punctual execution of this clause
of this treaty.
" 5. Prince Arthur had settled on the Princess of
Wales her dowry, consisting of lands, manors, etc..

72 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
the revenues of which amount to the third part of
the revenues of Wales, Cornwall, and Chester. She
is to give back within ten days before or after the
solemnisation of her new marriage all documents
and title-deeds respecting this dowry ; and Prince
Henry will endow her on the day of the solem
nisation of the marriage with a new dowry, as
great and as well secured as her first dowry was.
Henry VII. promises to ratify the constitution of
the new dowry within one month after the solem
nisation of the marriage. The Princess Catharine
renounces all other claims on the revenues of Wales,
Cornwall, and Chester, and promises to be content
with her dowry.
" 6. In case the Princess Catharine become Queen
of England, she is to have, besides her dowry as
Princess of Wales, a dowry as queen, consisting of
the third part of all the revenues of the crown of
England. She is to hold both dowries for life.
" 7. The right of succession to the crown of Spain
is reserved to the Princess Catharine.
" 8. If the Princess Catharine become Queen of
England, she is to enjoy, during the lifetime of her
royal husband, all the privileges and revenues that
other Queens of England have enjoyed before her.
Henry VII. pledges the whole of his fortune and the
fortunes of his subjects as security for the punctual
fulfilment of his obligations.
" 9. If Henry, Prince of Wales, should die before

THE MARRIAGE TREATY. 73
his father, and leave a son or sons born of the Prin
cess Catharine during her marriage with him, Henry
VII. proraises to create such sons, or the first-born
son. Prince of Wales, and to do all in his power to
secure to the said son the succession to the throne
after his death.
" 10. Both contracting parties proraise to ratify
this treaty within six months after the date of its
conclusion. " Richmond, 23rd of June, 1503." *
Precautions could not be carried further than they
were by Henry VII. The various clauses of this
contract display the distrustful, avaricious, and mean
character of this politician, or rather this royal attor
ney. He will have the weight and quality of all the
valuables sent by Ferdinand examined in Lohdon ;
thanks to his goldsmiths and sworn valuers, he
hopes that he shall not be deceived in the jewels.
However, when the marriage contract had been
signed by Prince Henry and Catharine, Henry VII.
seemed at first no less anxious to conclude the busi
ness than the King and Queen of Spain. Even before
the marriage contract, ratified first by the King of
England, had been ratified in Spain, Ferdinand wrote
to Rome to solicit a dispensation from the pope in
favour of the projected marriage, in fulfilraent of one
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, pp. 306, 307, 308.

74 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
of the first stipulations of the contract,* The follow
ing passage of his letter is important, and is there
fore quoted :
" In the clause of the treaty which mentions the
dispensation of the pope, it is stated that the Prin
cess Catharine consummated her marriage with Priuce
Arthur. The fact, however, is that, although they
were wedded. Prince Arthur and the princess never
consummated the marriage. It is well known in
England that the princess is still a virgin. But, as
the English are much disposed to cavil, it has seemed
to be more prudent to provide for the case as though
the marriage had been consummated, and the dis
pensation of the pope must be in perfect keeping
with the said clause of the treaty. The right of
succession depends on the undoubted legitimacy of
the marriage."!
This letter is very remarkable ; it witnesses to the
fact that Catharine never ceased to affirm.
On his side, Henry also displayed his anxious de
sire to obtain the pope's dispensation, as is proved
by the following letter : —
" Henry VII. to Pope Julius II.
"Had written to Pope Alexander VI. and Pope
Pius IIL, asking them to grant the dispensation
* The ratiflcation took place in Spain by Ferdinand and Isa
bella at the end of the month of September, 1503,
t Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 309.

THE DISPENSATION. 75
necessary for the marriage of the Princess Catharine
of Spain witb Henry, Prince of Wales. Both these
popes, his imraediate predecessors, had received his
demands so favourably that the dispensation would
have been given long ago, if they had not so sud
denly died.
" Had repeated his deraands afterwards very often
in his letters and by his ambassadors. The conse
quence was that he (Julius II.) promised in different
letters, and by word of mouth, to send the desired
dispensation by Robert Sherborne. Robert Sher
borne, however, has returned to England without
the dispensation, and it even seems as if nothing at
all had been done at Rome in the matter. Repeats
his former prayers tbat the dispensation may be
granted as soon as possible, and that it may be de
livered at once tp the English ambassadors who are
remaining at Rorae.
"Westminster, November 28th, 1503."
This displays the great interest that Henry VII.
then took in his endeavours to obtain the bull of
dispensation. In the month of January, 1504, Julius ' II. signed
and published a bull of dispensation for the marriage
of Henry and Catharine.
"Pope Julius II. has been inforraed that the Prin
cess Catharine of Spain had contracted a marriage
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 341.

76 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
with Arthur, late Prince of Wales, and that this mar
riage has, perhaps, been consummated.
" Notwithstanding this authorises, in his quality
of the Head of the Church, Henry, Prince of Wales,
and the Princess Catharine to contract a lawful mar
riage." *
The divorce that Henry VIII. afterwards caused
to be pronounced makes these documents of capital
iraportance. Before the bull had been confirmed by the form
alities that gave solemnity and authenticity, Julius II.
secretly sent an abstract of its contents in the form
of a brief to Isabella of Castille, who, already at
tacked by the sickness that brought her to the grave,!
in her last moraents, was cheered by this communi
cation. A little before the death of the great Queen Isar
bella, as the pope's dispensation had been granted,
preparations were made for Catharine's betrothal to
the Prince of Wales. The young princess had
written to her father, Ferdinand, that she had no
great inclination for a second marriage in England,
but, at the same time, requested her parents not to
take her individual tastes or comfort into account,!
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 322, dated in Latin in the
first year of JuUus's papacy.
t See the account of IsabeUa's death in the introduction ; she
was iU a long time, and did not die tUl the month of November,
1504. t Lingard, vol. v, p. 833, from Mariana Hist., Introduction.

BETROTHAL OF CATHARINE AND HENRY. 77
No account was taken of her respectful and tiraid
opposition ; she was betrothed to Henry, Prince of
Wales, on June 25th, 1504, in the private chapel of
the Bishop of Salisbury in Fleet Street.
Soon after this ceremony, the death of Isabella left
Catharine at the mercy of two politicians, both of
whom were disposed to speculate, each after his
own fashion, on the unfortunate plight of the young
princess, who was then almost entirely left alone.
As to Henry VII. in especial, he was still expect
ing the payment of one hundred thousand crowns*
that were due to hira, and, without deciding on
Catharine's fate, he kept her in his hands as a kind
of personal security, a living pledge for the balance
due to him.
In order to render her fate still raore uncertain,
and to stimulate the fears as well as the hopes of
Ferdinand, the day after the Prince of Wales, his son,
attained his fifteenth year,! the king made hira sign a
protest that he had never done, or intended to do,
anything to legalise the contract of raarriage that
had been made during his minority. In case Ferdi
nand should complain of this strange proceeding, the
* This sum was the balance of that two hundred thousand
scudos promised to Catharine on her first marriage to Arthur ;
only one hundred thousand scudos of it had been paid, and the
King of Aragon had contributed to this payment, but he in
tended that the balance should be paid by the new sovereigns of
Castille, successors and representatives of IsabeUa.
t Lingard, vol. v, p. 329, says fourteenth. Which is right?
Henry VIH. born June 28, 1491 ; so fourteen is right.

78 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
ambassadors of Henry VII. were coraraissioned to
explain that the Prince of Wales would only be
relieved by this protest from any constraint that
might have been put upon him, that he had always
been desirous of marrying Catharine, but that he was
at liberty to marry another woman.*
* " Se tenia por Ubre para casarse con quien quisiese.'' Zurita,
vi, p. 193., editor de Saragossa, 1610. The date of this document is
June 28, 1505, it therefore was very little before the death of Philip
the Handsome ; but as the date of a secret document is not cer
tain, and Miss Strickland thinks it may weU have been ante-dated
to avoid the inferences that might have been drawn from this
strange act, unfavourable to the poUcy of Henry VIL, if there
had been a possibility of its being proved that he did not think of
it till he had heard of the death of Juana's husband and had
formed the idea of marrying her. It was the cautious Fox,
Henry VII's chaplain, who presided over this act of protestation ;
he composed it with a secretary, in the presence of a very few of
the household, in a ground-floor room standing quite apart at the
palace of Shene. Then the young Prince of Wales was fetched,
and his signature extracted from him without his knowing what
he did, perhaps without having been completely informed of the
bearing of the deed he signed. It is to be observed that he had
an inclination for Catharine at this time. This protest was Icept
secret at flrst, and only pubhshed several years afterwards, much
to the public surprise.

79

CHAPTER IV.
Opposition of a Divine to the Betrothal of Henry, Prince of
Wales, and Catharine — Henry VII. seems to have Serious
Thoughts of a Marriage with the Queen Dowager of
Naples — Remarkable Negotiations entered upon Through
the Medium of Catharine — Matrimonial Catechism — The
Queen declares that she will not marry again — Destitu
tion of Catharine — Dona Juana and the Archduke Joseph
in England — Henry VII.'s Exercise of Constraint to keep
them in England — He does not allow Freedom of Com
munication between Catharine and Juana — The Arch
duke's Departure — Urgent Letter from Catharine to her
Father, Ferdinand — Catharine's Sufferings — Troubles
connected with Royal Marriages.
WHEN the betrothal of Henry and Catharine
took place in 1504, in the Bishop of Salis
bury's palace, Henry VII. caused a divine to attend
among the witnesses and present objections written
in Latin, founded on the unlawfulness of unions
between brothers and sisters-in-law ; but Doctor
Barnes replied also in Latin that the ensuing mar
riage would become legitimate, according to the
laws of the Church, by means of the pope's dispensa
tion, which had been demanded and was said to be
granted.* * See Hardwick's papers, 1-13., quoted by Hallam, Constitu
tional History of England, vol. i, p. 44.

80 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
The objection thus put forward was intended as a
kind of touchstone, a sort of indication of a cause of
nullity which raight be advanced to alarm the Spanish
Government and enhance the price of the final union
of Catharine and the Prince of Wales.
Perhaps also Henry VII. kept in reserve this alle
gation of a voiding impediment, as a means of break
ing off a matrimonial alliance that might cease to be
agreeable to him.
His project had been to create a grand position for
himself in European politics by this fresh connection
with Spain, But be would attain this object rauch
more directly if he himself married the Queen
Dowager of Naples, the niece of King Ferdinand ;
that prince himself having, as is well known,
suggested the idea.
While he got a footing in Spain by this marriage,
he raight marry his daughter Mary to some great
prince on the Continent. His eldest daughter Mar
garet was the wife of the King of Scotland. So his
project was thus to create for himself a grand posi
tion in Europe, and to be able to play the part of
mediator between all the Christian princes.
Thus, a short time after the betrothal of the Prince
of Wales, in the month of August, 1504, when the
Duke of Estrada was returning to Spain, he begged
that nobleman to speak seriou.sly to the King of
Aragon about the proposed marriage with his niece.
Before an answer could be received to this appliea-

THE QUEEN OF NAPLES. 81
tion, in the month of October following, he told
Puebla that he had not quite made up his mind to
marry again, but that he wished to have the advice
of the members of his council on this matter. This
advice, as may well be supposed, was not unfavour
able. However, before coming to a definite resolu
tion, he desired to know something of the features
of the Queen Dowager of Naples. He even desired,
if it were not considered improper, to have her por
trait painted upon canvas and sent to hira. And he
promised to keep this a raost absolute secret. And
the portrait to be " put in a case." Again, he desired
what would be hard to manage, " without the Queen
of Naples or Her Serene Highness the Queen her
mother knowing or suspecting anything about it,"
and, in a letter a little later, " for your Highnesses
must know that, if she were ugly and not beautiful,
the King of England would not have her for all the
treasures in the world, nor would he dare to take
her, the English thinking so much as they do about
personal appearance." *
Puebla did not fail to inform Ferdinand that the
King of England was much taken up with this new
matrimonial scheme, talked about it continually both
in private and with the Privy Council whenever there
was a chance. He extolled the goodness of Ferdinand
and Isabella! in making this proposal to him. He
* Bergenroth. Calendar, vol. i, pp. xcix, 334, 344.
t " Lauded your Highnesses above the Cherribim." Bergenroth,
Calendar, vol. i, p. 344. Puebla to Ferdmand and IsabeUa. (Ed.)
VOL. I. G

82 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
was delighted when he was told that it was the best
possible marriage for him.
The Queen Dowager of Naples was living with her
mother, Ferdinand's sister, vice-regent of the king
dora of Valencia, and residing at Valencia itself, the
capital of that country. Henry VII. decided on send
ing three arabassadors to these two queens, Francis
Marsin, Jaraes Braybrooke, and John Stile. They
were the bearers of a list of queries in twenty-four
sections. These are King Henry VII.'s instructions and the
arabassadors' replies : —
" 1. After delivering to the queens the letters from
the Princess of Wales, to note well the estate that
they keep.
" The ambassadors arrived at Valencia the 22nd
of June. Next day had an audience of the queen.
Delivered the Princess of Wales's letters ; the queens
giving their thanks with a grave, steadfast coun
tenance. The queens have their lodgings severally
by theraselves, though they keep their estates and
households jointly in the king's palace, and they
maintain a noble, sad rule and order among their
household. " 2. To mark the estates and households kept by
the queens, and to note whom they have about them.
" The principal points are answered in the first
article. Suits are made daily unto the said queens'
court of lords, spiritual and temporal, respecting

LIST OP QUESTIONS. 83
matters and causes such as might be brought to a
king. " 3. To note the raanner of ordering their estates,
and the discretion and wisdora the queen may show
in her answers to the ambassadors.
"Ever since the young queen came to Spain, she
and her mother have kept their estates together.
On the delivery of the letters, the old queen replied
for herself as a noble, wise woman, and afterwards
the young queen, with a sad, noble countenance, not
speaking many words.
"4. Whether the young queen speak any other
languages besides Spanish and Italian.
" She understands both Latin and French, but
does not speak them.
" 5. To note well her age, stature, and features ot
ber body.
"Her age is twenty-seven, and not much more.
Could not come to any perfect knowledge of her
stature, by reason of her wearing slippers after the
manner of her country. A man could not lightly
perceive the features of her body, for that she wore a
great mantle of cloth.
" 6. To mark her visage, whether painted or not,
fat or lean, sharp or round, cheerful, frowning, or
raelancholy, steadfast, light, or blushing.
" Is not painted ; of a good compass, amiable,
round, and fat; cheerful, not frowning; a demure,
shame-faced countenance ; of few words, but spoken
g2

84 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
with a womanly, laughing cheer and good gravity.
" 7. Clearness of skin ?
" Very fine and clear.
" 8. Colour of hair ?
" Seems to be of a brown colour.
" 9. Eyes, brows, teeth, and lips ?
" Eyes greyish brown ; brows like a wire of brown
hair ; teeth fair, clean, and well set ; lips soraewhat
round and full.
" 10. Nose and forehead ?
"Nose rising in the middle and bowed toward
the end. Forehead not perfectly to be discerned,
for that her kerchief carae down to her brows.
"11. Complexion?
" Fair, sanguine, and clear.
"12. Arms?
" Round and not very small ; in length a good
proportion. "13. Hands?
" Right fair ; somewhat full and soft.
"14. Fingers?
" Right fair and small, and of a meety length and
breadth. "15. Neck?
" Full and comely, not mis-shapen.
"16. Breasts?
" Somewhat great and full, and trussed somewhat
bigh. " 17. Whether any hair on her lips ?

LIST OF QUESTIONS. 85
" As far as could be perceived none.
" 18. To endeavour to speak with her fasting, and
that she may tell them some matter at length, so
that they may see whether her breath be sweet ?
"Could never come near to her fasting, but at
other times have approached her visage as near as
they conveniently could, but never felt any savour of
spice, and believe her to be of a sweet savour.
" 19. To note her height ?
" Seemed not to be of high stature ; but by reason
of her clothing, and being somewhat round and well-
liking, she appeareth somewhat lesser.
" 20. To inquire whether she hath any sickness of
her nativity, blemish, or deformity?
" Having considered that such secret causes be to
all persons unknown, save to her physician or apothe-
•caries, had applied to Pastorell, who is in a manner
physician to both queens, and who made answer
that he had served her many years, and she had
ever been in good health, of a noble nature and
complexion. "21. Whether she be in any singular favour
witb the King of Aragon, and whether she resemble
him? "He right well loveth and favoureth her. It is a
common saying in all Spain that she is to be married
to the King of England by means of the King of
Aragon. Somewhat resembles him in the fashion of
her nose and complexion.

86 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
" 22. To inquire the manner of her diet ?
" Is a good feeder, and eateth well her meat twice
a day ; drinketh not often ; most commonly water,
sometimes cinnamon water, and sometimes ipocras,
but not often.
"23. To inquire for some cunning painter who
may draw a picture of the queen, to agree as nearly
as possible in every point and circumstance with her
very semblance ; and if at the first or second making
thereof it be not made perfect, then the same or
some other most cunning painter shall renew it till
it be raade agreeable in every behalf to her very
image. " No answer made to this article.
"24. To inquire what jointure she bath, or shall
have, and to know the value thereof?
" Have been informed by one Martyn de Albystur
that the value of her jointure is thirty thousand
ducats of yearly rent, secured to her and her heirs
by King Ferdinand of Naples, while the old queen
has forty thousand, but the great Captain Gonsalvo
Ferdinando having confiscated their property in
Naples, the King of Castille pays them fifteen or
sixteen thousand ducats yearly for their expenses."*
Catharine was supposed to be the person desirous
of the portrait, as she is the one who made the
move in this matter ; the ambassadors carried letters
from her to the two queens, and they seemed to
"* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, pp. 359, 360, 361.

THE QUEEN REFUSES. 87
be her messengers, and not those of King Henry VIL
But this mission failed completely. There was no
need to put the talent of the Spanish painters to the
proof; the young queen would not consent to have
her portrait taken. She also declared that she was
quite averse to such a marriage, and her mother
shared her repugnance. Ferdinand was consulted by
his sister and niece, but thought he ought not to
oppose their wishes. He himself was already seeking
the hand of Germaine de Foix, and seemed to draw
towards King Louis XIL Now, every step that he
took towards France removed England to a greater
distance. Catharine suffered from this recoil of policy against
Henry VII. Perhaps even the prince owed her a
grudge for the ill-success of his matrimonial negotia
tions. He first ordered Catharine's little Court to be
broken up. Then she was deprived of any house of
her own, and had to live with her father-in-law. On
the pretext that her expenses were provided for, she
was left absolutely destitute of everything. She often
had no means of paying the salaries of her ladies of
honour, nor even of defraying her personal expenses
in dress and toilette.
A letter that she wrote to her father. King Ferdi
nand, in the month of September, 1505, shows the
need of money to which she was reduced.
In this letter she speaks of a marriage proposal
for one of her ladies of honour, DoSa Maria de

88 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Salazar,* a raember of one of the raost illustrious
families in Spain.
"Most high and most puissant Lord,
" It is known to your highness how Dona
Maria de Salazar was lady to the queen my lady,
who is in blessed glory, and bow her highness sent
her to come with me ; and, in addition to the service
which she did to her highness, she has served me
well, and in all this has done as a worthy woman.
Wherefore I supplicate your highness that, as well
on account of the one service as the other, you
would command her to be paid, since I have nothing
wherewith to pay her, and also because her sister,
the wife of Monsieur d'Aymeria, has in view for
her a marriage in Flanders; of whicb she cannot
avail herself, nor hope that it can be accomplished
without knowing what the said Dona Maria has for
a marriage portion." !
But it was not the will of Providence that Maria
de Salazar should be married in Flanders, and thus
be separated from Catharine, whom she had consoled
in the dreary, melancholy days of her youth, and
* Contemporary EngUsh writers are very apt to confuse Spanish
names, and call this lady Marie de Saluces or de Saluzzi. Now
she was the daughter of Don Salazar, captain of Ferdinand's
guard, and by her mother was related or connected to Catharine
of Aragon. Ferdinand, who was often involved himself, owed
arrears of pay to Captain Salazar, and Catharine also pressed for
the payment of this.
t Wood's Letters of Royal and IUustrious Ladies, vol. i, p. 126,

CATHARINE'S ILLNESS. 89
whom she was destined to attend upon even in her
last agonies. She remained in England, and gained
the affections of the rich heir of the ancient bouse
of Willoughby d'Eresby. The noble lord married
her without inquiring whether she had any marriage
portion. Towards the end of this same year Catharine,
sinking under ber heavy load of troubles and pri
vations of every kind, fell seriously ill. While con
fined to her bed she wrote to her father, in the
early part of December, the following letter, in which
she attributes all the sufferings of her melancholy
life to Doctor Puebla, who was a mean flatterer
of Henry VIL, and encouraged hira in all his
tyrannical measures.
" Your highness shall know, as I have often writ
ten to you, that since I came into England I have
not had a single maravedi, except a certain sum
which was given me for food, and this such a sum
that it did not suffice without my baving many
debts in London ; and that which troubles me more
is to see my servants and maidens go at a loss,
and that they have not wherewith to get clothes ;
and this, I believe, is all done by the h*and of the
doctor, who, notwithstanding your highness has
written, sending hira word that he should have
money from the King of England, my lord, that
their costs should be given them, yet, in order not
to trouble him, will rather intrude upon and neglect

90 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
the service of your highness. Now, my lord, a
few days ago Dona Elvira de Manuel asked my
leave to go to Flanders to get cured of a complaint
which has come into her eyes, so that she lost the
sight of one of them; and there is a physician in
Flanders who cured the Infanta Dona Isabel of
the same disease with which she is afflicted. She
laboured to bring him here, so as not to leave me,
but dould never succeed with him ; and I, since
if she were blind she could not serve me, durst not
hinder her journey. I begged the King of England,
my lord, that until our Dona Elvira should return
his highness would command that I should have,
as companion, an old English lady, or that he would
take me to his court." *
In this letter she afterwards accuses Doctor Puebla
of having advised Henry to deprive her of her little
court, and not to leave her a household of her own,
such as seemed required by her title of Princess
Dowager of Wales, and her rank as Infanta of Spain.
She says that Puebla seems to belong rather to
the service of Henry VII. than to that of the King of
Spain, and she decidedly adds that he ought to be
replaced by another ambassador.
Ferdinand knew that Puebla had the ear of the
King of England, and thoroughly understood Conti
nental politics, so he was deaf to Catharine's com
plaints, and retained his ambassador.
* Wood's Letters, vol. i, p. 131.

PHILIP THE HANDSOME. 91
This prince is, not unreasonably, accused of great
duplicity, but be behaved quite loyally at least to
wards his son-in-law Philip the Handsome and his
daughter Juana.
When Queen Isabella was already dangerously
ill he did all he could to prevent Philip from leav
ing Spain and going to Flanders. He represented
to bim that, if the queen sbould die, he and
the archduchess could enter peaceably into posses
sion of the kingdom of Castille, if they were on
the spot, but that, if they were away from Spain,
their clairas to the succession might be contested.
Philip would not attend to this wise counsel; he
went to Flanders by land, and on his way negoti
ated a treaty with the King of France, in the name
of the Sovereigns of Spain, though they had given
bim no directions to that effect.*
A short time after the young couple reached the
Low Countries, Philip fell violently in love with one
of the Spanish ladies who formed part of the suite.
Juana, in the hall of the palace, in the presence of
several persons of the Court, fell upon her too charra
ing rival with her fists, and, in a desperate excess of
jealousy, became so violent as to tear out the beau
tiful hair that had excited the admiration of the
faithless archduke. Philip was greatly enraged by
* Letter of Ferdinand to De Puebla, June 22nd, 1505. Ber
genroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 155. The letter recapitulates matters
that had occurred some time before.

-92 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
this attack ; he expressed his wrath against the prin
cess in most unsuitable and unchivalrous language,
and declared he would have nothing more to do
with her. The uews of this sad affair aggravated
Isabella's illness, and perhaps hastened her end.
Her will expressly ordained that, in case of the
absence or incapacity of Juana, Ferdinand should
administer the affairs of Castille as regent.
But Ferdinand made a treaty with France, and
married Germaine de Foix, niece to Louis XIL, thus
rendering himself so unpopular in Castille that he
was obliged to give up the regency and hand over
the government of that kingdom to the Archduke
Philip. Then Philip and his wife, who had become recon
ciled, left Zealand, and erabarked with a fleet of fifty
sail. A fearful storm cast them 'upon the English
coast, and they were obliged to take refuge at Mel
combe, in Dorsetshire.* Some authors say that Philip
was desirous of the alliance of Henry VIL, and asked
his permission to wait on him. According to another
version, Henry invited Philip and Juana to his Court
in terms that admitted of no refusal, kept them three
months in a sort of brilliant captivity, and seized the
opportunity of extorting some political concessions
from them. This last version is Lingard's.!
Perhaps these two views may be reconciled, or, at
least, brought pretty near together.
* And not at Falmouth, as several authors say. ! Vol. v, p. 330.

PHILIP AT WINDSOR. 93
In fact, we find that Philip at first went alone to
Windsor Castle to see Henry VIL, leaving his wife
at the sea-side. So his intention seems to have
been to obtain a short interview with the King of
England, and to embark again soon after with Dona
Juana. But he gave way to the very pressing re
quests, or perhaps to some actual pressure from his •
royal host, and prolonged his stay far beyond the
period that had been fixed. Henry VII. began by
sending the Earl of Arundel and Lord Mountjoy to
Juana to conduct her to Windsor. Meanwhile Ca
tharine took a great deal of trouble on Philip's ac
count, hoping to conciliate his favour and protection.
She danced a Spanish dance before him with a lady
of her household, and asked her brother-in-law to
join them. The prince testily answered her that he
was a sailor, and not a dancer ; then he returned to
his conversation with Henry VIL*
Queen Juana, attended by her personal suite and
the two English lords, arrived at Windsor the 10th
of February, a little more than a week after her hus
band. In order to avoid a solemn, ceremonious re
ception, she entered by the back of the palace, but
Henry VII. came to meet her as far as the foot of
the staircase, and erabraced her very tenderly.!
Then it was Catharine's turn to corae and welcome
the queen. She presented herself with her sister-in-
* Miss Strickland, from the Herald's Journal.
t The reason for these particulars being given wUl appear.

^4 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
law, Mary,* expecting that, after this presentation,
she should be left alone with Juana, and be permit
ted to give free scope to the confidences that seeraed
a real necessity for two sisters who had been parted
for so many years. But Henry VII. insisted on the
interposition of etiquette to stop the display of their
mutual affection. Catharine waited a long time
without a chance of a private interview with Juana,
thanks to the distrust of the King of England. This
distrust was on two accounts. First, he feared the
complaints that Catharine might make of the ill-
treatment she had experienced. Secondly, he feared
her opposition to the secret treaty he had just ex
tracted from Philip, and whicb was unfavourable to
the interests of Castille. Besides, by this treaty
Philip had with extreme reluctance engaged to give
up to Henry an English lord — Suffolk — who had
taken refuge in the Low Countries, and who had re
ceived from the archduke most formal promises of
protection.! Finally, Henry VIL, after his disap
pointment at the refusal of the Queen Dowager of
Naples, had requested from Philip the hand of his
sister, the Archduchess Margaret, who was twice a
* Daughter of Henry VIL, and sister of Henry VIH., after
wards third wife of Louis XIL, married in 1514.
t Henry VII. had promised to respect this nobleman's life, and
so contented himseU with shutting him up in the Tower. But
when he died, he charged his son Henry to have his victim exe
cuted. Henry VTIL defrayed this legacy with exemplary exacti
tude. (This was Edmund, second son of the Duke of Suffolk.
Lingard, vol. v, p. 331. Ed.)

THE ARCHDUCHESS MARGARET. 95
widow, first of the Infant of Spain, and then of the
Duke of Savoy, so that she had two dowries. What
a captivating bait for sucb a selfish schemer as the
King of England ! *
Philip probably did all he could to effect this
marriage, but the Princess Margaret declared that
she did not choose to marry again.
On February 12th, Juana commenced her journey
to Plymouth in a rich litter that had belonged to
Queen Elizabeth ; she was detained with her husband
upon the Englisb coast until the middle of April,
either by contrary winds or by the policy of Henry
VII. Catharine had only been able to have one
short interview with her sister, in which she de
scribed her painful situation. No doubt she was en
couraged to speak by her sister Juana having per
ceived and taken notice of her state of destitution.
She wrote to her father, Ferdinand, about the
same time — thatis to say, in the month of April — the
following letter: —
" I cannot speak more particularly, because I know
not what will become of this letter, or if it will arrive
at the hands of your highness, but when Don Pedro
d'Azala shall come, who is now with the' king and
queen in the harbour, your highness shall know all
* There was also at this time some suggestion of the marriage
of the Princess Mary, Henry VII.'s daughter, and Prince Charles,
afterwards Charles V. Philip had consented with pain to this
proposal, only under the weight of moral pressure.

96 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
by ciphers. I have written many times to your
highness, supplicating you to order a remedy for my
extreme necessity, of which " (letters) " I have never
had an answer. Now I supplicate your highness,
for the love of our Lord, that you consider how I ara
your daughter, and that after Him" (God) "I have
no other good reraedy except in your highness ; and
how I am in debt in London, and this not for ex
travagant things, nor yet by relieving my own"
(people), " who greatly need it, but only for food ;
and how the King of England, my lord, will not
cause them " (the debts) " to be satisfied, although I
myself spoke to bim, and all those of his council,
and that with tears ; but he said that he is not
obliged to give anything, and that even the food he
gives me is of his own good will, because your high
ness has not kept promise with him in the money of
my marriage portion. I told hira that I believed
that in tirae to come your highness would discharge
it. He told rae that that was yet to see, and that he
did not know it, so that, my lord, I am in the great
est trouble and anguish in the world; on the one
part, seeing all my people that they are ready to ask
alms, on the other, the debts which I have in London ;
about my own person, I have nothing for cheraises,
wherefore, by your highness' leave, I have now sold
some bracelets to get a dress of black velvet, for I
was all but naked, for since I departed thence"

LETTER TO FERDINAND. 97
(from Spain) "I have nothing except two new
dresses, for till now those I brought thence have
lasted me." *
Then Catharine begs her father to send her, as
confessor, a Franciscan of the strict rule. She asks
for a learned and discreet man, " because, as I have
written at other times to your highness, I do not
understand the English language, nor know how to
speak it, and I have no confessor ; and this should
be, if your highness will so command it, very quickly,
because you truly know the inconvenience of being
without a confessor, especially now to me who, for
six raonths, have been near death ; but now, thanks
to our Lord, I am somewhat better, although not
entirely well." !
She finishes her letter by saying that she has en
trusted it to one of her faithful servants, Calderon,
going to Spain to be married, and that she has no
thing she can give him in payment for his trouble
and fidelity ; she charged her father to do soraething
for hira. |
Thus sickness was added to all the moral tor
tures that Catharine had to undergo. It seems
that the intermitting fever she complained of was
very obstinate, for, in a letter of the 17th of
* Wood's Letters, vol. i, p. 138.
t Wood's Letters, vol. i, p. 140.
t This letter is dated April 22nd, 1506.
VOL. I. H

98 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
October following, she complains of its recurrence.*
At this tirae she felt discouraged, melancholy, and
hopeless. As at this time she had no inclination for
Henry VIIL, she saw no prospect of a future that
could hold out any comfort or enjoyment. Her father
seemed to wish that she should stay in England as
long as she had any chance of becoming the wife of
the new Prince of Wales, but she only lent herself to
this alliance because ber father wished it; if she
"desired success, it was in order to get out of the
impoverished and wretched condition in which Henry
VII. seeraed desirous of keeping her indefinitely. Her
heart had lately been wrung by the death of her
raother, and she seeraed to have fallen into a state of
indifference and languor.
The deeper we can penetrate, with the assistance
of the revelations of history, into the private life of
royal families, the more we discover that kings' daugh
ters find the trials of life increase in actual proportion
to their elevation. In their matrimonial alliances in
especial, difficulties of every kind arise and multiply.
There are not merely private interests to be con
sidered, there are dynastic or national considera
tions to which the first of human interests, domestic
happiness, must be sacrificed. It seems in these kind
of marriages as if personal suitability and inclina-
» Letter addressed to her sister Juana. Bergenroth, Calendar,
vol, i, p, 400, Juana's husband had just died, but Catharine did
not know this when she wrote.

TROUBLES. 99
tion go for nothing, or at least disappear in the
midst of political combination. Reasons of state
appear in all their harshness, the car, that nothing
can stop in its progress, pitilessly crushing under its
wheels the sweetest and most sacred feelings of
nature.

h2

100

CHAPTER V.
Why does not Ferdinand pay Catharine's Marriage Portion f
— Puebla himself comes at last to pity this Princess —
Death of the Archduke PhiUp the Fair — Henry VII. asks
the Widow Juana in Marriage — Ferdinand makes Delays,
but gives Hopes — Henry VII. is satisfied, and treats
Catharine better — She serves him as a go-between iu his
Matrimonial Negotiations — Under Henry's Influence, she
writes a very Strong Letter in favour of this Marriage —
Subtlety and little Dissimulations of the Princess required
by the Necessities of her Position — The Treaty of Mar
riage between Henry VII. and Juana absolutely comes to
an End — This Check makes Catharine's Wretched Con
dition still worse — Ferdinand's Great Anger with Henry
VIL, for he neither wUl marry her to the Prince of
Wales, nor let her go back to Spain — Ferdinand is on the
point of declaring War against England, when he hears
of the Death of Henry VII,
IT is a curious question why Ferdinand always de
ferred the sending of the hundred thousand crowns
requisite to complete the marriage portion promised
to Catharine. This was the principal excuse for the
uncomfortable condition in which Henry VII. kept
that princess, and the privations of all sorts that he
made her undergo.
There is some sort of an explanation of the indefi-

ARREAR OF PORTION. 101
nite delay in the payment of this debt, in the state
of things after the death of Isabella of Castille.
When the Archduke Philip returned to Spain with
his wife Dona Juana, on whom the crown had de
volved, considerable disagreement had broken out
between the Archduke and Ferdinand. While making
no difficulty about handing over the reins of the
government of Castille to Philip the Handsorae,
the King of Aragon intended to relieve himself from
paying the remainder of the marriage portion of
the Princess of Wales by charging it upon him. He
tried very hard to induce him as well as Dona Juana
to keep Isabella's jewels as their part of the inherit
ance, and to send the value to England. Certainly
the jewels were worth more than a hundred thou
sand crowns. Nevertheless, neither of the couple
would consent to this arrangement.
When Henry VII. heard of these disputes, causing
<ielay and coming to nothing, he fell into a violent
rage, and poor Princess Catharine suffered greatly
from it. The ill-treatment she had to endure was
such that Doctor Puebla himself, who palliated
everything, " sugared over " * everything, at last
bimself felt that the proceedings of the King of
England towards Catharine were too harsh and
too " unpleasant." Henry VIL, who seemed deter
mined to throw up the cards, went so far as impe-
* An expression of Catharine's own. Bergenroth, Calendar, vol.
i, p. 412.

102 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
riously to express his desire that his son should
become a suitor for a French princess. This may
have been a diplomatic artifice. But the young
Prince of Wales, who began to have a will of his
own, would not give in to it ; be was afraid that the
garae might at last be taken as earnest ; he did not
intend to elude the engagements resulting from his
betrothal, notwithstanding the pretence of a protest
he had been made to sign two years previously.
While this was going on, news came of the death
of the Archduke Philip, and King Henry conceived
the idea of raarrying Dona Juana, that prince's
widow. This was on many accounts an extraordinary idea.
If it had been carried out, and Catharine had at the
same time married the Prince of Wales, the old king
would have becorae the brother-in-law of his son and
of his daughter-in-law. This would have produced
a strange confusion in the family, especially if there
had been children of both marriages. It might have
been a source of troubles and civil wars. Certainly
public opinion in England would have pronounced
against such a project.
It is true that if Henry VIL had obtained the hand
of the Queen of Castille, with the hundred thousand
crowns due to him on Catharine's marriage portion,
he would probably bave broken off the marriage of
that princess to the Prince of Wales, and have made

THE QUEEN OF CASTILLE. 103
her reside in England and live upon her dowry as
widow. But it was to Catharine herself that the old king
applied, desiring her to sound Ferdinand on the pro
posal that he intended to make. The princess
thought she ought to do as he desired, and wrote a
very explicit and detailed letter to her father, in
forming hira of the intentions of Henry VII.
The reply to this letter was delayed a considerable
tirae, because the King of Aragon was at Naples,
and coramunications between England and the Two
Sicilies were neither safe nor speedy at that time.
Ferdinand wrote to bis daughter that he would do
all he could to induce Dona Juana to take a second
husband, and that if she would do so that husband
should be no other than Henry VIL* He also de
sired the most absolute secrecy, observing that no
thing could really be done in this matter until his
return to Castille, which was soon to take place.
This letter quieted the resentment of the King of
England as if by enchantment, and caused Catharine
to be better treated ; she became a useful medium,
and must be cultivated.
However, Ferdinand's reply was only .a trick of
diplomacy to appease Henry and gain time. He had
already found out that it was impossible to live with
a son-in-law married to a wife out of ber senses,
like Dona Juana. He might expect greater and
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol, i, p. 405. (Ed.)

104 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
more numerous difficulties would arise from Henry
VII. than he had already experienced with Philip
the Handsorae.
When Ferdinand's letter arrived, Henry VII. had
been seriously ill, and still kept his bed, or at any
rate his roora. None of his privy-councillors were
admitted to his presence. Nevertheless, when Catha
rine had sent him a communication of the inforraation
lately come from Spain, he sent for Puebla, and,
though so weak that he could hardly speak, held a
conversation lasting two hours.* On the morrow he
had another Spanish arabassador with him nearly all
day. Next he wrote two letters to Ferdinand in
rapid succession, where we have the key-note of his
character. In the first of these he asserts that he
bad received offers for the Prince of Wales of prin
cesses with a much larger marriage-portion than that
of Catharine. " Has, however, not accepted them,
because he loves and esteems hira so much, and is
even willing that the payment should be postponed
till the feast of St. Michael the Archangel." The
letter is dated April 12th. So the delay was reason
able enough.
At the end of the letter he says with what great
satisfaction he has received the favourable communi
cations made to him, both by the Princess Catharine
and by Puebla, concerning the bonds soon to unite
* The illness was a quinsy. Bergenroth, Calendar, vol, i,
p, 408. (Ed.)

NEGOTIATIONS. 105
him with the Spanish royal family. In a subsequent
letter he no longer expresses his satisfaction or
pleasure, it is "rapturous joy" that he experiences
at Ferdinand's proposal,* But all these transports
did not prevent his again giving a reminder that he
desired to be paid at Michaelmas at latest.
It is to be observed that from his side no one would
suspect that there was any engagement or bond in
honour due to Catharine, and that, if the King of
England still reserved his son for her, it was out of
entirely gratuitous kindness towards her, and dis
interested affection towards her father.
As for the Princess Catharine, she became a verit
able diplomatic agent when she consented to becorae
a raedium of comraunication between Henry VII. and
Dona Juana. On this subject she had comprehended
the first hint from Ferdinand, and quite understood
that there was nothing serious in the business, and
that it would uever be carried out. But the sensual
old king! iiad to be amused with this hope. Thus it
appears that Catharine was not by any means a young
innocent, nor, as some authors assert, a mere mo
nastic devotee. The fact is, that, to a certain dex
terity in the conduct of affairs, she added the habits
of piety inculcated in her earliest childhood, and
uever given up. Under the bitter trials she had
to endure, she sought consolation in her oratory
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, pp. 406, 407, written in Latin.
t Henry VII. was only flfty-two when he died. (Ed.)

106 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
from her Saviour. But she did not affect intermit
tent impulses of fervent devotion, she had a strict
rule of life, and observed it exactly.
According to Saunders, during her widowhood she
rose at midnight to recite her office, and then lay
down again ; then sbe dressed at five in the morning,
and under her robes wore the scapulary of St.
Francis. She confessed twice a week, and received
the Communion every Sunday.*
Puebla indirectly confirms Saunders's description
when he writes to Ferdinand : " And although she
(the princess) has been a month at Westminster with
the king, she is keeping the same rule and observ
ance and seclusion which she did before in her own
house."! This was the woman whom Erasmus called eleganter
docta !
Perhaps she might not have been much her
mother's inferior in political ability. She probably
only wanted a larger field and greater authority to
have given proof of rare and erainent ability. Some
years had passed, and she had seemed to go through
them in passive and inert resignation. But her mind,
after having been harshly restrained, at last, as will
afterwards appear, forcibly underwent a strong re
action, and developed all its energy.
* Saunders quoted by Audin, Histoire de Henri VIII., vol. i,
p. 74. t Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 345.

HENRY VII.'s EAGERNESS. 107
Henry VII. knew Catharine's intellectual power,
and desired her, in concert with Puebla, to be the
interpreter of his wishes and hopes for a marriage
with Juana. As he had seen this princess in London,
he did not, as in the case of the Queen Dowager of
Naples, send a set of questions as to her eyes, mouth,
complexion, the refinement of her hands, the small
ness and shape of her feet, and so on ; neither did
he ask for Juana's portrait — her picture had remained
graven on his memory; it might be said he fell in
love with the recollection of her. Nothing stopped
him in his passionate eagerness, not even the objec
tion arising from the raental alienation of Juana.
Henry asserted that popular feeling in England
would take little account of the princess's mental de
bility, and would think about nothing but her chance
of becoming a mother. Besides, if she had sorae
times experienced moments of mental alienation, the
cause was to be found in the reasons for jealousy that
Philip had given her, and his unworthy behaviour
towards her. Now Henry would treat her so well,
and surround her with such care, that she should
soon recover her reason and health in England. The
most obsequious protestations cost him' nothing.
Philip had, it is true, been a bad son. As for himself,
he would be a model of filial affection, and would be
careful not to meddle in the affairs of Castille ; he
would leave the entire government of that kingdora
to Ferdinand for all his life, but his own entire king-

108 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
dora should be at the disposal of his father-in-law.*
Ferdinand had a plan of going to fight the Moors
in Africa, building castles there, and holding these
ancient enemies of Spain in check. Henry offered
his services in this war. The English archers seemed
as if they must secure the success of such an expedi
tion, and with their help in a few years all Africa
might be subdued. Ferdinand would become the
conqueror and father of this vast country, and Henry
would accompany him thither as his ally and son.
He added that he was but fifty-one years old, and
thus several years younger than the King of
Spain. Were not these hablerias entirely in the Spanish
taste, and were they not probably inspired by Puebla
himself? But Henry VII. did not confine himself to holding
up these brilliant and fanciful prospects for the
future ; he added more real and more practical con
cessions, of immense value from his point of view,
though perhaps not equally valuable in Ferdinand's
eyes. First, a fresh delay in the payment of the
marriage portion ; then the acceptance of silver plate
on account, at the value set upon it by experts ;
lastly, Henry announced that he had countermanded
the departure of the ambassadors who had been
'* Ala disposicion de usted is a weU-known form of Spanish
courtesy, which is not very binding. No doubt the King of
England uses this expression under Puebla's influence.

DECLINE OP henry's HEALTH. 109'
commissioned to arrange the Prince of Wales's mar
riage with a French princess.
He requested that the expense of the royal mar
riage sbould be defrayed either from the revenues of
Castille, or from the personal property of Ferdinand,
and that he should himself have a pension settled
upon hira of about equal value to that which had
been assigned to Philip when he had gone ta
Spain. When the proper tirae was corae, Henry VII.
would send ambassadors to conclude the marriage
by procuration ; but he would not admit the idea of
the refusal of his hand by Juana ; he declared that
this would be dishonourable to his character. On
this point the Princess of Wales, in her letters to
Ferdinand, confidentially insinuated that she could
not be of the same opinion.
Standing between two politicians, and obliged in
sorae sort to deceive one or the other, she chose her
father as the depository of her real thoughts, and
reserved all her sincerity for him. Besides, it was
notorious that the King of England's health was
rapidly declining, and that he was hastening to the
grave. He felt that so it was, yet pr^ended to
play the young raan. Thus, in the month of
September, 1505, Henry writes to the Princess of
Wales " that he enjoys perfect health, and leads a
very agreeable life in the corapany of some nobles
and a great number of gentlemen — spends his time

110 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
in hunting and hawking."* A month afterwards, his
good friend Puebla wrote to Ferdinand that Henry's
late illness had produced a remarkable effect —
" given him twice as good a constitution as he had
formerly. He is growing stout."! Being resolved
on doing all he possibly can to obtain the hand
of Juana, he requires Catharine to write to her sister
in favour of the marriage. This letter is so different
both in style of expression and in matter from those
written to her by Ferdinand on the same subject as
to suggest that it may have been dictated by Henry
VII. It must certainly have been submitted to him
before being sent off; therefore, it cannot be expect
ed to contain the true and independent thoughts of
the Princess of Wales. Besides, the constrained and
ceremonious tone pervading the passages we quote
is clearly perceptible.
After expressing the personal regrets she had ex
perienced when her sister, Doria Juana, left England
with her husband, the Archduke Philip, Catharine
continues : " My lord the king was also much dis
appointed in consequence ofit, and if he had acted
as he secretly wished, he would by every possible
means have prevented your journey. But as he is a
very passionate king, it was thought advisable by
his council that they should tell him he ought not to
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol, i, p, 432, .
t Bergenroth, Calendar, vol, i, p. 439.

LETTERS TO JUANA. Ill
interfere between husband and wife,* on which ac
count, and for the sake of other mysterious causes
with whicb I was very well acquainted, he concealed
the feelings occasioned by the departure of your
highness, although he is very certain that it weighed
much upon his heart. The great affection he has
felt, and still feels, towards your royal highness from
that tirae until now is well known, I could not, in
truth, express, even though I were to use much
paper, the pleasure which my lord the king and I
felt on hearing that the king, our lord aud father,
had returned to Castille, and was abiding there with
your highness, and that he was obeyed throughout
all the kingdom, peace and concord prevailing every
where." Then she extols the advantages that might arise
from the alliance with the King of England.
"He is a prince who is feared and esteemed at
the present day by all Christendom, as being very
wise, and possessed of iraraense treasures, and hav
ing at his coramand powerful bodies of excellent
troops. Above all he is endowed with the greatest
virtues, according to all that your highness will have
heard respecting him.
* That is to say, because her husband treated her badly ; but,
as she had forgotten all the wrongs PhUip had done as soon as he
was dead, it was no means of pleasing her to recaU them. This
awkwardness must have been Henry's dictation, not Catharine's
own language. If left to her own inspiration, she would have
used much more discreet and deUcate expressions.

112 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
" If what my lord, the king our father, shall say
to you should please, as I think it will please your
highness, I do not doubt but that your highness
will become the most noble and most powerful
queen in the world. Moreover, nothing will more
conduce to your pleasure and satisfaction, and the
security of the kingdom of your highness. In ad
dition to all this it will double the affection sub
sisting between ray lord, the king our father, and
ray lord, the King of England. It will also lead
to the whole of Africa being conquered within a
very short tirae, and in the hands of the Christian
subjects of your highness, and of my lord, the king
our father.
"I entreat your highness to pardon me for having
written to you, and for having meddled in so great
and high a matter. God knows what my wishes
are, as I have already said; and I have not found
it possible to resist the desire I felt to write to
you. For it appears to rae that, if this be not
done, it will be committing a great sin against God,
against the king, our lord and father, and against
your highness, whose life and royal estate may our
Lord guard and increase.*
" Oct. 25th, 1507."
No doubt Catharine ought to have wished for au
alliance that would have brought her sister within
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, pp, 439, 440, 441,

juana's madness. 113
reach, but she knew very well that it could not
be hoped for. Besides, in the month of January,
1508, Ferdinand had seen and conversed with his
daughter Juana. That princess continued to have
her husband's coffin dragged after her. Every at
tempt to persuade her to have him buried had beeu
unsuccessful.* On the first day of the year she had demanded a
royal salute for the body. Ferdinand made his royal
correspondent say that it was impossible to speak
to the princess of a second raarriage until this
strange cereraony had been accomplished. After
wards he advised Henry VII. not to make any
serious approaches towards Juana herself until her
first husband was buried. The King of England
at last saw that he must renounce the hope of
obtaining Ferdinand's consent to the marriage of
a woman suffering under such absolute insanity.
It has been shown that the Princess Catharine
had accepted the post of negotiator in forwarding
the marriage that Henry VII. desired to contract
* In the last universal great Exhibition in the Champ de Mars,
1878, was to be seen a picture of M. PradUla representing "Juana
la Loca" gazing, with bewUdered eye, at the coffin of Philip
the Handsome, which she is dragging after her for burial at
Grenada. She is encamped at night in a desert plain in An
dalusia, " On the right of the queen, near a fire grate, is a
group of women seated on the ground, who, wearied by a long
march, are half asleep ; on the left a monk is saying prayers ; in
the background are the attendants." — Revue des Deux-Mondes,
August 15th, 1878, by Victor CherbuUez, p. 879,
VOL. I. I

114 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
with Doria Juana. She seemed to have entered
into the ideas and feelings of this old monarch, and
had assumed a great appearance of zeal in pleading
his cause. But it must be confessed that, in acting
thus, her especial aim had been to gain the favour
of the King of England, and to prevent his breaking
off the marriage that had been arranged between
herself and the second Prince of Wales.
In judging of the concessions that she thought
she ought to make under such circurastances, the
extreraities to which she was reduced raust be re
membered. Her poverty, indeed it may be called
distress, increased every day. The King of England
maintained that, as long as Ferdinand reraained his
debtor, he was not obliged to advance money to
Catharine, even for her subsistence, and she bitterly
felt the necessity that compelled her to live upon
alras. In truth her father had once sent her two
thousand ducats; but the creditors and purveyors
had very soon laid hands upon that sura. In the
month of September, 1507, on the complaint of
Catharine herself, Henry sent an order for two thou
sand pounds to the princess, telling her that if she
was in want it was the fault of her servants. No
thing could be more unjust ; for she had been unable
to pay them anything for a long time, and the less
they received the more affectionate and devoted
was their service. At this moraent the only reasou
why Henry eraitted this spark of generosity was

THE PRINCE OF WALES. 115
because he wished to make the young princess fav
ourable to him. It was less than a month after
wards that he asked her to write the matrimonial
proposal he set such store by to her sister,*
What rendered the situation so precarious was that
she could not hope for the conclusion of her raarriage
with Henry, Prince of Wales, till he had obtained his
majority. Ferdinand hiraself acknowledged as much.
But as the Prince of Wales began to lose patience,
and his father feared a clandestine marriage, the
young prince was closely watched, and he was not
allowed to see his betrothed, or to converse with her,
even for the three or four months while he was living
in the same palace with her. Catharine, on her side,
struck with the raanly air and raasculine beauty of
Henry of Wales, who had becorae a grown mau and
accomplished cavalier, perhaps irritated by the harsh
refusal to allow any coraraunication with him, de
termined to take this means of escape from the cruel
entanglement in which she was caught, and express
ed to her father her desire of seeing the marriage
accoraplished. It is stated that she then proceeded
to learn English diligently.
Her position at the Court of Henry VII. was be
coraing quite intolerable. When she complained to
that prince of the miseries she had to endure, he
* The letter, in which he boasts of hunting every day, and
sends the order is dated September 7th. Catharine's to Dona
Juana on the 4th of October foUowing.
I 2

116 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
coolly replied that it was necessary that she should
suffer a little, to induce her father the sooner to pay
the part of her marriage portion still owing. The
pressure was therefore made with full knowledge
and calculation. Doctor Puebla was quite as bad
and as harsh as the king, and also much more coarse,
mean, and base, as is usually the case with persons
of the lower orders. He always took Henry's part,
was always ready to betray CatbariBC, and lay all
the blame on her. He cared no more for defending
her cause than he did for supporting the interests of
Spain. Henry, like Puebla, his worthy confidant,
was in turn harsh or obsequious towards the unhappy
princess, according as he thought he could manage
to get anything out of her by either of these means.
As to her, she saw corapletely through the designs
and policy of the king and the ambassador, and de
spised them both equally. She says, " his words are
kind, but his deeds are as bad as ever."*
However, she suffered less severely from her
personal troubles than from the poverty of her
servants, and her own impotency to relieve them ; it
was especially for that reason that she called herself
the most unhappy woman in England.
In such a state of affairs the princess was obliged
to avoid direct opposition to Henry VIL, to humour
him, and even make use of some dissimulation.! If
' Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p, 426.
t It is most curious that, in spite of aU his assumption of Maohia-

LETTER TO FERDINAND. 117
a little duplicity or cunning can be excusable, it is
when there is no other weapon available against
crushing violence, and that was the case with the
unfortupate Catharine.
She tells her father that she would refuse if any
thing was asked of her that was contrary to her
¦dignity. " Though subraissive, cannot forget that she
is the daughter of the King of Spain."* She would
sooner die than do wrong. Sometimes, however,
she seems almost exhausted, and losing her energy.
She has her moments of profound depression, and
plainly enough threatens Ferdinand that she will
give up everything, " and spend the short remainder
of her days in serving God, which would be the best
thing that could happen to her."!
The Princess of Wales also felt that she was
isolated, and without support. She begged to have
an ambassador sent to London to whom she could
fearlessly speak honest words, that is to say, to
whom she could speak freely and openly. She could
veUsm, Henry was the dupe of Ferdinand's cleverness, as is weU
shown by M. Mignet in one of his late works. " Henri VII. ayant
declare la guerre, Ferdinand lui avait persuadd de traneporter ses
troupes k Fontarabie et de les joindre aux siennes, afin de prendre
la Guyenne. Le credule Hemi VIL, sans rien acquerir pour lui,
avait aide son beau-pere k s'emparer de la Navarre sur Jean
d' Albert et k completer auisi vers les Pyrenees la frontiere espag-
nole. — RivaUtes de Fran9ois I. et Charles Quint, par M. Mignet,
vol i, p. 49. Paris, 1875,
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p, 411,
t Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p, 470.

118 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
not do this with Puebla, nor even with the Duke of
Estrada. She would have liked to see Don Pedro
de Ayala return to England ; failing him, she men
tioned and requested, as Spanish ambassador, Fuen-
salida, commander of Membrilla.
Don Pedro was obliged to refuse by ill-health. So
Fuensalida was sent, and undertook the mission with
eagerness. At the same time the banking house of
Grimaldi in London engaged to advance the de
ficient amount of the Princess Catharine's marriage
portion. Unhappily the diplomatic correspondence of Fuen
salida is not forthcoraing. It would seem that if
Puebla continued to act as the assiduous flatterer of
Henry VIL, and the Duke of Estrada showed such
weakness that it came to the same thing, Fuensalida
showed perhaps rather too much sharpness and stiffs
ness. Henry VII. was not accustomed to be spoken
to in the tone which the Spanish ambassador at first
assumed towards him, and would not receive him a
second tirae. Fuensalida had some very violent
scenes with the merabers of the privy council.
Also about this time Ferdinand's opposition to the
projected marriage between his grandson Charles
and the Princess Mary of England seemed to arise ;
while, on the contrary, the Emperor Maximilian was
favourable to it, and Henry VII. dwelt a great deal
on the consent of the emperor, the paternal grand
father of the young prince.

FERDINAND'S OPPOSITION. 119
But this persistence only augraented Ferdinand's
distrust ; he reraerabered that when the Archduke
Philip the Handsorae came to govern Castille in the
narae of his wife. Dona Juana, Henry Vll. had fa
voured all his pretensions and approved his policy,
though it was quite contrary to that adopted under
the reign of Isabella. Anything that gave Henry a
chance of depriving Ferdinand of the preponderating
authority in Castille was becoming the aim of his
policy. Besides, the King of Aragon was surprised
at the kind of obstinacy with which the King of
England had demanded, and seemed ready to de
mand again, the hand of Dona Juana. Such a
prince, he said, could not be capable of sincere affec
tion ; his real passion was to obtain an opportunity
or a pretext for meddling in the affairs of Castille.
The same reason made Ferdinand secretly hostile
to the projected raarriage between his grandson
Charles and Mary of England.
Henry VIL, being thus crossed in his matrimonial
schemes, by way of reprisal placed fresh obstacles in
the way of the completion of the marriage between
his son and the Princess Catharine. He on his side
manifested some alarm lest Ferdinand might, by
means of his daughter, acquire a strong political
influence over his son-in-law, and induce the young
Prince of Wales to oppose his own father.
But it was very late to perceive this inconveni
ence, and raise serious objections on that account.

120 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
It was odious to hold the Princess Catharine under
ward almost as strict as if she had been in prison,
and to forbid the Prince of Wales from trying to see
his betrothed. So Ferdinand, in the course of the
year 1508, began to lose patience ; he wrote to
Fuensalida that at last he saw plainly that Henry
VII. was a most detestable person, and a stranger
to every feeling of honour and loyalty.
" In all these matters Henry has shown extreme
covetousness, and but little love for him, the Queen
of Castille, and the Princess of Wales. Would have
felt much inclined to have no longer any brother
hood or amity with him, only that he trusts the
Prince of Wales will show himself to be more araen
able to reason. Does not know why Henry should
exhibit so much ill-will towards him. Fears, from
what Membrilla (Fuensalida) says, that the marriage
of the Prince of Castille to the daughter of Henry,
instead of augmenting their friendship, would pro
duce quite contrary results. Everything seeras to
prove that it would be better for him to break en
tirely with Henry. Would do so at once, but for the
affection he bears the Princess of Wales. For the
sake of bringing her marriage to a conclusion, will
not take urabrage at the ill-will shown to hira by
Henry. Merabrilla raust, therefore, use his best en
deavours speedily to bring the marriage to a conclu
sion, and must take heed to say nothing which may
afiord an excuse for breaking it off. If, nevertheless,

CATHARINE'S PORTION. 121
the marriage should not take place, will then feel
that be is not responsible for anything that may
happen in consequence." *
If Henry consents to the immediate performance
of the marriage, the one hundred thousand crowns
¦remaining are to be paid entirely in coin and bullion.
Only the payment that the banker Grimaldi is to
make must be kept a profound secret, for this specu
lating king would be capable of raising the rate of
exchange to take advantage of it. Tbe ambassador
must take the greatest care not to let Henry get
possession of the money without perforraing his
promises. " And be able to carry the money off.
All this I say, because in treating with people of no
honour and indifferent character it is necessary to
take care that we receive no injury, and that we are
not cheated." The King of England's demand that,
in case of the Princess Catharine's death, her mar
riage portion should never be required back ought
not to be entertained, and this cautious man " be
freed from the temptation of killing the Princess of
Wales."! Henry VIL, who thought himself a profound poli
tician, because there was no method he shrank frora
employing, had conceived great hopes from an expe
dition that Maximilian had attempted in Italy. His
calculation was that, if that prince drove Ferdinand
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 461.
! Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 463.

122 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
out of Naples, the imperial troops, with English help,
would find it easy to chase the same prince out of
Castille ; but the battle of Cadoro, where Maximilian
and the imperialists were routed, ruined all his hopes
in that quarter.
He afterwards asked the hand of the Princess
Margaret of Austria, and wanted to become a raem
ber of the league of Cambrai, whence he would have
excluded Ferdinand. But Margaret persisted in the
refusal she had before given, while Ferdinand, who
had gained himself great consideration on the conti
nent by his dexterity and success, was admitted into
the league, and Henry was not. Thus all Henry's
plans successively failed, and the ground was giving
way under his feet.
Ferdinand was driven to extremities by this hos
tile and cunning policy, and resolved to put an end
to all communication with Henry VII. He made
a formal demand for his daughter, the Princess of
Wales, to be sent back to him in Spain, and declared
he meant to break with the King of England.
Henry at last threw off the mask, and declared
that, even if the marriage of the princess to his
son did not take place, he would not permit her
to leave England. Thus he intended to keep the
Princess of Wales as a sort of hostage. This was
the conclusion of his policy ; and thus he justified
all the former suspicions of his duplicity and perfidy.
Thereupon Ferdinand broke out. He felt the

FERDINAND'S ANGER. 123
blow to his affections as a father; to his honour as
a king. " For the love I bear the Princess of Wales," be
writes, " and the esteem in which I hold her are so
great that, if such a thing were to happen, which
God forbid, I would risk my person and my king
dom, and that of my daughter the queen, with the
greatest readiness, in order to make a worse war
on the King of England than on the Turks. The
King of England must keep faith in this matter, or,
if not, the world may perish. This I say in order
that you may know my determination." *
However, the King of France, whose alliance Fer
dinand clairaed, contrived to restrain this indignation,
very excusable, but raost impolitic, especially at
this moment. For Henry VII. was dying of con
sumption, and the prince, who was destined to
become Henry VIIL, had always shown himself very
well disposed towards the Princess Catharine. All
agreed in a favourable judgment of him. Puebla
praised the strength and lofty stature of the young
Prince of Wales. The Duke of Estrada spoke of his
prudence, his dexterity, and the immense riches
he was to inherit. Fuensalida himself said he had
an excellent opinion of his morals and intelligence.
In consequence of these various reports Ferdinand
thought it his duty to assure the young prince of
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 460.

124 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
his paternal affection, and make him the most kindly
offers of service.
Upon these events came the death of Henry VIL,
putting an end to difficulties and complications that
might have become dangerous. He was little re
gretted. Even among the Englisb people his ill-
treatment of Catharine had been the cause of much
displeasure. His detestable foreign policy during
the last years of his life had completely destroyed
his popularity.
As for the Princess of Wales she was about to
escape from poverty and oppression, and to share
one of the first thrones in Europe with a lively
and learned prince, reported to be of noble and
chivalrous character, and who apparently felt real
affection for her. Who could have told her that,
after such paiuful trials in her youth, there were
reserved for her, in ripe age and the decline of life,
still greater miseries and more cruel misfortunes?

125

CHAPTER VI.
Clerical Education of Henry VIII. — A Stop to all Misunder
standing between Ferdinand and England — The New
King's Council recognize the Validity of the Bull of
Dispensation of Pope JuUus II. — ^Marriage and Coro
nation of the Queen — Popularity of Henry VHI. — Re
strictive Explanations given by Henry of his Coronation
Oath — Affectionate Correspondence of Henry and Fer
dinand — Dexterity and Diplomatic Artifices af Ferdinand
— Henry VHI. goes to Fight in France — Catharine
Regent — The Victory of Flodden — Coolness between
Henry and Ferdinand — Marriage of Henry's Sister to
Louis xn, — Presents of Ferdinand to Henry, and Re
conciUation of the Two Kings — Charles V.'s Voyage
to England — Work of Henry VIH. against Luther — He
Receives the Title of Defender of The Faith — Portrait
of Henry VIIL, by. a Venetian Ambassador.
HENRY VIII. was eighteen when he inherited the
English crown, on the death of his father.
The early education of this prince had been strict
and peculiar. Henry VIL, during the life-time of
his eldest son, Arthur, had considered that the best
way of securing to his family a considerable share
of influence in the Church, would be to dedicate
his youngest son to the priesthood, and rapidly
push him up all the steps of the ladder of ecclesias-

126 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
tical dignities. Prince Henry, who was known be
fore his brother's death under the style and title
of Duke of York, would have been at an early age
the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Priraate of All
England, and a cardinal. Why should he not, one
day, becorae Pope ?
It would not be surprising if this notion had
crossed the brain of the first of the Tudors; it
seems quite natural to that spirit, ever prone to
the strangest ambition, to that enterprising and
adventurous spirit I
This same Duke of York, who ended by becoming
King Henry VIII.,* was not Pope of the Church of
Rome, but he wi.sbRd^o bp. Pnpa_of the Church
of Englan3^ And that his father had neither desired
nor foreseen.~~~
At any rate the young Duke of York began to
learn sacred music when he was seven years old, and
soon made great progress, first as chorister, and then
even as a composer.! At nine years old he talked
Latin with wonderful ease. At ten he was learning
the Scholasticon, and was reading the Summa of St.
Thomas Aquinas. Thus early, perhaps too early, he
had that half knowledge in theology that is so
* The date of his accession was April 22nd, 1509.
t At eleven or twelve years old he composed the music of
the anthem in the vulgar tongue, " 0 Lord, the maker," written
for four voices. M, Audin gives the words and the music at the
end of the first volume of his history of Henry VIH, It is said
that it is stUl sometimes sung at Christ Church, Oxford.

PRINCE OF WALES. 127
dangerous when not regulated by a spirit of submis
sion and humility.
When he becarae Prince of Wales, upon the death
of bis brother Arthur, he was trained to bodily exer
cises and the management of weapons, in which he
very soon excelled. He was considered an accora
plished knight. He was, besides, very tall, and grace
ful in every action. Wben he rode on horseback,
richly dressed, with his plurae floating on the winds,
he looked so magnificent that he had surprising in
fluence over the people.
When he caused Catharine to be told that she
might rely upon him, he was sincere, and entertained
a real affection for her. The difficulties placed in the
way of his marriage by Henry VIL, and the trials she
bad to undergo, only excited his passion. As soon
as he found himself master of his destiny, and legally
of age, his first thought was to conclude the long-
deferred marriage as quickly as possible.
These delays, as we have suggested, had arisen
from two causes that were in some way connected ;
on one side they may be attributed to the distrustful-
ness of King Henry VIL, who was afraid that Catha
rine's influence over the young Prince of Wales
raight add to the influence of the King of Spain in
England.* It is probable that Ferdinand's opposi-
* He was also afraid that the Prince of Wales himself might
become too considerable a personage, with too much power over
England through his marriage. See a letter of Almazan, Bergen
roth, Calendar, vol, U, p. 15, dated May 18th, 1509,

128 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
tion to the marriage of the Princess Mary, Henry VII.'s
daughter, to Charles V., then a child,* arose from a
similar motive. But now there was no suspicious
old king in England to vex himself over the influence
obtained by Catharine of Aragon. And as to the
marriage ofthe young emperor to the English prin
cess, Ferdinand trusted to time to break the bonds
formed by their premature betrothal. Besides, as
soon as Henry VIII. had given him satisfaction, the
King of Aragon had no longer any occasion to make
use of those species of political reprisals against his
family, as there would have been no reason for
them. There is also a letter of Ferdinand's attesting his
real feelings at this time, written to his daughter.
" A courier, who has arrived in eight days from
Flanders, has told hira that the King of England is
dead. Has written to the Knight Commander of
Membrilla, his ambassador in England, and has told
him what he must do in case this news be true, in
order to bring her raarriage to a speedy conclusion.
Sends at the same time instructions to the arabassa
dor respecting what he raust do in case the king
should still be alive. As the ambassador will com
municate to her all his instructions, it is not neces
sary to repeat thera here.
" Has her welfare, and especially the speedy con
clusion of her marriage, more at heart than anything
* Charles was hardly nine years old.

FERDINAND'S LETTERS. 129
else on earth. Hopes she will assist his ambassador
in his negotiations, for he has always served her
faithfully, and never written any letters in Spain
which could prejudice her in any respect.
" Had intended to send a prelate as ambassador to
England, in order to conduct the negotiations for her
marriage. As, however, it is said that the King of
England is dead, he has thought it advisable not to
change his ambassador, since such change would
cause delay."*
In the course of the next few days he wrote letter
after letter to his ambassador, desiring him to take
advantage of the great change in the Princess Catha
rine's position, owing to the death of Henry VII.
Ferdinand is in haste to see his daughter at last
receive the reward of ber perseverance and the
recompense of her protracted trials.
He tries every means of gaining, and, so to speak,
of wheedling the young king. Thus Almazan, the
first secretary, writes, by his orders, to the Princess
of Wales :
" As soon, however, as the death of King Henry VII.
was known. King Ferdinand granted to the present
king all that he had refused to his father. He* loves
her most of all his children, and on her account looks
on the present King of England as though he were
his own son. King Ferdinand will henceforth com
raunicate to King Henry all his secrets, and expects
* Letter of May llth, 1509. Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. U, p. 10.
VOL. I. K

130 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
in return that King Henry will conceal nothing from
him."* Ferdinand himself, in letters directly addressed by
him to his daughter, showed the greatest affection
for his son-in-law ; he said he was ready to put him
self at the head of an army, if necessary, and go to
England to protect the interests of his children. He
forwarded several presents to Henry VIIL as pledges
of his friendship.!
But all this manoeuvring to catch the young king
was unnecessary. One of the first acts of Henry Vlll.
had been to call his council together for a consulta
tion respecting his marriage to the Infanta of Spain.
Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, put forward an
objection devised from the relationship of the parties.
This objection was triumphantly refuted. In favour
of the validity of the marriage of Henry VIII. and
Catharine of Aragon was cited the princess's oath
that her former marriage had not been consummated,
the king's acceptance of this oath, and lastly the
sovereign bull of dispensation of Pope Julius II.
The discussion that took place on this poiut in the
king's council seemed only to be to show with what
complete knowledge of the circurastances the council
unanimously pronounced in favour of the legitimacy
of the marriage between Henry VIII. and Catharine,
Infanta of Spain and widow of Prince Arthur.
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. U, p. 15.
t Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. U, pp. 19, 20, 21, 22, &c.

THE MARRIAGE. 131
However, without ostensibly resting on anything
but his own will, nor seeming to obey anything but
bis personal inspiration, Henry VIH. at Greenwich on
June llth, 1509, led to the altar the Princess Catha
rine of Aragon, who had long been betrothed to him.
It was noticed that the bride wore her hair flowing
and a robe, the virgin garment not permissible to
¦widows.* This was significant.
After so many struggles and sufferings the mar
riage itself was, to the new queen, more than com
pensation or restitution, it was triuraph ; and to this
well-deserved triumph were added inward satisfac
tion and pure heart's delight. She had loved Henry
VIIL, and at this moment was really loved by
him. After the glooray and raorose reign of Henry VIL,
there must have been great relief all over England
when Henry VIII. mounted the throne. He seemed
to realise the idea of a king. Everyone felt the
charm of this very popular king, even those who
were afterwards obliged to oppose him, such as
Fisher and Sir Thomas More, and even they held
to their deceptive illusion as a sort of monarchical
creed ; they only renounced it with great difficulty,
and in the last extremity, because their duty as
Catholics was bound to prevail in their consciences
over their chivalrous attachment to their sovereign.
Some days after the raarriage, a fresh ovation was
* Audin, Vie de Henri VIIL, vol, i, p, 80.
k2

132 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
prepared for Catharine and her husband, the cere
mony of coronation.
On the 21st of June the king and queen had slept
at the Tower ; on the 29th they left the old fortress
and went to Westminster, going along the streets of
the City, which were all hung with tapestry and
richly adorned as for a grand festival. All along these
narrow streets stood young girls clothed in white, with
bunches of flowers in their hands ; the queen, in an
open litter drawn by two white horses, was blazing
with jewels. All eyes were attracted by her attire ;
she gained all hearts by her grace and beauty, and
loud cheers resounded along her whole course.
There is still in existence in the Vatican an auto
graph letter from Henry VIII. to Cardinal Sixtus de
la Rovere, giving that prince of the Church an
account of the royal marriage and the subsequent
coronation. We produce the text, where, beneath the
official forraalty of style, raay be seen the deep con
tent of the young king.
" Ut de iraperio post Serenissimi regis ac patris
nostri obitum successurus Vestra Reverentia Domina-
tio certior fiat significaraus, illi qualiter paulo ante
nos prospicientes ad egregias virtutes illustrissim*
principis D. Catharinse, Serenissimi regis Aragonorum
filise illam nostri connubio dignam duximus. Quare
eam desponsaviraus et uxorem duximus, moxque una
cura ilia coronati sumus solemniter ut moris est, cum
incredibili totius regni nostro gaudio, exultatione, et

HENRY S UNSCRUPULOUSNESS. 133
applausu. Quod vestrse Reverendissirase Domina-
tioni utpote amicissimum nostro scribendum duximus,
non dubitantes quin his nostris secundis rebus sit
gavisura. Ex palatio nostro Greenwici, Die VIII.
Julii, 1509, et regni nostri prima.*
Thus the king himself is a witness to the imraense
enthusiasm with which his whole nation welcomed
the coronation of the queen and himself.
In another point Henry VIII. showed at this time
that he had in reality very few scruples, though,
after the thing was done, he thought he had a right
to add to his most solemn oaths, explanations more
or less restrictive.
Thus be had sworn publicly on his knees before
the Archbishop of Canterbury that he would main
tain the liberties of the Church guaranteed by the
former Kings of England, and in the minute of de
claration of the oath that he signed in the sacristy,
be (gecretls) added, " Saving my iurisdiction and coval
dignity." __
He promised to keep the peace between the Church,
the clergy, and people ; he explains the raeaning of
this promise, thus correcting the form he b^d just
raade use of. " I swear to labour for the union of
ihp, people anfTnlergy under my royal domitlJon-."..
He swore to make the laws of the kingdom respect-
* Cod. Vaticanus, 6210. In a letter vmtten to Ferdinand, of
June 17th foUowing, he says, " The multitude of the people who
a-ssisted was immense, and their joy and applause most enthusi
astic." Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. u, p. 20, In Latin,

134 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
ed, "saving the rights of the crown and imperial
dignity." These clandestine interpolations,* that cannot be
justified, show Henry's absolute determination to_
mjjntain_J^ia_^erogativej_and, to speak plainly, his
absolute authority^and_that he was quite deterraraeS""
to uphold it, if need were, against the libertjy of the,
kingdora and the Churph.
- Such ripeness in cool calculation and political
foresight in a king of eighteen, are surprising, and
we ask, alraost startled, whence he had acquired
the idea of such a Machiavellian perforraance before
the works of Machiavelli had been published.
Certainly he was greatly in love with Catharine
at this tirae, and even transferred to his father-in-
law, Ferdinand, a large portion of the affection that
he had for her. This may be perceived frora the
following letter to Ferdinand :
" Rejoices to learn how tenderly he loves him.
Regards him as his new father. From an intimate
alliance between England and Spain nothing but
the greatest advantages to both kingdoms are to be
expected. Prefers an alliance with him to any alli
ance with other princes, and would not hesitate, if
necessary, to reject them all in order to preserve his
friendship. Promises like a dutiful son to obey all
* Audin, in his " Histoire de Henri VIH.," has given a fac-
simUe of this minute, with the interpolations that were mysteri
ously written by the king in a room close to the sacristy of the
chapel at Westminster,

henry's LETTER. 135
his behests as he would obey the behests of his late
father, if he were still alive."
Then he proceeds to politics, and gives some good
reasons against the destruction of the republic of
Venice. That city is a bulwark against the Turks,
and an obstacle to the ambitious hopes of certain
Christian princes.
"The queen is pregnant, and the child in her
worab is alive. As he and his kingdom rejoice at
this good news, so it is to be expected that he and
Queen Juana will also hear it with pleasure."
He ends with thanks for his affection and paternal
solicitude, and again promises to obey hira as a
father.* In this sarae letter he says that he is impatiently
expecting the new Spanish ambassador, and that he
will give the most full and frank answers to all his
communications. We should be glad to believe that
Henry was sincere at that time, and did not make a
parade of his frankness.
While this was going on, Membrilla having been
recalled to Spain, and his successor not yet arrived,
Queen Catharine was to some extent the interme
diary in diplomatic correspondence with Fetdinand.
She informed her royal spouse of the contents of
her father's letters. They seemed then to have had
no concealments between them ; they seemed most
closely united, and no cloud appeared on the horizon.
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. U, pp. 23, 24, Nov. 1st, 1510.

136 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
In the month of May, 1517, Catharine informed
her father that she had given birth to a still-born
child — a daughter. She says : " Some days before
she was delivered of a daughter. That her child
was still-born is considered to be a misfortune in
England ; has, therefore, not written sooner, or per
mitted any other person to send the news of her,
confinement. Begs him not to be angry with her,
for it has been the will of God. She and the king,
her husband, are cheerful. Thanks God and him
that he has given her such a husband as the King
ofEngland."* Meanwhile the Spanish ambassador, Louis Carroz,
had arrived. He was an able raan, possessed Ferdi
nand's entire confidence, and fully deserved it. To
a certain extent the ambassador took Henry at his
word in the professions of devotion to his father-
in-law. He asked for, and obtained, a treaty of alli
ance between the two kings, reduced to writing in
proper forra as a written manifestation of this devo
tion. But this defensive alliance was not enough
for Ferdinand ; he wanted Henry VIII. to enter into
a league against France with the emperor and some
Italian states.
The idea was to be suggested to the King of
England so dexterously that he might fancy he had
invented it, and taken the initiative. Henry VIII.
must conscientiously look upon it as a duty to sup-
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. ii, p, 38.

FERDINAND'S INFLUENCE. 137
port the Church, the pope, the emperor, and the
little Christian princes of Italy.
In case of need Catharine's influence over her
husband was to be made use of. Ferdinand says :
" Should, however, the queen refuse to persuade
the king to break with France, and prefer to see
him at peace, although all the world go to pieces,
he is to make use of the friar, her confessor, and
through him persuade her to use her influence with
the king." *
Being now Queen of Great Britain ! the princess
might become too mucb of an Englishwoman. Fer
dinand seemed to be afraid of this ; so he provided
for any difficulties, and took any means in his power
to smooth them over. As it might possibly happen
that the confessor himself might have scruples re
specting this war with France, the Catholic king
would, in that case, cause a request to be preferred
to the Pope to deal with the confessor of the queen,
and of the king himself.
This is a specimen of Ferdinand's remarkable
political artifices ; he already sees that his daughter
does not blindly follow his advice, and that he must
bring other influences to bear upon her.
He attained his object. He contrived that Eng
land should make war upon France in concert with
Maximilian, Emperor-elect of Germany.
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. U, p, 52,
t England, (Ed.)

138 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
Catharine -could not regard this war unfavourably.
First because it seeraed to have a religious object ;
secondly because it was blindly desired by her hus
band and her father. She therefore made a pilgrim
age to Our Lady of Walsingham to pray for a
victory for this so-called Holy League against Louis
XIL, King of France. The people joined the queen
in imploring divine protection for the arms of Eng
land. There was a ballad composed at this time,
in which the poet begged the Saviour, Saint Mary,
and Saint George to make the red rose bloora and
flourish over all the coasts of France.* This ballad
" The Rosse wiU into Fraunse spring,
Almythy God hym thyther bring.
And save this flowr, which is our king ;
Thys Rosse, thys Rosse, thys Royal Rosse,"
became popular, and was soon to be heard sung
everywhere as a sort of national anthem.
On his departure for France, Henry appointed
Catharine regent, and the choice was generally
approved. While Henry was winning the battle of Guine-
gatte, and taking the city of Tournay, James IV.,
King of Scotland, invaded the north of England
with a powerful army. Queen Catharine had but
few troops to oppose him, but they were well
disciplined and adrairably led. The Earl of Surrey
* See the text of this old baUad in a note to Audin's History of
Henry VHL, vol. i, pp, 144, 145.

FLODDEN. 139
was commander-in-chief James IV. suffered a
bloody defeat at Flodden, and was himself left
araong the slain.
Catharine was on excellent terms with the mem
bers of the council present in London, and kept up
a correspondence with Wolsey, who, after complet
ing the preparations for the French campaign, had
followed the king as almoner of his household.
Some of Catharine's letters are affecting from the
signs of tender solicitude she shows on her hus
band's account. She is anxious and sleepless ; with
out Henry she can find nothing good or happy on
earth. In another of her letters she speaks enthusiastical
ly of the victory of Flodden, and says, perhaps with
justice, that the conquest of Scotland would be of
more use to England than even that of France.*
At this tirae of her life she displays not only the
virtues of a devoted wife, but also a real power of
government and incontestable political capacity.
When the King of England was informed of the
victory of Flodden he speedily left France, landed
secretly at Dover, and returned incognito to Rich
raond, to surprise Catharine, and address to her
the most ardent congratulations on the way in
which she had exercised her power as regent.
While this was going on, Ferdinand I. had come
* ElUs's Letters, vol, i, p, 88. The victory of Flodden was
gained in the month of August, 1513.

140 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
to an understanding with Leo X.,* who had relieved
Louis XII. from excommunication, and proposed a
treaty of peace with France in concert with the
emperor. Henry VIII. was requested to join. But
as one of the conditions 'of the treaty would have
been the restoration of Tournay to Louis XII. the
King of England could not consent.
On the other band the eraperor and King. Ferdi
nand agreed to break off the raarriage of their
grandson. Prince Charles, with the Princess Mary
of England, because they were negotiating a more
advantageous match for bim.
Enraged at being in this kind of way left in the
lurch, even by his father-in-law, in whora he had
hitherto had unshaken confidence, Henry threw him
self into the arras of France. One of the prisoners
of Guinegatte, Louis of Orleans, Duke de Longue
ville, consented, at the request of Wolsey, to propose
a reconciliation between the two kings of France and
England. Louis XII. had just lost his wife, Anne of Brit
tany. He had no children.! If he married the
Princess Mary he migbt be raore fortunate. This
marriage was to become the basis of a close and
permanent alliance between the two kings.
It is true that it was necessary to persuade a
young girl of scarcely sixteen that there was no dis-
* Successor to JuUus II. , the soul of the Holy League.
t No son. He had two daughters, (Ed.)

PRINCESS MARY'S MARRIAGE. 141
proportion in the ages of herself and of a king of
fifty-three, exhausted by the fatigues of war and the
worry of politics. The Princess Mary was asked
whether she would give up Prince Charles; she
answered that she bad never loved hira, but not a
word was said of her having bestowed her heart upon
anyone else, such as some great noble of the English
Court.* At any rate, on the 13th of August, 1513, she was
married to Louis XIL, his proxy at Greenwich being
the Duke de Longueville. On the 5th of November
following she was crowned Queen of France at St.
Denis. Among the maids of honour she took with
her, and who remained in her service, was Anne
Boleyn. It was contrary to English policy to run any risk
of the transfer of the crown of England by inheritance
to a foreigner. But, on the one hand. Queen Catha
rine was pregnant, and, on the other, Louis XII. had
white hair, and was old before his time. Three
months had hardly elapsed since his marriage when
he died of atrophy.
Henry VIII. had been glad enough to become
independent of Spain, but he was not long in finding
out that he bad only exchanged one yoke for another.
Informed of this change of disposition, Ferdinand
wrote a very flattering letter to his son-in-law, and
* Her attachment to the Duke of SuffoUi is weU known, and
she man-ied him when she became a widow.

142 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
tried to be reconciled to him. He sent splendid
presents with it, Andalusian horses of great beauty,
with rich and magnificent trappings. He sent also
a jewelled collar for the king himself. The irapres
sion raade by these presents exceeded all expectation.
King Henry wrote a letter to his father-in-law, iu
which he poured out an effusion of childish joy and
enthusiastic thankfulness. He says he "loves him
as much and as sincerely as he ever did before, and
even more. Has forgotten all the disagreeable things
which have passed between them. Begs to be
allowed to regard hira as a brother or a son. Often
looks at the presents, and, every tirae he sees them,
his (King Ferdinand's) image is recalled to his mind's
eye."* And Queen Catharine herself wrote to Ferdinand a
short time afterwards. "The King of England is
very proud of the splendid presents he has sent for
him.! All say that never did more magnificent
presents come to England. It is due to his presents
that the treaty with England is concluded, and the
alliance renewed. This treaty will be much better
observed than the preceding one. His ambassador
will write to him more fully on this subject. The
former treaty contained clauses which the King of
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. U, p. 271. October 20th, 1515.
t ... El quel esta el mas soberbio del mundo con la gran
dativa que Vuestra Alteza lo embyo . Y todos in su Regno claramente
conocen y conflesan che a sydo la major que nunca k Ynghiterra
vino.

CATHARINE'S CONDUCT. 143
England and his Council had never liked to consent
to. These clauses were neither profitable to him
(King Ferdinand) nor advantageous to the King of
England."* The treaty of alliance was purely defensive, but
the great advantage that Spain obtained by it was
that Henry VIII. was reraoved from French influence,
and drawn nearer to his father-in-law,!
Amid the political disputes of her husband and
father, Catharine's conduct was irreproachable. We
give the testimony of Bergenroth, the editor of the
Calendar, who is so very English and Protestant : —
" Queen Catharine behaved, during the whole of
the quarrel between King Henry and King Ferdi
nand, as became a Queen of England. She loved
and revered her father. It certainly made her un
happy to see that he and her husband had become
enemies. But when King Ferdinand attempted to
raake use of her influence over her husband, she
refused to serve any such purpose. Louis Carroz
complained in the most bitter terms that neither he
nor any other Spaniard could obtain the sraallest
advantage through her interference. Encouraged by
her confessor. Fray Diego de Hernandez, she seeraed,
* Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. i, p. 272.
t Joachim Legrand asserts, but does not give proof, that
Henry VIH. chose to make Catharine responsible for her father's
bad poUcy, and blamed her very much. None of our fresh
documents confirm this assertion ; it is at least rash. Histoire
du Divorce, p. 39,

144 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
he said, to have forgotten that she was a Spaniard,
and was desirous only to cultivate the good-will of
the people which had become hers through her
marriage. We congratulate the queen and her
confessor that they so well understood what was
befitting ber position."*
This homage is pleasant to find. EngHsh authors
in the time of Elizabeth would not have been so
impartial. The above mentioned letter of Louis Carroz shows
how great the anger of Henry VIII. had been against
Spain. "I am treated by the English not as an
ambassador, but like a bull at whom everyone throws
darts."! Ferdinand appeased his son-in-law with presents,
as children's tears are stopped with toys. Wolsey's
intervention afterwards was more effectual than even
that of the queen in the completion of the reconcilia
tion that she so keenly desired, but to which she could
only contribute with timid discretion. The English
people were very grateful to her for this behaviour.
It was a suprerae injustice to nickname Marie Antoi
nette I'Autrichienne, but no one ever thought of call
ing Catharine the Spaniard.
The reconciliation with Ferdinand very speedily
* Bergenroth, Calendar. Intro., vol. U, p. xcii.
t Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. ii, p. 248. The same letter in which
he complains of the anti-Spanish influence of the queen's con-

FERDINAND S DEATH. 145
brought forth fruit, for, during the course of the year,
Henry VIII., together with the emperor, joined a
fresh league against France ; but these results were
not of long duration. Just at the moment when
everything seemed smiling upon the old King of
Aragon, he died during the month of January, 1516,
Catharine had only officially announced to Ferdi
nand the birth of her daughter Mary on February
18th, 1515, in the letter of the month of October
following, in which she thanked bim for his splendid
presents, and informed him of the excellent effect
they had produced.* This shows that communica
tion between her and her father had been very com
pletely broken off during this period. She after
wards had two more childreu, but lost thera both —
they were sons — at a very early age. Shortly after
wards her star began to wane.
It raay be observed that Ferdinand's death de
prived her of a support that raight have been very
useful, as he had regained his infiuenee over the
mind of Henry VIII.
Her nephew, Charles V., had been elected eraperor
in 1519, and united the sovereignty of Germany to
* The laconic manner of her announcement to Ferdinand is
surprising. " Gave birth to a chUd after Candlemas " (last sen
tence in letter). In the same letter she warmly recommends to her
father the lady of honour whom she loved most, Maria de SaUnas,
and her confessor Diego Hernandez, who, she says, has served her
"much better than certain persons pretend; both are going to
Spain."
VOL. I. L

146 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
that of Spain, with a large portion of Italy, and had
a more widely extended power than Ferdinand, but
he never acquired the same influence over the mind
of Henry VIII, Still he felt that it was an hereditary
duty and kind of family charge always to patronise
his aunt Catharine; and this was the more merit
orious because in earlier tiraes the Queen of England
took but little pains to gain the affection of the
young emperor. When he came to England, he
spoke to her three times at Greenwich ; she hardly
answered him, and not graciously, says a Spanish
ambassador present at their interview.*
Clearly she was afraid of seeraing too Spanish in
the eyes of the English. At Henry VIII.'s request,
a few^ days afterwards, she had sorae long conversa
tion with the emperor at Windsor. Henry VHL's
reception of Charles V, ought certainly to be men
tioned in this history, for it was not only cordial and
magnificent, but had also a religious colouring. The
day after the emperor's arrival, Henry took him on pil
griraage to Canterbury ; the two princes received the
holy comraunion together at high mass,! then they
laid their pious offerings on the shrine of Saint
* The author seems to have misapprehended this. The ambas
sador speaks of himseU, not of Charles V. " Said to the emperor
that he had spoken three times with the Queen of England, but
had not found her at aU gracious." — Letter of Martin de Salinas,
Bergenroth, Calendar, vol. ii, p. 448, (Ed.)
t At this period of his Ufe, Henry was stiU very pious. Authors
say that he told his beads every day.

CHARLES v. 147
Thomas a Becket, Did they really consider the
meaning of the homage they tbus paid to the bold
champion of the liberties of the Church martyred by
Henry II.'s tyranny ? Alas ! the ashes of this great
saint were destined to be afterwards scattered to the
winds and the mire of the highway by the same king
who had worshipped them with such idolatry.
If Catharine was to be touched by Henry VIII.'s
piety, his faith seemed to provide her with no less
firm assurances, and perbaps of greater stability.
We mean the publication of the book entitled
"Assertio septem Sacramentorum adversus Mar-
tinum Lutherum," coraposed by the King of England
himself; in it he exalted the authority of the Holy
See. Sir Thomas More considered that the august
theologian had perhaps gone too far, and in jest
threatened him with the statute oi praemunire,* which
seemed to be violated by tbis ultramontane exag
geration. Henry vigorously upheld his doctrine,
and wound up his work thus :
" What is the use of a duel with Luther, who does
* Audin, Histoire de Henri VIH., vol. i, p. 261. The first
statute of pramunire had been passed by ParUament under
Edward I. to restrain the abuse of the papal powei^ to keep in
bounds what were caUed gratis and provisiones. Persistence in
these abuses, and the profits to be got from them, were punished
with heavy, but not capital penalties. This statute was after
wards extended to fresh cases by Henry VIII. himself and his
successors. The writ issued by the chancellor to prosecute this
offence began with the words Prsemoniri facias, and this was
mispronounced prsemunire. l2

148 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
not understand himself, who denies what he has just
affirmed, and affirms what he has just denied ? If
you take weapons of faith to attack him, he opposes
reason ; if you call reason to your aid, he throws
himself upon faith ; if you cite the philosophers, he
appeals to Scripture ; if you invoke Holy Writ, he
enfolds hiraself in the sophisms of the schools. In
solent author ! he puts himself above laws, despises
our doctors, and from the heights of his greatness
divides the living lights of our Church, who assails
with insult the majesty of our pontiffs, who outrages
tradition, dogma, morals, canons, faith, and the
Church herself !"
As soon as the work was finished, Henry VIII.
had two splendid copies prepared, both with a dedi
cation to Pope Leo, with this couplet, written by the
hand of the king hiraself,
" Anglorum rex Henricus, Leo decime mittit
7^5^ Hoc opus, et fldei testem et amicitiae."
It The two copies were presented to Leo X. with
I great solemnity by the two ambassadors of the King
of England, Clerk and Pace. At the same time
they presented an autograph letter from the king
to the Sovereign Pontiff, containing assurances of
the raost absolute submission, and the most perfect
devotion of the English monarch to His Holiness.
Leo X. replied to this royal homage by a bull
couched in raost flattering language. After consulta
tion with the sacred college, he gave to the author

DEPENDER OF THE FAITH. 149

of the Assertio the titl^^.._Defender of the Faithi
The pope meant that this powerful king could de
fend the Church with the sword as well as with
the pen. It was a direct appeal to him to fill the
post of mediator between the pope and the Christian
powers, and, in case of a conflict, himself to descend
into the plains of Italy to throw his weight into the
scale on the side of the Sovereign Pontiff.
The emperor's ambassador, Juan Manuel, seems
to have suspected some political afterthought in all
this. With a somewhat dry laconicism, with a trace
of secret malevolence, he gives an account of these
novel communications between the King of England
and the Vatican.
"The King of England has sent a book against
Martin Luther to the pope. It is said that all the
learned men of England have taken part in its
composition. I hear that it is a good book. The
pope has given the King of England the title of
'Defender of the Christian Faith.' This title pre
judices no one, as all Christian princes are, or ought
to be, defenders of the Faith." *
If all the learned men in England really ^ad taken
part in the coraposition of the work against Martin
Luther, it might not have had any more effect. The
truth is that it was written by one single author,
Henry VIIL himself Many of his contemporaries
¦did not know that this prince had spent some of his
* Bergenroth,, Calendar, vol. u, p. 381. Oct. 17th, 1521.

150 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
youth in the study of the Summa of Saint Thomas
and of Latin literature under Skelton's direction.
Quite latelj' he had extricated hiraself frora business
and pleasure, and shut himself up for several months
at Greenwich, surrounded with manuscripts and
folios, which he filled with marginal notes in his
own writing, and which bave been preserved to
the present day as living witnesses of his personal
labours and real learning.
Daughter of Catholic sovereigns, Catharine was
proud of being the wife of a king who had been
officially styled, "Defender of the Christian Faith."
She had sometimes received offerings of the prizes
gained by Henry for feats of arms at tournaments.
He had just fought in very different lists, and had
again come forth a victor, according to the decision
of a competent judge, the Sovereign Pontiff. She
was delighted at this fresh success.
Catharine's enthusiasm for the king will be better
understood on reading the portrait left of him by
an impartial witness, the Venetian ambassador,
Giustiniani. It is true that this portrait relates to
a soraewhat later period,* but it describes the ap
pearance of Henry in his youth, with his fresh and
engaging attractions.
" And first of all his majesty is twenty-nine years
old, and extremely handsome ; nature could not
have done more for him. He is rauch handsoraer
* Written about 1519 or 1520.

GIUSTINIANl'S DESCRIPTION. 151
than any other sovereign in Christendora, a great
deal handsoraer than the King of France ; very fair,
and his whole frarae admirably proportioned. On
hearing that Francis I. wore a beard he allowed his
own to grow, and, as it is reddish, has now got a
beard which looks like gold. He is very accomplish
ed ; a good rausician ; coraposes well ; is a raost
capital horseman ; a firm jouster ; speaks good
French, Latin, and Spanish ; is very religious ; hears
three masses daily when he hunts, and sometimes
five on other days ; he hears the office every day
in the queen's chamber, that is to say, vespers and
compline. He is very fond indeed of hunting, and
never takes this diversion without tiring eight or
ten horses, which he causes to be stationed before
hand along the line of country he may raean to
take, and when one is tired he mounts another,
and before he gets home they are all exhausted.
He is extremely fond of tennis, at which game it
is the prettiest thing in the world to see him play ;
his fair skin glowing through a shirt of the finest
texture. "He garabled with the French hostages to the
amount occasionally, it is said, of frora six to eight
thousand ducats in a day.
"He is affable, gracious, harms no one, does not
covet his neighbours' goods, and is satisfied with his
own dominions, having often said to the arabassador,
^Domine orator, we want all potentates to content

152 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
themselves with their own territories ; we are satis
fied with this island of ours.'
" He seems extreraely desirous of peace.
" He is very rich indeed ; according to report, his
father left hira ten millions of ready money in gold,
of which he is supposed to have spent one half in
the war against France, when he took Tournay; and
he certainly expended a considerable sum at that
period, for he had three arraies on foot : one crossed
the Channel with hira, another was in the field
against Scotland, and the third remained with the
queen as a reserve, in case the other two encoun
tered any disaster.
" His revenues amount to about three hundred
and fifty thousand ducats annually, and are derived
from estates, forests, and meres ; from the customs,
or duties ; from hereditary and confiscated property ;
frora the Duchies of Lancaster, York, Cornwall, and
Suffolk ; frora the County Palatine of Chester, and
others ; from the principality of Wales ; from export
duties ; frora the wool staple ; from the Great Seal ;
from the annats yielded by church benefices ; from
the Court of Wards, and from New Year's gifts ; for
on the first of the year it is custoraary for His Ma
jesty to make presents to everybody, but the value
of those he receives in return greatly exceeds his
own outlay.
" His Majesty's expenses may be estimated at one
hundred thousand ducats, those in ordinary having

GREAT WEALTH. 153
been reduced from one hundred thousand to fifty-six
thousand, to which must be added sixteen thousand
for salaries, five thousand for the stable, five thou
sand for the halberdiers, who have been reduced
from five hundred to one hundred and fifty ; and six
teen thousand for the wardrobe, fcr be is the best-
dressed sovereign in the world ; his robes are the
richest and most superb that can be imagined, and
he puts on new clothes every holiday." *
If Henry VIII. had been carried off by death at
the age of thirty or thirty-five years, England
would have been pitied for the loss of such a
good king, and the hope of a glorious reign. Such
is the vanity of human judgraent ; we often deplore
as a dreadful misfortune what is really a signal
mercy of Providence.
* " Ten Years at the Court of Henry VUL" Report of Sebas
tian Giustiniani, vol, U, p. 312.

154

PART II.
DIVORCE OF HENRY VIII. AND CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF THAT PRINCESS.
IN the second part of this work we have under
taken to write the history of the divorce of
Henry VIII. and Catharine of Aragon. The claims
of the truth and of the Church make us consider it a
duty to describe the most private and most delicate
incidents of the life of Catharine and Henry with the
utmost minuteness. We address a grave and en
lightened public, and trust our intention will not be
mistaken. It is necessary to be pitiless towards vice and
crime, and they raust be displayed in all their horror
that they raay be branded and made detestable.
Heaven forbid that we should ever allow ourselves
to heighten the colour of our pictures I That would
be to exceed the rights of the historian. But we
shall be careful not to conceal or diminish anything.

PART II. 155
The impure origin of the English revolt against the
papacy must be thoroughly made known.
We know that it contains a great historical scan
dal, but the scandal must recoil upon the heads oft
the actors.

156

CHAPTER I.

How was the First Idea of the Divorce conceived by Henry
Vin. ? — Fears of Fresh CivU Wars, if the King had no
heir, by the Lords and Grandees of the Realm — CooUng
of King Henry VIII.'s Affection for the Queen after Fif
teen or Sixteen Years of MarriageandUnitedLife — Excuses
given for Henry VIII.'s Conduct by his Apologists —
Falseness of these Excuses — Tardy Scruples of Henry
VIII, — Theology and Policy furnish him with Pretexts
after the Deed.

WE bave seen that doubts were raised in the
king's council by the Archbishop of Canter
bury on the question of the validity of the marriage
that Henry VIII. was about to contract with Catha
rine of Aragon. But the opposition temporarily led
by that prelate was reduced to silence by the good
fortune that this union appeared to have secured
during its earlier years.
Thus, as the modern applauders of Henry VIIL,
and even Mr. Froude himself,* point out, if Catha-
— Il
* Vol. i, p, 117, et seq. However, the Ufe or death of the
children could make no change in the legal vaUdity of Catharine's
marriage. It was only a question of poUtical importance.

PUBLIC ANXIETY. 157
rine's sons had lived, and had gathered around the
throne, it is probable that conjugal peace wouldbaVA
continued almost unclouded between the married
pair, or at least Henry, fearing to excite public cen
sure, would not have allowed the discontents and
troubles of his private life to have become public.
But death struck down his sons in their premature
births or in their feeble early infancy.*
The nobles and principal gentry of the country
really seem to have felt some uneasiness. They had
endured much suffering frora the sanguinary wars of
the red and white roses, and they dreaded their
renewal. No doubt females were not excluded from
succession to the throne, but Henry VIL, who bad
married the heiress of the House of York, bad never
chosen to recognize any personal claim of bis queen
to the crown, because he chose to reign in virtue of
his own right.
In a nation essentially military as the English
were at that time, everyone must have preferred a
male heir to one incapable of herself bearing arms
* Catharine was married June Srd, 1509. Early in the spring
of 1510 she miscarried — Four Years at the Com-t, vol. i, p. 83.
January 1st, 1511, a prince'was born who died Febraary 22nd —
HaU. November 9th, 1513, another prince was born who died
immediately — Lingard. December, 1514, a stUl-born male chUd —
Badoer, the Venetian ambassador. May Srd, 1515, it seems there
was a miscarriage — Four years, vol. i, p. 81. February 18th,
1516, the Princess Mary was born. July 3rd, 1518, again mis
carriage — State Papers, vol. i, p. 2. Note to Froude, vol. i, p.
117.

158 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
and taking comraand. The opinion of the most
distinguished lawyers* was that Parliament had the
right to verify or confirm the legitimacy of the sove
reign. Lastly, the papal authority itself had to be
often consulted, when doubtful questions arose on
the validity of a raarriage having claims on the crown
at issue.
Certainly Henry VIII. had only one daughter, in
delicate health, and an insurrection against her
would have had a fair chance of success ; she raight
also die before reaching the age of royal raajority.
Forebodingsand_feaxs— arising from this state of

things gavebirth to jthoughts o^ the question of_

divorce that, though they were vague, were an ex
cellent preparation of the ground for Henry VIIL, if
be should raise the point himself. This question, so to
speak, was floating in the air until the king chose to
give it consistency and determinate form.
But would Henry have determined to coraraence
this dangerous proceeding, if he had only been
swayed by considerations of public interest ? Would
be have ever had a notion of it, if his relations with
the queen had continued to be as cordial and affec
tionate as in the earlier period of his marriage ?
With unfortunate precocity, Catharine bad soon
* Sir Thomas More was of this opinion ; he even maintained
that the ParUament had, in certain cases, the right of deposing
the king. Appendix 2, to Third Report of the Deputy-keeper of
the Public Records, p. 241. See also Froude, vol. i, p, 108 ; 2nd
ed., 1858.

henry's coolness. 159
reached the period of maturity and decay. Aftej"
she had been married fifteen or sixteen_years, it be-
carae certain even to ^rself that..sbfi_ could never
have another- -child. „ J^he disparity of age between
herself and Henry,* scarcely perceptible at the time
of the raarriage, became more and more evident in
consequence of the decline of her health, in conse
quence of her sufferings and domestic sorrows.
But was all this any justification for the coolness
and even aversion that Henry at this tirae displayed
for the companion of his life? Justice should be
done to Catharine's unalterable good-humour, to her
angelic amiability, to the serene resignation with
which she bore the sorrows of her position, and
pardoned conjugal infidelities that she must have
known. But her Castillian austerity is imputed as a crime
to her, and her exacting habits in private life, and
comparisons are made between her so-called cold and
reserved obstinacy with the fiery obstinacy of Henry
VIII. ; it is stated that these two characters, at once
like and unlike, must needs have clashed on the very
sides where their resemblance lay.! But it is not
taken into account that, when an oppressed woman
keeps herself purely on the defensive, her pretended
obstinacy ought to be called by another name and
* She was at least seven years older than the king. About 1524
or 1525, the time when Henry began to grow cool, she was hardly
forty years old, but she had already aged muoh.
t Froude, vol, i, p. 119,

160 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
styled firmness, and when an iraperious husband con
tinues in a position of unjust aggression against a
blameless woman, his obstinacy becomes inveterate
tyranny. It is said that Henry VIII. would have very well
endured the vexations of his married life, and would
never bave revealed his passion for Anne Boleyn, if
the interests of State and consideration of public
order had not been in correspondence with his secret
feelings ; that he must have thought he saw a real
moral obligation to do what he desired ; also that
a French arabassador, on coraing to ask the hand of
Mary, expressed, in the name of his master, doubts
as to the legitimacy of that young princess, and that,
when once these doubts were raised, they must of
necessity be publicly and legally silenced.*
We shall have explanations to make on the alleged
opening of this business by the ambassador, the
Bishop of Tarbes. But that reasons of State were
the first and predominant motive for the hostile atti
tude assumed by Henry towards Catharine, we cannot
adrait. Even before the erabassy of the Bishop of Tarbes,
Henry had for two or three years been enamoured of
Anne Boleyn, had consulted the doctors of canon
law on the validity of his marriage, and be then only
sought theological reasons drawn from divine law,
in order to justify his desire that it should be annulled.
* Froude, vol. i, p. 114.

henry's SCRUPLES. 161
We can only say, witb Bossuet, that he called his
conscience to the aid ofhis passion.*
One excuse made for Henry VIII. is that he was
misled by a delusion, and acted honestly ; but in
truth a person professing to act from disinterested
motives, when only obeying personal feeling, soon
deceives himself.
Such considerations would seem to justify a great
many criminals who manage to seduce theraselves by
ingenious sophisras. Henry VIII. thought himself
great in theology. Could he have spent eighteen years
withoui^opeiiieg-his-.eyes to__the_J' stata_ill sin_" .in
which he would have lived with his sister-in-law as
his wife? Had he not been informed by the opposi
tion of the Archbishop of Canterbury that there was
a theological question to be examined? Why did
he not proceed to this examination till he fell in love
with Anne Boleyn ? Then no doubt he worked hard
to deceive himself; but, though he mayhave succeed
ed in creating a delusion at a later period, this first
operation was not undertaken in good faith ; and his
want of openness and sincerity will often be displayed
during the course of this affair.
Thus it is necessary to begin with inquiring as
closely as possible into the irregularities of the private
life of Henry VIIL, to show how any serious thought
of divorce was first conceived by hira. Then we
raust show what Anne Boleyn was, how she was
* Histoire des variations.
VOL. I. M

162 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
brought up, and how she naturally found powerful
supporters in her father and relations raised to high
position in the State. The King of England yielded
to influences of his own creating when he allowed
hiraself to be led by the flatterers and courtiers
around him. In this respect the surroundings of his
life were no excuse for him. Besides, he consulted
neither theology nor policy in setting forth upon the
course he was determined to choose, he had no -aim
but the satisfaction of his passion ; but he recruited
theology and policy to assist his cause. This will
be clearly seen in the latter part of this work.

163

CHAPTER II.

Was Henry VIII.'s Conduct Exemplary during the First
Years of his Marriage ? — Did the Real Piety that he pro
fessed preserve him from all Moral FaiUngs ? — What is to
be thought of the Business of Compton, lately made
PubUc in the Diplomatic Correspondence of Louis Carroz ?
— Was not this Strange and Mysterious Adventure the
real Origin of Henry VIH.'s Hatred for Buckingham ? —
The King's Connection with Elizabeth Blount — Recogni
tion of his Natural Son the Duke of Richmond — Honours
heaped upon the Young Duke even before he was out of
his Childhood,

HISTORY has heretofore thought fit to assert that
Henry VIII.'s conduct continued to be quite
exemplary during the earlier years of his married
life. No doubt there was at first an amount of
mystery enveloping his conjugal infidelities. But
besides the absence of any document, or even any
injurious report about hira in this respect, during
this privileged period of conjugal life, the strongest
presumptions seem to concur in leading to the belief
in his exclusive affection for Catharine.
At the tirae of her marriage and coronation, the
queen was in the full prime of her beauty, and, ac-
m2

164 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
cording to contemporaries, she was admired for a
considerably longer time.
The best known of her portraits was painted by
Holbein when she was about forty-eight. He has
represented her countenance marked by suffering,
and too early wrinkled, and eyes swelled by tears.
But Sir John Russell, who had seen her when she
was only thirty-two or thirty-three years old, a
meraber of the privy council of Henry VIIL, speaks
with admiration of Catharine. He praises the
charm of her eyes as large and expressive ; he says
that she was then not inferior in respect of beauty
to what Anne Boleyn aud Jane Seymour afterwards
were, and indeed surpassed them.*
Thus Catharine certainly seems to have preserved,
seven or eight years after marriage, attraction
enough to secure a husband such as Henry VHI.
And we must not forget that this prince was then
not only in the practice of religious habits, but of
real devotion.!
It is true that, in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, princes, and even religious ones, paid a
scandalous deference to their passions. Ferdinand
the Catholic and Charles V. had natural children.
It would not, therefore, be surprising to find in
the King of England another example of that
* Miss Strickland, vol. iv, p. 116.
t See above the portrait of Henry VIIL, by a Venetian
ambassador, at the end of the first part.

THE COMPTON MATTER. 165
monstrous mixture of religion and moral failure.
As to the young king, who had shown his skill
in divinity by bis contest with Luther, and had
deserved and obtained the title of Defender of the
Faith, it would be reasonable to admit that the habit
of logic in reasoning was not likely to bave deserted
him in the actions of private life ; besides, it is
certain that Catharine had not yet ceased to be
attractive to hira.
And yet the recently published diploraatic cor
respondence reveals to us an obscure intrigue that
occurred in 1510 in the king's palace, and the narae
of Henry VIII. occurs as connected with it, and
perhaps seriously coraproraised. Particulars are
given in the Spanish ambassador's letter, written
to his master. This adventure took place only
a year after the marriage of Henry VIII. and
Catharine. "Two sisters of the Duke of Buckingham, both
of them married woraen, live in the palace ; one of
thera being a pet of the queen's, while the other,
it is said, finds grace in Henry's sight. The king
is often in this lady's room. Some people say this
love affair is not the king's, but Compton's. Comp
ton, it is whispered, carries on the thing for Henry ;
which is likely, as the king has shown much anger
at the whole affair. The lady whom her highness
likes, being anxious for her sister's sake, took counsel
with the duke her brother, with her husband, and

166 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
her sister's husband, as to what they ought to do.
After some talk the duke stole privily to his sister's
room to see her, and, while they were engaged in
talking, Corapton dropt in to see her. Buckingham
was hot. High words and even threats were used ;
on hearing of which the king, incensed at this un
seemly quarrel in bis palace, rated the duke so
fiercely that his blood was roused. ' I will not sleep
beneath this roof another night,' cried Buckingham,
bouncing from the room. The lady's husband then
rushed in, and carried her to a convent sixty miles
away. Next raorning Henry, suspecting the sister
near the queen of stirring up this raischief, turned her
out of doors. Thus all the Staffords have been
driven from court. Nor is the king content with
emptying Catharine's closet. In his anger he de
clares that he is watched by spies, who lurk about
his palace waiting on his steps, and seeking in his
unguarded moraents for a cause of tattle witb the
queen. He says the queen's favourite sets them on.
But that he fears to raise so great a scandal, he
would clear the house. Everyone can see that he
is vexed with Catharine, and that Catharine is vexed
with hira. No one knows how it will end. This
storra is at the height." *
The ambassador afterwards mentions that he had
* Dixon's Two Queens, 2nd ed., pp. 85, 86. From letter of
Carro? to Almazan, May 29th, 1510. Carroz to Ferdinand, same
date.

THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 167
questioned the queen's confessor. He rather boasts
of having made an offer to the priest that in such
delicate circumstances he would gladly put his ex
perience, as a man of the world, at the queen's
service. Such a curious offer was very coolly re
ceived by Don Diego Hernandez. He answered
that he knew nothing of the matter ; never meddled
in such intrigues, and had every reason to believe
the whole was a tissue of stories and lies. Louis
was both disconcerted and irritated by such an
answer. The Spanish ambassador also complained of the
queen's want of. confidence and her excessive reserve
with him. It seems to us that she only did her
duty in keeping to herself the secret of the storms
of her married life.
We, however, believe in the truth of Louis Carroz's
story, as it is an explanation of the commenceraent
of Henry VIII.'s displeasure with the Duke of Buck
inghara. A few years after the scene with OoraptoTEi
Buckingham was called before the star chamber!
for having defamed the king ; this was in the monthi
of May, 1519. In May, 1521, he was accused of
high treason, and on the 17th of the same month
condemned to deatb, and beheaded.
It is true that the king was not the only person
whom he bad displeased; he is said to have also
incurred the enmity of Cardinal Wolsey, upon whom,
according to public opinion, rested the blame of this

168 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
criminal prosecution and sentence of death. We
ourselves think it was chiefly due to Henry VHL
himself brooding secretly over his hatred, and
becoming the more implacable.*
It would be difficult to believe that a hasty and
rude joke of Buckingham's witb the cardinal could
bave stirred up that statesman to murderous hatred.!
Especial pains must be taken to display the char
acter of Wolsey, because he plays an important part
in the raatter of the divorce. Sorae say he was the
son of a butcher at Ipswich, others of a sraall trades
raan of that place.
He began by being alraoner to Henry VIIL, and
then Dean of Lincoln. Henry VIII. was so charmed
with his good manner, won over by the elegance and
superiority of his mind, that in the short space of
three or four years he appointed him in succession a
member of the Privy Council, Archbishop of York,
and Lord Chancellor of England. The pope also
* Henry VIH. had other grudges against Buckingham for
taking away one of his servants, and willingly giving ear to
prophecies promising the crown of England.
t One day the Duke of Buckingham was holding the basin for
the king to wash, when it pleased the cardinal to put in his hands.
The royal blood of the duke rose in indignation, and he flung the
water in Wolsey's shoes, who, with a revengeful scowl, promised
Buckingham ' that he would sit on his skirts.' The duke treated
the threat as a joke, for he came to Court in a jerkin ; and, being
asked by the king the reason of this odd costume, repUed that ' it
was to prevent the cardinal from executing his threat, for if he
wore no sku-ts they could not be sat upon,' "—Miss Strickland,
vol, iv, p, 119,

CARDINAL WOLSEY. 169
loaded Wolsey with favours, gave him a cardinal's
hat, and raised him to the dignity of legate of the
Holy See.*
King Henry, taken up with pleasure, and putting
entire confidence in Wolsey, not only left hira the
entire administration of justice, but the management
of the foreign and domestic affairs of the realm. As
a statesman, Wolsey showed he was quite equal to
the task laid on him. Very industrious, he was soon
master of the state of Europe and inner history of
the Continental courts. There was no better calcu
lator of political chances. He was ready for any
event, to find a remedy if it were unfavourable, to
take advantage if it were fortunate. He was enthu
siastic for the greatness and glory of his country.
Wolsey's despatches are real models of style and
composition ; Richelieu and Mazarin were not his
superiors in the sagacity and ability of their diplo
matic instructions.
We are able to give a portrait of this great minis
ter in the words of a contemporary ; these are
remarks of wonderful truth ; it would be excellent
if it was more complete.
" This cardinal is the person who rules both the
king and the entire kingdom. On the ambassador's
first arrival in England, he used to say to him, ' Eis
Majesty will do so and so.' Subsequently, by degrees
* Legatine powers granted by the pope were renewed every
two years.

170 . CATHARINE OF AR.\GON.
he went on forgetting hiraself, and commenced say
ing, ' We shall do so and so.' At this present he has
reached such a pitch that he says, ' / shall do so and
so.' " He is about forty-six years old, very handsome,
learned, extreraely eloquent, of vast ability, and in
defatigable. He alone transacts the same business
as that which occupies all the magistracies' offices
and councils of Venice, both civil and crirainal ; and
all state affairs, likewise, are managed by him, let
their nature be what it may.
" He is pensive, and has the reputation of being
extremely just ; he favours the people exceedingly,
and especially the poor, hearing their suits and
seeking to dispatch them instantly ; he also makes
the lawyers plead gratis for all paupers.
" He is in very great repute— seven times more so
than if he were pope. He has a very fine palace,
where one traverses eight rooms before reaching his
audience-chamber, and they are all hung with tapes
try, which is changed once a week. He always has
a sideboard of plate worth twenty-five thousand
ducats, wherever he raay be ; and his silver is esti
mated at a hundred and fifty thousand ducats. In
his own chamber there is always a cupboard with
vessels to the amount of thirty thousand ducats, this
being custoraary with the English nobility.
" He is supposed to be very rich indeed in money,
plate, and household stuff.

THE VENETIAN'S DESCRIPTION. 171
"The Archbishopric of York yields him about
fourteen thousand ducats; the Bishopric of Bath
eight thousand. One third of the fees derived from
the great seal are his; the other two are divided
between the king and the chancellor. The cardinal's
share amounts to about five thousand ducats. By
the new year's gifts which be receives in like manner
as the king he makes some fifteen thousand ducats.
" Bath is that see which belonged to Cardinal
Adrian, for whom, when the signory desired the
ambassador to intercede, Cardinal Wolsey was so
incensed that he would not hear of any terms, but
became pacified at last, through the exertions of the
ambassador ; and whereas at the commenceraent he
used to lavish all possible abuse on Venice, he now
extols ber to the skies, lauding the extreme justice
of the signory, and says that thereby, and from
merely observing the good order maintained in her
towns, a wayfarer arriving in them would at once
become aware that he must be in the Venetian terri
tories, even if he knew not exactly where he was."*
The descriptions of the Venetian ambassadors are
quite free from disparaging expressions — indeed, an
excess of good-will may often be observed in them.
They omit to mention the faults of statesmen, after
having displayed their great qualities.
Thus there would be great, gaps in the portrait of
Wolsey. There was no mention of his venality,
* Four Years at the Court of Henry VIH., p. 314.

172 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
moral failings, and the boundless ambition which
made him even aspire to the pope's triple crown.
It is well known that Charles V. had promised to use
his influence with the cardinals, but that he broke his
proraise, and that afterwards the policy of England
became hostile to the emperor.
This partly explains the share which Wolsey con
sented to take in the raatter of the divorce, and the
slight interest he showed in Catharine of Aragon.

173

CHAPTER III.
Henry VIIL's Love-affair with Elizabeth Blount — Almost
Royal Homage paid to her Son, the Young Duke of Rich
mond — Increasing Coolness of the King to Catharine.
IF there is sorae doubt about the intrigue just de
scribed, there can be none on the nature of the
relations of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth Blount. He
had a son by ber, recognised hira, and loaded hira
with favours.
The king met this young person at Calais in the
year 1513, and imraediately conceived a great incli
nation for her. It seems he soon afterwards caused
her to be named maid-of-honour to the queen.*
In the Christmas festivities of 1514, Elizabeth
Blount is found to be present at Court, in a masked
quadrille, in company with Mistress Carey, the king,
the Duke of Suffolk, Sir Thomas Boleyn, and his son
George. Mistress Blount danced and sang beauti-
* She is found borne on the Court account-books for a pension
of one hundred pounds in the middle of the year 1513. Doctor
Brewer therefore draws the inference that she then became one of
the queen's household. — Introduction, vol. iv, p. cxUv, et seq.

174 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
fully ; she had every talent for insuring success in
the world, and made use of them to gain the king's
heart. Henry VIII. afterwards gave ber a house in the
¦county of Sussex ; he often visited her when she
lived in that retired spot. She there became the
mother, in 1519, of a son, who was created Duke of
Hichraond six years afterwards. In 1522 or 1523 she
married one of Wolsey's principal officers, named
¦Gilbert Talboys, who was attached to the king's
household. By Act of Parliament, in the fourteenth year of
fais reign, Henry assigned to Elizabeth Talboys,
shortly after the marriage, either in consideration of
the son she had borne to him, or in recompense of
the military services of her father, considerable sums
of money, with the enjoyment for life of several
manors situated in the counties of Lincoln and
York.* In the autumn of 1524 Gilbert was knight
ed, and next year became sheriff of Lincolnshire.
The king's connection with Elizabeth Blount was
long enveloped in raystery, and during the earlier
years, if the queen knew it, she probably did not
suspect that it might have serious consequences.
But matters looked different when Henry thought
he ought to recognise Elizabeth Blount's son as his
own. About this tirae Tunstal wrote to the king :
"The eraperor himself told us that his highness
* See chapter xxiv of the Statute 14th of Henry VIII.

THE DUKE OF RICHMOND. 175
had only one living child by Catharine, the Princess
Mary, and had no hope of any more posterity."
This is the explanation of the importance that
Henry thought fit to give to the recognition of the
little Duke of Richraond. The cereraony was per
formed on the 16th of June, 1525, with splendour
absolutely royal. Cardinal Wolsey, and the princi
pal lords of the kingdom, both spiritual and tem
poral, led the procession. The central figure was
the fair young child, seemingly intended for an
exalted and mysterious destiny.
He was conducted from the long gallery of the
Bridewell to the king's chamber, where Henry VIII.
received him in great state. " The young lord
kneeled to the king in the dress of an earl ; his
majesty ordered hira to rise ; the king then received
the patent frora Garter, and gave it to Sir Thomas
More, who read it aloud. On coming to the words,
* Gladii cincturum,' the young lord kneeled down,
and the king put the girdle about his neck, the
sword hanging bendwise over his breast." * A
montb afterwards, the king added to all these dig
nities that of Lord Admiral of England, and after
wards made him large grants of land to* support
his dignity. His household was placed on a grand
footing, and the magnificence of his establishment
was the raore evident by contrast with the parsimo
nious treatment of the Princess Mary, Henry VIII.'s
* Brewer, Calendar, vol. iv, part i, p. 639.

176 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
legitimate daughter, the recognised princess, and
three years dlder than her little brother. The same
deed that created the boy Duke of Richmond gave
him precedence over all the English nobility, and
over the princess, his sister, herself.
This last favour was too significant; it must have
been a severe wound to a mother like Catharine,
jealous for the preservation of her daughter's rights
to the crown. But it is said that the queen only
mentioned her resentment to three Spanish ladies of
her household. These ladies had sympathised with
ber grief, they were accused of having aroused and
kept up her ' resentment, and the king instantly dis
missed them frora the Court. It was a harsh and
cruel proceeding, says the Venetian ambassador,
who mentions the fact, but the queen was obliged to
submit patiently.
From this day forwards, indeed, the unfortunate
queen was obliged to exert a great deal of patience
in bearing with such public insult. She had to expect
espionage and tyranny in all the actions of her
private life. She found herself isolated, and without
either refuge or help. Henry VHL was separating
from her with ill-concealed aversion ; her most inno
cent affections were suspected ; all her power of love
was concentrated on her daughter Mary, who cer
tainly gave her every reason for maternal affection
that she could desire, and all the satisfaction that her
pride could wish. But she found, with undefined

LETTER TO CHARLES V. 177
apprehension, that the future lot of this cherished
daughter, destined to be Queen of England, was
secretly threatened, and that she had everything to
fear from the king.
It was then, in her state of desertion, that she re
merabered her nephew, Charles V., and wrote to him a
short but affecting letter, to comraend herself to his
favour. This is the text of the letter that has corae
down to us : —
" Most High and Powerful Lord,
" I cannot iraagine what may be the cause
of your highness having been so angry, and having
so forgotten me, that for upwards of two years I have
had no letters (from Spain), and yet I ara sure I
deserve not this treatment, for such are my affection
and readiness for your highness's service, that I
deserve a better reward."*
In 1510, when Catharine thought she perceived
the first infidelity of her spouse, she was still ener
getic enough and had sufficient vigour to make a
domestic scene; now she seems to sink under the
weight of infirmities and mental suffering. She has
not strength enough left to complain to her husband,
nor to disclose her griefs. Her attitude is quite
passive. When she can no longer possibly avoid a
* Gayangos, Spamsh Calendar, vol. iu, pt. i, pp. 1018, 1019.
Perhaps Charles V. had sent a message through his ambassador
that he was annoyed at having no news of her for a long time.
VOL. I. N

178 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
knowledge ofthe scandalous conduct of Henry VIII.
her prostration is so great that she can only groan
in silence. Threats of a divorce alone were sufficient
to rouse her, and make her show herself grand,
dignified, and haughty.

179

CHAPTER IV.
Picture of the Court of England by Erasmus during the
Youth of Henry VHI. — Origin and Social Position of
the Boleyns — Their Morality and that of their Society —
Anne Boleyn at the Court of France — Her Sister Mary
Mistress of Henry VIIL — Anne recalled to England —
Her Portrait — Her Success at Henry's Court — Plots
contrived against Catharine by Anne Boleyn and her
Family.
AT the beginning of the reign of Henry VIIL,
Erasmus wrote to bis friend Ulrich von Hutten,
describing the Court of that prince, saying that no
where could be found so pure and modest a Court ;
the king choosing his intimate friends araong raen
of learning and strict morality ; preferring their
society to that of younger men immersed in luxury,
and like women, or to that of collared Midases,* or
of proud and hypocritical officers, some suggesting
foolish pleasures, others stirring up tyranny, others
again inciting to the imposition of entirely new
charges upon the people.!
* Is this in allusion to Dudley and Empson ? (Ed.)
t Vix autem reperies uUam aulam tam modestam, et seq. See Far-
n2

180 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Some years afterwards the men of learning and
strict raorality were no longer in favour, but exactly
the young men wrapped in luxury and inclined to
give evil counsel. Erasmus' flattering picture seemed
to have turned into the bitterest irony.
However, even at the tirae when this unhappy
change was taking place, there was nothing to lead
to the supposition that the new influences which pre
vailed at Court could induce Henry VIII. to disraiss
Catharine from the throne, and replace her by another
woman. This unworthy action was destined to be
accomplished by the ascendancy of a fresh rival,
taken from the ranks of the English gentry, but not
from the highest nobility. This rival has a mournful
notoriety, and was, as is well known, the young and
attractive Anne Boleyn.
The' Boleyns, without having been illustrious, be
longed to a noble and ancient faraily. The first
raember who had been at all distinguished was God
frey Boleyn, great-grandfather of the too famous
Lady Anne and her sister Mary ; he was a raerchant,
and Mayor of London in 1457.* His son, William
Boleyn, gave up trade, went to court, and was made
rago Nova Epistolarum Erasmi, Bale, 1519, p. 334. There is no date
to the letter, it may be of 1510, or two or three years afterwards.
* Dreux du Radier teUs us that this famUy goes back to the
fourteenth century, and was originally French. He mentions a
deed of 1344, in which a certain Walter Boleyn is styled a vassal
of Baldwin, Duke of Avesnes, near P&onne. Memoires histor
iques et critiques et anecdotes sur les reines et regentes de France,
vol. iv, p. 219 ; ed. de 1776.

THE BOLEYNS. 181
a Knight ofthe Bath (?) by Richard III. ; he married
Margaret Butler, daughter of the last Irish Earl of
Ormond, and joint heiress of a portion of his property.
Lastly Sir Thomas Boleyn, son of William, attended
Henry VII. in his expedition against the rebels in
Cornwall, and made a marriage that connected him
with the highest nobility of Great Britain ; he married
Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Surrey, afterwards
Duke of Norfolk. Sir Thomas Boleyn and his son
George were in good odour at the court of Henry
VIIL, and belonged to the constellation of his favour
ites, brilliant stars, but not very respectable. An
idea may be formed of the raorals of these intiraate
friends of the king by the following portraits drawn
by Doctor Brewer from documents he has himself
brought to light. The chief of these favourites
were Sir W^illiara Compton, Sir Francis Bryant,* Sir
Henry Norris, Sir Thomas Boleyn, and George
Boleyn. To these should be added the Duke of
Suffolk, who was only remarkable for his strength
and stature, and the Duke of Norfolk, a small, spare
raan of dark complexion, cruel lips, and a temper
more cruel than his smile.
Sir Thomas Boleyn had been raised to the peerage
in 1525 by the title of Lord Rochford. He was the
father of Anne Boleyn ; the Duke of Norfolk was her
uncle, George Boleyn was her brother, Norris her
relative and admirer, Corapton an intimate friend;
* Brewer, Sir GUbert Pickering.

182 CATHARINE OF ARAGON
with them Henry passed the day in hunting and
gambling, often losing great sums of money.
There was not one of these young nobleraen who
professed the smallest respect for the sanctity of
raarriage. Thus Suffolk had been betrothed to a
young lady of good family, and had married another,
but had dismissed her under the plea of the previous
contract, and returned to the lady he had before re
jected. Norfolk lived on most scandalous terms
with his duchess.
Sir William Compton had been cited in the ecclesi
astical court for living openly with a married woraan.
The eonduct and ultiraate fate of Norris and George
Boleyn are too well known for it to be necessary to
give the particulars.
Sir Francis Bryant was the chief of these gay
corapanions ; his business it was to provide for the
king's arauseraent, he was the rainister of his
pleasures, and reputed to be the raost dissolute of
all the party of courtiers.*
It is evident that, under the influence of such com
panions, Henry VIII. would be little inclined to a
serious life of business. His weariness and disgust
were excessive when he saw a long file of despatches
and papers laid out on his desk for signature. If he
had ever seemed for a moment to desire to reign by
* Letters and Despatches, Brewer. Intro.,vol. iv, p. ccxvUi, ccxx.
Norris and Boleyn perished on the scaffold. Bryant talked with
revolting coarseness of the king's amours.

SIR THOMAS BOLEYN. 183
himself, be had very soon become weary of all kinds
of work, and had discharged the cares of royalty
upon Cardinal Wolsey, leaving him all the oares of
Government. Sir Thomas Boleyn's favour at court certainly
cannot be explained by personal merit, and be was
said to bave been a husband wilfully blind ; he was
said to have made good use of his own interest and
of the cleverness of a wife who shrank from no
means of aggrandizing her family.* When the low
morality of this pair is made known, there will be the
less surprise that Sir Thomas Boleyn, in attendance
upon the Princess Mary of England when she went
to France, took with him his daughter Anne, still a
child, and left her, after the death of Louis XIL, at
the court of Francis I., where there was great
liberty in raanners and raorals. The young lady
was attached to the service of Queen Claude, and
brought up, as it were, on the knees of Francis'
sister, the Duchess of Alen9on,! who was afterwards
* It is said that Henry VIII., before he became king, was the
favoured lovsr of Lady Boleyn, but that seems to us very un
likely. The Prince of Wales was then very young and strictly
pious, Harpsfield beUeves in this criminal intimacy, and quotes
Sir Thomas More's opinion in this matter. But Sir Thomas
More's aUusion expresses rather doubt than actual certainty.
Harpsfield, pp. 236, 237. (This is probably Roman CathoUc
scandal.) (Ed.)
t There iave been great disputes among the learned on the date
of Anne Boleyn's birth, and what her age must have been when
taken to R-ance. Some say she was born in 1500 or 1501, others
not tUl 1507, and therefore she was only seven when her father

184 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Queen of Navarre, and held the sceptre of elegance
and gallantry* in the court of Francis I.!
It is likely enough that Thoraas Boleyn thought
less of preserving his daughter's innocence and virtue
than of enhancing her naturally brilliant qualities,
took her to France in 1514. This last opinion, which is that of
the learned herald and antiquary Camden, seems of most weight.
Miss Strickland, vol. iv, p. 159. (Lord Herbert says expressly
that Anne Boleyn was twenty years old when she returned from
France in 1521, so that she must have been born about 1501.) (Ed.)
* M. Armand Baschet says of this princess : " Homme d'Etat
plutot que femme, sans avoir rien perdu de ce privilege de grace
et de charme attache k la condition de son sexe ; tous les ambassa
deurs I'ont admiree, tous I'ont montr^e sage consettlere, esprit
d^Ucat et siir, coeur devoue, plus serieusement lettrde encore que
le roi Francois L, songlorieux frere. Lorsque Dandolo la vit, eUe
avait cinquante ans.
" EUe est de complexion deUcate, dit-il, de sorte qu'eUe ne promet
pas d'avoir une longue existence : cependant, comma elle est fort
reservee dans son mode de vivre, et, d'un naturel ires arrets, U
pourrait se faire qu'elle veciit longtemps. Je crois «[u'eUe est la
personne la plus sage, nou pas seulement de toutes les femmes de
France, mais aussi de tous les hommes. Je n'en dirai pas davant
age k cet egard. Je dois toutefois certifier que dans l^s affaires et
les interets d'Etat, on ne peut dcouter des disoours plus siirs que
les siens. Dans la doctrine dn christianisme, eUe est! si vers^e et
si instruite, que bien peu de gens sauraient mieux en traiter. Je
puis aflBrmer enfin qu'eUe est tres affectionnee k notrerepublique."
— "La diplomatie viSnitienne," par Armand Baschet, p. 412.
It is evident that if, when she was Duchess of Alencon, there
was reason to regret the levities of youth, as Queen af Navarre,
in riper years, more serious quaUties resumed their sway. Confir
mation of this may be found in a recent work : Marguerite
d'Angouleme (soeur de Fran9ois I.), Etude sur ses dernferes annees
d'aprfes son Uvre de ddpenses, par M. le Comte H. de Laferrifere-
Percy. Paris, Aubry, 1862. 1
t Margaret was irreproachable in conduct. (E^)

MARY BOLEYN. 185
and teaching her the art of pleasing kings and
princes. Mary Boleyn was a little older than her sister Anne,
and, like her, had received a very careful education,
but she had not gone to France to learn the science
of refined coquetry and dexterous resistance.
So, before Anne Boleyn's return from France,
Henry VIII. had paid his homage to her sister Mary,
aud succeeded in leading her astray.*
As for Anne, in 1521 Cardinal Wolsey wished to
have her recalled to England, but for a very good
motive, quite consonant with sound policy. Since
the alliance of William Boleyn with the Irish Butlers,
the two farailies had been at variance. The Boleyns
had to obtain their share in the inheritance of the
Earl of Ormond. The Butlers had upheld the cause
of the Kings of England against the Irish with un
shaken loyalty. Wolsey thought their old quarrels
might be made up by the marriage of Anne Boleyn
to Sir Piers Butler. And so, after receiving the
king's permission, he wrote to Lord Surrey, the
young lady's uncle, to sound the Earl of Ormond,
* Some deny this connection of the king with An©e Boleyn's
sister. But, in two passages of his writings. Cardinal Pole blames
Henry VIH. for his desire to marry the sister of his concubine.
These are his words : "Anna didioerat, opinor, si nuUa aUa ex re,
vel sororis suse exemplo, quam cito te concubinarum tuarum
satietas caperet. Soror ejus est, quam concubinse loco apud te
habuisti." PoU Epist. Ivi et Ivii.— " Ab eodem Pontifice magna
vi contendebas, ut tibi Uceret ducere uxorem ejus, quae tua concu
bina fuisset." On the unity of the Church, by the same, imp, 1535.

186 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Sir Piers' father, and see whether he would consent
to the marriage. The earl seemed inclined to wel
corae this overture. The matter languished without
any conclusion till near the end of 1521. Anne her
self returned to England in 1522, before the end of
the winter, no doubt because Wolsey had desired
that her return should be hastened.*
After the sensation caused by her appearance at
Court, she conceived a more ambitious project than
had been devised for her,!
Everything concurred to securing young Lady
Anne an excellent reception and brilliant position at
the Court of Henry VIII. Her sister was the king's
favourite. Her father and near relations stood on
the steps of the throne. Her personal attraction was
a still greater recoraraendation.
Holbein has painted several portraits of Lady
Anne which are not exactly alike ; the best known,
which represents her in early youth, gives her au
oval and regular face, fresh-looking, and with a kind
of innocent ingenuousness. But those painted by
this great master at later dates display more decided
features. Her face is fuller, her look more languish
ing and tender. Her jet black hair is remarkable,
contrasting so well with the diamonds placed in it
* State Papers, pp. 369, 872, 744. Letters and Papers, Brewer.
Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccxxxvUi.
t Some say that, though stiU very young, Anne Boleyn had
been already the subject of scandal. But Sanders repeats from
sorae pamphlets of the time that are not trustworthy.

ANNE BOLEYN. 187
on solemn feast days.* Her beautiful and expressive
eyes are wanting in softness, and denote more cun
ning than great ability, raore passion than real feel
ing. Her mouth and upper lip, thicker than the
lower, bear an impress of sensuality that cannot be
misunderstood.! It is generally admitted that her features were less
perfect than those of her sister Mary, but she was
more attractive. She was especially pleasing in the
graceful vivacity of her repartees, and the sweetness
of her voice, that seemed to have some penetrating
quality both in speaking and singing to the accom
paniment of the lute. In dancing, as well as music,
she was unrivalled at the court of Henry VIII. Be
sides, she spoke French admirably,! and that was an
accomplishraent much valued in England at that
time. She had, however, some physical blemishes,
such as a donble nail on one of the fingers of her left
hand, seeming like a sixth finger ; and a rather large
mole, shaped like a strawberry, on one side of her
neck. The double nail seemed to her admirers to
be a grace the more ; and as for the strawberry,
which raight have been regarded as a slight de-
* Cranmer noticed this contrast on the day of Anne Boleyn's
coronation. t Froude, vol. i, p. 181, 2nd edition. This author cannot be
suspected of prejudice against Anne Boleyn, so his opinion is
valuable. We have very closely followed his words, with sUght
modification after other writers.
t But she wrote it very badly, and spelled detestably.

188 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
formity, she dexterously concealed it by wearing
bigh collars, which were soon imitated in fashionable
society in London. For, long before she ascended
the throne, she had become the queen of fashion, and
everybody dressed after her raodel.
Shortly after her return to England she was met
in her father's garden, at Hever, by Henry VIIL,
who entered into conversation with her, and was
delighted with her grace and beauty. When he
returned to Westminster he told Wolsey that he
had been conversing with a young lady who had
the very soul of an angel, and seemed to hira worthy
to wear the raatrimonial crown. Wolsey said it
ought to be enough for her to be considered worthy
of the king's admiration. And when Henry express
ed his fear that this would not be sufficient for her,
and that she would not be induced to accede to his
wishes in that way, Wolsey replied that, when great
princes choose to show their passion for a woman, and
desire to induce her to share it, they have it in their
power to use means that would soften hearts of steel.
It is to be supposed that the able and ambitious
minister, having the government of the state in his
hands, was not sorry to deter the king raore and
more frora attention to public business by engaging
bira in another love affair ; and it is said that he was
the person who suggested that Anne should be at
tached to the Court as maid of honour to the queen.*
* Dixon's Two Queens, 2nd edition, vol. iv, p. 2, Doubts have

PROTESTANT TENDENCIES. 189'
On the other side, what Wolsey did not know
was that Anne Boleyn had brougbtback. from
France, tendencies to Lutheranism, and whatj^fis-

called the " Reformed Religion." But she especially
belonged to those Protestants who had principally
sought in the new belief a pretext for the relaxation
of raorals, and a means of escape from the severe
precepts of the Catholic religion.*
Araong the nobleraen who becarae her suitors, after
her reception at Court, she specially distinguished Sir
Thoraas Wyatt and Henry, Earl of Surrey. These
two poets celebrated her enthusiastically in their
verses ; their gallantry using the language of pas
sion. Anne's free and bold tone, contrasting with
the reserve and coldness then usual with the English,
had a tendency to encourage any pretensions, and to
raultiply adorers. This worldly and intoxicating life
would have been a difficult trial for a person more
strictly brought up. But the education she had
received, the examples and the lessons of her
parents, were more likely to advance than retard
been raised as to whether Anne Boleyn was reaUy a maid of
honoTtt, because her name is included in a Ust of persons employed
about the Court, 1525, 1526. But this negative proof cannot
overcome contemporary evidence. (Editor's Note. — ^Thus it
stands in the French. Either it is a misprint, omitting "not,'' or
she is not included among the maids of honour, but only among
those persons employed at Court.)
* One-sided. The French Reformers were not Lutherans, and
their morals were far stricter than those of the Court. (Ed.)

190 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
her course upon the dangerous slope to which she
had been brought.
There is an anecdote related by George Wyatt,
grandson of Thomas Wyatt, and a passionate apolo
gist of Anne Boleyn. No doubt can be thrown upon
it, as his grandfather must have told him. It dis
plays the manoeuvres and coquetries of which this
young lady was capable when she first appeared at
the English Court. No doubt such particulars seem
unworthy of the gravity of history, but they throw a
great light upon the manners of the time, and we
may be excused for fully repeating so curious and
characteristic a story.
" Among these (choice spirits) two were observed
to be of principal mark ; the one was Sir Thomas
Wiat the elder, the other was the king himself. The
knight, in the beginning, coming to behold the sud
den appearance of this new beauty, came to be
holden and surprised somewhat with the sight there
of. After much more with her witty and graceful
speech, his ear also had hira chained unto her ; so
as finally his heart seemed to say, 7 could gladly yield
to be tied for ever with the knot of her love, as some
where in his verses hath been thought his meaning
was to express. She, on the other part, finding
him to be then raarried, and in the knot to have been
tied these ten years, rejected all his speech of love ;
but yet in such sort as whatsoever tended to regard
of her honour she showed not to scorn, for the

SIR THOMAS WYATT. 191
general favour and good-will she perceived all men
to bear him." He then proceeds to tell how Sir
Thomas on one occasion snatched frora her a sraall
jewel, " hanging by a lace out of her pocket," which
he thrust into his bosom and refused to return ; and
that the king at the same time, after less honourable
solicitations, fell to win her by treaty of marriage,
" and in his talk took from ber a ring, and that wore
upon his little finger  Within a few
days it happened that the king, sporting himself
at bowls, had in his company .... the Duke
of Suffolk, Sir F. Bryan, and Sir T. Wiat,
hiraself being more than ordinarily pleasantly dis
posed, and in his game taking an occasion to
affih-m a cast to be bis that plainly appeared to be
otherwise. Those on the other side said, with his
Grace's leave, they thought not; and yet still he,
pointing with his finger, whereon he wore her ring,
replied often it was his ; and specially to the knight
he said, ' Wiat, I tell thee it is mine,' smiling upon
him- withal. Sir Thomas, at length casting his eye
upon the king's finger, perceived that the king meant
the lady whose ring that was, which he well knew,
and pausing a little, and finding the king bent to
pleasure, after the words repeated again by the king,
the knight replied, ' And, if it raay like your Majesty
to give me leave to measure it, I hope it will be
mine,' and withal took from his neck the lace,
whereat hung the tablet (miniature), and therewith

1 92 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
stooped to measure the cast, which the king, espy
ing, knew, and had seen her wear, and therewithal
spurned away the bowl, and said, ' It may be so, but
then I am deceived,' and so broke up the garae." *
In consquence of the revelation Wyatt had made,
Henry had a violent scene with Anne Boleyn; but
she asserted that the gentleman had taken her trin
ket almost by force, that he had abused some old
childish intimacies in order to put himself on a foot
ing of familiarity with her, that she herself disap
proved, and would find a reraedy. At last she
managed to appease the king in this matter, and
made him more in love with her than ever. Only
Wyatt was for some tirae banished frora the Court.
About this tirae — that is to say, in 1523 or 1524—
the young Lord Percy, son of the Earl of Northum
berland, fell seriously in love with Anne Boleyn. It
.seems that he asked her hand, and, if there was not
a regular betrothal, there was at least a mutual
promise of marriage,! Wolsey was desired to inform
the presumptuous lover that the king forbade this
union, because he had other designs for the young
* Letters and Despatches, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccxU,
quoted from Wyatt, Singer's edition, p. 426.
t That would be in 1524 or 1525, for Anne Boleyn, according
to Cavendish, only returned to Court iij 1524, after an absence of
some length ; but that could only be in 1525, for the marriage of
Percy to Mary Talbot, arranged some time beforehand, took place
in 1526, before the death of Percy's father, and the date of that
has been discovered to be in the early part of 1527. See Caven
dish, History of Wolsey, p. 180,

henry's intentions. 193
lady. As Percy showed himself resolved not to
submit, Wolsey addressed himself to the earl, and
he sent his son to live on his estates, and soon after
made him marry Mary Talbot, daughter of the Earl
of Salisbury.*
From this moment Henry VIII.'s passion was re
vealed to Wolsey by the commission that had been
given him, which he so well performed. As for
Anne Boleyn, she must have been able to perceive
that the love raanifested for her by the king was in
earnest, and that she must avoid the example of her
sister; for that if she made a dexterous and deter
mined defence she might hope for a legitimate position
and a share of the English throne.
Then, no doubt, the too clever young lady, in
concert with her worthy father, set. to work to win
over divines to suggest scruples to Henry VIII. re-
* In Cromwell's papers there was found a mysterious letter,
addressed by some unknown person to a Mr. Melton, also un
known, supposed to furnish proof that Lady Anne had been more
seriously engaged with some other person than Lord Percy. It
seems that CromweU, who no doubt had the key of the puzzle,
made use of this letter to invaUdate the marriage of Anne and
Henry VTU. This is the beginning, and it is very significant : —
" Mr. Melton, — This shaU be to advertise you that Mistress Anne
is changed from that she was at when we three were last together.
Wherefore I pray you that ye be no devil's sakke, but, according
to the truth, ever justify, as ye shaU make answer before God, and
do not suffer her in my absence to be married to any other man.''
If she could not honestly marry another man, that would give
grounds for beUeving anything. ElUs, Srd series, vol. u, p. 131,
and Froude, vol, i, p. 183, 2nd ed^
VOL. I. 0

194 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
speeting the validity of his marriage with Catharine
of Aragon.* This was the first act in a real con
spiracy in which Anne Boleyn herself played the
principal part, and her accomplices were those un
worthy courtiers, almost all related to her, whose
manners we have described and remarked their
pernicious infiuenee.
Anne's arabition was not for the glory and great
ness of power ; she only saw the brilliant and frivo
lous side of the royal crown, without the power of
conceiving the lofty aspirations that a higher though
still culpable arabition might have proposed as its
aira. ^s to her relations, "it was not merely the car
dinal whom they wished to pull down," says the
Protestant Doctor Brewer, " but the whole hierarchy,
of whose wealth and influence many were envious,
and whose eraployraent as statesmen and diplo
matists they regarded with jealousy and partly
disliked, from a better motive, as detrimental to the
(morals of the clergy, and destructive of their spiritual
character and functions. The whole party who now_^
gathered roun.d_Anne Boleyn were anti-clerical."!
'' Now we can understand the origin of the doubts
of Henry VIII. on the possibility of conscientiously
continuing to live with Catharine.
* This is attested by several contemporaries.
t Letters and Despatches, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccxlv.

195

CHAPTER V.

Wolsey and Longlands were the Originators of the King's
Doubts and Scruples as to the Validity of his Marriage
— Judicial Farce contrived between Wolsey and Henry
VHI. concerning the Pretended Nullity of Marriage with
Catharine of Aragon — This Farce remains a Secret and
without Result — Capture and Sack of Rome by the Im
perial Army — Henry VIII. and Francis I. try to renew
and strengthen their AUiance against the Emperor — The
first Notion of Divorce falsely attributed to the Bishop of
Tarbes — Matrimonial and other Negotiations between
France and England — Proposed Marriage of the Princess
Mary to Francis L, or his Second Son, the Duke of
Orleans — Difficulties are raised in the Clauses of the
Treaty between Wolsey and the French Ambassador —
Conclusions of the Treaty — Solemn Reception and Festivi
ties at Greenwich Palace.

ACCORDING to Harpsfield, Archdeacon of Canter
bury in Queen Mary's time, the two ^persons
who were the first to excite serious doubts in Henry
VIII.'s mind as to the validity of his marriage with
Catharine, were bis confessor Longlands,* afterwards
* Longlands, being only present at the second interview, could
afterwards say, with some reason, that he had not been the first
suggestor of divorce.
o2

196 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Bishop of Lincoln, and, before Longlands, Cardinal
Wolsey hiraself.
Harpsfield, living while these historical events were
in progress, asserts that the king was quite aston
ished the first time that Wolsey mentioned the
matter from the theological point of view, and
seemed assured of the success of the suit of nullity, if
it were regularly commenced and prosecuted. Hav
ing at first reraained silent, Henry VIII. at last
answered hira, " Take heed, 1 beseech you, reverend
father, and well consider what a great and weighty
enterprise you now take in hand," * and then spoke
of his wife in terras of the highest respect. He said
that his marriage had been approved by the most
learned doctors and most strict bishops of the king
dom of England and France, and, lastly, confirmed
by the pope's authority, and that she had never
consumraated her marriage with Prince Arthur.
Some days afterwards Wolsey returned to the
charge, this time bringing Doctor Longlands to help
him, and he managed to make' a great impression on
the king's mind, and to persuade hira that the ques
tion of the validity of his marriage ought to be
legally examined, both at coramon law and equity.
These facts are attested by two other contempor
aries, Polydore Virgil! and Tyndal;} their version
agrees perfectly with that of Harpsfield. We are
* Harpsfield, p. 176. t See his Ecclesiastical History.
t Tyndal's Practice of Prelates, p, 320 ; published in 1530.

wolsey's OPINION. 197
much inclined to accept this account as true,* though
we do not believe that Henry VIII. was sincere with
his own ministers ; he affected a surprise that he did
not feel, and made objections which were no doubt
very weighty, but which he quite expected to see
refuted by the complaisant and dexterous cardinal.
However that may be, it is impossible to doubt that
Wolsey at first showed himself favourable to the notion
ofa divorce, in the hope of seeing Henry VIII. marry
a French princess. As a statesman, he saw a double
gain in such a marriage, both as cementing a close
alliance with Francis I., and as embroiling England
with the emperor, Charles V., on whom he wished to
be revenged. As a divine, he asserted that Catharine
could not contract a valid marriage with her brother-
in-law, Henry VIIL, whether or not the first marriage
had been consumraated, and that there bad been a
voiding impediment to this marriage, wrongfully
accepted as complete, by public opinion. That is
what he called impedimentum publicoe honestatis.] But
* The work quoted is entitled "Treatise on the Pretended
Divorce between Henry VIII. and Catharine of Aragon," by
Nicholas Harpsfield, LL.D., Archdeacon of Canterbury. It was
printed early in 1878 in London, at the cost of the Camden
Society, by a learned member of the University of Oxford named
Nicholas Pocock, and taken from a very smaU number of copies.
Professor Pocock coUated four manuscripts of the time preserved
in the British Museum, and notes and an index to Harpsfield's
work. The book is 844 pages.
! See a letter of Wolsey, July 27, 1527, no doubt only
repeating an opimon already expressed. See also Letters and
Despatches, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, pp. ccxlvii, viU. The

198 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
he did not believe that the king's passion for Anne
Boleyn could end in marriage ; he would not adrait
the possibility of such a mesalliance. He well knew
the hostility of the Boleyn family, and that he would
have everything to fear frora the influence of Anne
if ever she became Queen of England. And, while
he admitted the possibility of the divorce, he did

I not believe that success would be so easily obtained..
i as did. the proud- , and imperious ^enJCy JVHL. No
doubt he thought with the king — and in that he was
mistaken — that Catharine, a lady so gentle, resigned,
and pious, would make no great opposition to the
divorce, if the ecclesiastical authority seeraed inclined
to pronounce it. But from that side — namely, from
the English bishops and clergy — he foresaw, mucb
opposition, and expected still greater difficulty at
the Court of Rome. No' doubt very learned divines
began to maintain, according to the Hebrew text of
Deuteronomy, that divine law agreeing with natural
law forbade any marriage between brother and sister-
learned author appears to have scarcely given the exact mean
ing ofthe letter, the words being, "by reason whereof there
was no affinity contracted" (i.e., the marriage being incomplete)
"yet in that she was married in facie ecclesise, and contracted
per verba de prxsenti, there did arise impedimentum publicse honest
atis which is no less impedimentum ad dirimendum matrimonium
than affinity." We take the meaning to be that the previously
aUeged defect of marriage with Arthur was not sufficient, because
the marriage having taken place in the face of the church with
both parties present, there did arise against the marriage to Henry
an impediment of social propriety as effectual to make that
second marriage void as affinity would have been. (Ed.)

THE doctor's opinions. 199
in-law.* But these were isolated consultations that
* In the Latin letter of Doctor Richard Pace to Wakefield,
professor of Hebrew at Oxford, quoted at the beginning of the
third volume of L'Histoire du Divorce de Henri VIIL, par
Joachim Legrand. This letter was written at the beginning
of the year 1526. According to the Abbe Legrand, Wakefield
at first informed Pace that he appreciated his views, but after
wards went to see him, and told him that he desired that his
highness himself should write what he wanted him to do, which
side he was to advocate, and that, as the king might order, he, as
professor of Hebrew, would give reasons that the EngUsh people
could not contest. Joachim Legrand says he obtained this fact
from the History of the University of Oxford, by Wood. See
page 47, vol. i, of the Histoire du Divorce.
It is somewhat curious that in 1531, according to Chapuys,
Charles V.'s ambassador, the opinion of a Jew was obtained.
" The Jew sent for by the king arrived six days ago, notwith"
standing all the efforts made by Mai to prevent his passage. I
am told his opinion is not to impugn the queen's marriage, but
that the king might take another wife, which advice is not to the
king's taste, as it would be too infamous to attempt such a course.
I believe his ground is that, though the king's marriage with the
queen is legitimate, the issue must be reputed those of his brother,
and it would be unreasonable that he should be precluded from
having issue for himself. The Jewish law also permits him to
take another wife, so that the said Jew, who says he has been
some time ago baptized, under colour of charity, ' vouldroit semer
teUe dragee indaignee.' " Gairdner, Letters and Despatches, vol.
V, p. 32. A month later, p. 59, he writes: "The Jew callpd
hither, flnding his flrst opinion not accepted, has forged another
equally iU-founded, and says it is indeed lawful to marry a bro
ther's widow, provided it is done with the wiU and intention to
raise issue for the deceased brother ; but without such intention
the marriage is unlawful, and that God has reproved such unions
by the mouth of Moses, so that issue shall not proceed of them,
or shaU not Uve long ; and that it has been seen that the male
children the king had of the queen scarcely Uved at aU, from
which he inferred that the king had not the said intention, and
consequently that the marriage is unlawful." (Ed.)

200 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
had no great influence on the opinion of the learned
world. According to Cavendish, Wolsey's secretary, when
the king revealed to the cardinal his intention of
obtaining a declaration of nullity of raarriage at any
cost, and of afterwards marrying Anne Boleyn, the
great rainister threw himself on his knees before his
master, and remained there more than an hour, en
treating him to do nothing hastily, to make up his
mind to endure the delays of ecclesiastical forras,
aud to gain Catharine's consent gradually by gentle
raeans.* In short, he did not conceal his strong
opposition to any system of violence by which the
king desired to carry the decision of the invalidity
ofhis raarriage.
Perhaps Henry VIII. thought he was making a
half concession to Wolsey's ideas when he asked him
to make essay of his high ecclesiastical jurisdiction
by raising an inquiry into the validity of Catharine
of Aragon's second marriage. This, then, is what
took place, and has becorae known through fresh
documents. Early in the month of May, 1527, Wolsey made
an appointment with the King of England that he
might answer a complaint preferred against him in
the Ecclesiastical Court in matter of divorce for his
* According to Cavendish, this took place towards the end of
1525. Life of Wolsey, p. 388, Some others place it after Wol
sey's return from his mission to France,

ECCLESIASTICAL COURT. 201
cohabitation with his brother Arthur's wife for more
than eighteen years. The cardinal, sitting on his
right hand, explained the reason of the summons.
" As legate of the Holy See, it was his duty to cor
rect offences against the marriage law, and there
fore, out of consideration for his office, and regard
for his majesty's spiritual welfare, he had, in con
junction with the Archbishop of Canterbury, visited
his raajesty at Greenwich, and requested the king
to appear on a certain day before hira, that he raight
take cognisance of the cause. But as it was not fit
that a subject should cite his sovereign to appear
before hira, he begged to hear frora the king's own
lips whether he consented to these proceedings, and
was content that the archbishop should act as as
sessor. On receiving an answer in the affirraative,
Wolsey proceeded to inform his raajesty of the com
plaint made against him on account of his marriage
with Catharine, since, though a dispensation had
been granted him, yet, as the validity of it was
questioned, the king ought to feel some scruples of
conscience on the subject, and dread the vengeance
of the Almighty, which, sooner or later, overtakes
those who disobey him." *
The king made a short reply to Wolsey's address,
recognizing the jurisdiction of the legate, and ask
ing permission to be represented at future hearings
by John Bell, his advocate or proctor. This was
* Letters and Despatches, Brewer. Introduction, vol, iv, p. cclvi.

202 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
allowed. After some formalities had been complied
with, Wolsey adjourned the court for a fortnight.
On the appointed day. Doctor Bell appeared before
him, with a written plea of justification for the king,
but admitting that the raarriage might have been
contracted, notwithstanding an impediment, voiding
or not.
After several adjournments Wolman, the official
promoter of the suit, produced his objections. Bell
deraanded a copy, and, as the case was very difficult
of decision, the cardinal determined that the most
learned theologians and civilians should be summon
ed — araong others, the Bishops of Rochester, Lin
coln, and London — to give their opinions on the
matter. There were no raore writings, and the pro
ceedings were never wound up. No doubt their
inconsistency was observed, and absurdity recog
nized. Evidently, if it had been established that
Wolsey, sitting in an inferior court, had entertained
the raatter of the divorce, he could not have been
selected to determine it again in the legatine court.*
Hence the secrecy observed in these pretences of
proceedings not hitherto mentioned in history. It
has never been permitted anywhere that the judge
of first instance should ever be judge of appeal.
Information had just been received of the capture
of Rome by the Constable de Bourbon, and the
disgraceful sack of that city by an army chiefly
* Letters and Despatches, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. cclvii.

SACK OF ROME, 203
composed of Lutheran lansquenets. Such ravages,
profanations, and ruin had not been seen at Rome
since the tirae of Alaric and Genseric* The
pope had, with great difficulty, taken refuge in
the Castle of Saint Angelo, and escaped the first
massacre there. He was besieged, blockaded, and
kept in close confinement. It must be allowed that
Charles V. lost no time in disavowing the capture
and sack of Rome, and blaraed the excesses that he
was unable to foresee, but might have prevented.
He had immediately sent a commission to Lannoy,
viceroy of Naples, to turn the undisciplined soldiery
out of Rome, and stop their bloody orgies, and De
Lannoy had been unable to accomplish this difficult
task, only performed afterwards by the Marquis of
Mon9ada,! with the help of the Prince of Orange.
The pope's captivity seemed to keep all church
* It is said that Clement might have prevented the horrors of
tins siege, if he had given Charles V, a sum of money he wanted
to pay the arrears due to the lansquenets, and that his refusal was
by the advice of the EngUsh ambassadors. M. Audin says the
EngUsh envoys were commissioned to stir up Clement to try an
unequal contest, and, if he was worsted, to buy his favour in the
divorce suit with the offer of an armed intervention in favour of
the Holy See. This supposition of M. Audin's appears to us to be
very rash. No doubt Henry VIII, would not have resiled from
any means to obtain success, but tius means would have been very
ill-chosen. It ran a risk of throwing the pope into the hands and
under the influence of the emperor ; there was a close and certain
danger. As to the deUvery of the Sovereign Pontiff by England,
there would have been immense difficulties in the way of it.
Histoire de Henri VIIL, vol. i, p. 414.
+ Lannoy had died, having provisionally appointed him viceroy.

204 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
business in suspense. A pope who is not free cannot
raake valid decrees in matters of faith. But per
haps he might have been able to delegate his juridi
cal authority to Wolsey, or the English bishops, and
this calamity, while it struck all Christians with
dismay, raight have been taken advantage of for
the business of the divorce. Certainly Henry VIH.
caused offers of assistance to be raade to Clement VIL,
and even sent him some pecuniary aid, hoping thus
to dispose the pope in his favour.
The Kings of France and England also proposed
to make an alliance against Charles V., and cement
their union by family connection. Before the end of
the winter, 1527, Henry VIII. offered Francis I. the
band of Princess Mary, then aged at most eleven
years. No doubt he was not ignorant that the King
of France was, by the treaty of Madrid, engaged to
raarry Eleanor of Austria, the eraperor's sister ; but
it was consonant with his airas to raultiply the causes
of rupture between France and Spain. At the be
ginning of the spring of this same year Francis I. sent,
as ambassadors to London, M. de Grammont, Bishop
of Tarbes, and the Vicomte de Turenne, to request
that the marriage with the Princess Mary should be
celebrated immediately, though she was so young.
Henry VHL absolutely refused. Then it was arrang
ed that, if not the king himself, the Princess Mary
should at least marry the Duke of Orleans, his second
son.

THE BISHOP OF TARBES. 205
On the authority of Lord Herbert* it is alleged
that the Bishop of Tarbes had conceived some doubts
as to the legitiraacy of the Princess Mary ; that he had
communicated to Henry VIII. his religious scruples as
to the validity of his marriage to Catharine of Aragon,
insinuating to that prince that, if he were free, he
might himself very well marry a princess of France ;
that this would create as strong a bond of uuion
between the two crowns as the marriage already
projected. Some say that Henry had, previously,
not put forward his scruples about the continuance
of married life with a woman whom he was forbidden
to marry by divine law.
Now we have given proofs that, in the spring of
1527, the question of divorce was not a novelty to
the King of England. In London the Bishop of
Tarbes must have learnt that this question had
already been mooted and discussed. But it is quite
inadmissible to suppose that a real ambassador could
have substituted his own ideas for the formal in
structions he had received ; and certainly, if he had
supposed that Mary of England could be considered
as the illegitimate daughter of Henry VIIL, he
would not have signed the treaty of Ap-il 20th,
1527, without reference to his Court, with the stipula
tion that the princess should marry the King of
France, or Louis, Duke of Orleans.
* Sanders reUed on Lord Herbert for this. See L'Histoire da
Divorce, par Joachim Legrand, vol. i, pp. 14, 15.

206 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
It is to be observed that in the diploraatic corre
spondence preserved in the archives of France there
is not the slightest trace to be found of any hesita
tion concerning the legitimacy of the Princess Mary.
Nor can there be fouud any vestige of the opinion
said to be expressed by the Bishop of Tarbes on the
invalidity of the marriage of Catharine of Aragon.*
If the king himself had opened the question in a
private interview, and confided his doubts upon the
point of his marriage, the arabassador's reply would
not have had the authority of a theological consulta
tion. When the King of England afterwards appealed
to the authority of the Bishop of Tarbes, he raust
have raade a wrong use of the kind of conversation
that only grazes a question of the greatest import
ance, when a kind of assent, given for the sake of
politeness or diplomatic acquiescence, to a powerful
person not lightly to be offended or crossed, ought
not to be considered of great weight-!
After a secret interview with the king, the Bishop
of Tarbes and the Vicomte de Turenne were invited
to dine at Greenwich. After dinner Henry VIII.
* See the evidence of Joachim Legrand, who was a diplomatist
himself, and searched the archives of the Court of France with
great care. Histoire du Divorce, vol. i, p. 49 and seq.
t The proof that there was no serious conversation on this
matter between the bishop and the king, arises from what passed
afterwards. The bishop and his coUeague in the embassy, M. de
Turenne, continued their request for the hand of Mary, either for
King Francis or his second son, the Duke of Orleans, without any
appearance of doubt as to the legitimacy of the princess.

PROPOSAL FOR MARY. 207
hiraself led the two ambassadors to the queen's cham
ber ; the Bishop of Tarbes talked a great deal to hira
of the intiraate relations that he hoped to see estab
lished between the King of England and the King
of France. The queen answered,
"You talk to rae of the peace to be so firraly
ceraented between the two kings. It is no doubt
very desirable. But why do you say nothing of the
general peace that ought to prevail all over Europe ?"
The prelate clearly understood that the queen
thought of a peace that would include Charles V.
But fearing to say something indiscreet, that raight
be displeasing to Henry VIIL, he contented hiraself
with answering that it was not the object of their
visit ; then he turned to the king, who smiled, and
said to her that they were referring to the raarriage,
of her daughter, the princess. Then the ambassadors
asked the queen whether she approved of this mar
riage. She said that she gave her consent, and
added that the interests of the two kings no doubt
would not be found to be in opposition to the peace
and well-being of the rest of Christendom. She even
went so far as to insinuate that this alliance ought not
to disturb the good uuderstanding existing between
the king and his nephew, when the arabassadors
explained, perhaps soraewhat abruptly, that the
two powerful raonarchs who had just made an alli
ance would be able to dictate their own terms.
Henry VIII. added that he would do all he could for

208 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
France, and exhort the emperor to treat his two
young captives with generosity, meaning the two
sons of Francis I., kept as hostages in Spain by
Charies V.
When alone with the ambassadors, Henry told
them he would not give the Princess Mary in mar
riage till she was of age ; and that, if she married
the young Duke of Orleans, he should also wait till
this young prince attained his majority, because it
was necessary that both parties should be able to
make a valid contract, so that a separation could not
be deraanded in their narae, nor a divorce, founded
on tbeir being at the tirae of their union below
the age of liberty and reason, according to legal
presumption.* This was strange language in Henry VIII.'s mouth.
Wolsey had sorae long conferences with two French
diplomatic agents of inferior rank, and had obtained
from them, with much difficulty, that a contribution
of salt, and fifty thousand crowns annually, should
be paid to the King and Queen of England during
their lives. But Wolsey raade it understood that, in
case they desired an earlier date for a matriraonial
alliance, without giving up the raarriage of Mary
Tudor to the Duke of Orleans at sorae future time,
the hand of a French princess might be asked for the
young Duke of Richmond. Since Margaret, the
• Letters and Despatches, Brewer. Introduction, vol, iv, p, cxoi.
and seq.

FRENCH NEGOTIATIONS. 209
widow of D'Alen9on had just married the King of
Navarre, the only person who could be meant was
Renee of France, sister-in-law of Francis I.
According to English authors, this unexpected re
quest, this sort of change of front, considerably
erabarrassed the French diploraatists. But, according
to the despatches of the French ambassadors, this
proposal was not taken seriously, and they did not
even appear to have heard it.* Lastly, the cardinal re
turned to his demand that, if Francis I. did not think
he could himself marry the Princess Mary, she should
become the wife of Louis of Orleans, who was still a
prisoner in Spain, and that he should come and live
with her at the English Court ; Henry VIII. engag
ing that he would not give his daughter to any other
person till the young prince was able to accept or
refuse. Clearly no one thought of raising objections
to the legitimacy of the Princess Mary. The raatter
was not even alluded to.
On the contrary, Henry was to pledge hiraself to
do all in his power to procure the release of the
children of France by pacific means, aud not to de
clare war against the eraperor unless all these efforts
should fail. At all events, a perpetual allfance was
raade between the Kings of France and England and
their successors on the above-mentioned terms.
* On ne fit pas seulement mine de I'ecouter. See L'Histoire du
Divorce de Henri VHL, by J. Legrand, vol. i, p. 46, and the third
volume of authorities referred to,
VOL. L • P

210 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
As to Wolsey, who knew the pretended scruples
of Henry VIIL, he was not without fears for the
future. However, he thought that, even if the Court
of Rome should annul the marriage of the king and
Catharine of Aragon, it would reserve the legitimacy
of the children, issue of the marriage, as had often
been done on the like occasions. Besides, he hoped
the pope would feel himself under obligation to
Henry VIII. for the efforts he made with Charles
v., either for his deliverance from captivity in the
castle of St. Angelo, or for some considerable
relaxation. Yet various obstacles arose to the conclusion
of the treaty. There was the secret influence
of the emperor's friends, who were numerous and
powerful at the English Court, and opposed any
closer alliance with France. Also the French am
bassadors, when explaining or modifying the condi
tions that had been apparently accepted, insisted
that the proposed marriage should take place with
Francis I., and not with his son, and that, in conse
quence, the princess should be sent off sooner. To
their great surprise, Wolsey told them that the king
and his council had just learnt that Francis I. had
made up his mind to marry Eleanor of Austria.
Wolsey added that if this marriage took place Henry
VIII. would refuse to make any engagement to go
to war with the emperor.
These difficulties threatened to break off the nego-

wolsey's BARGAINING. 211
tiations. The Vicorate de Turenne wrote to the
French Court : " We have to do in Wolsey with the
most rascally beggar* in the world, and one who is
wholly devoted to his master's interest." He was
always on the alert, always ready to take an advan
tage. However, Wolsey consented to orait any
clause relative to proposals of the raarriage with
Eleanor, and the project of alliance was resuraed
and eagerly pursued. Only, in addition to the pre
vious conditions, it was stipulated that France should
pay two million crowns to the Princess Mary on her
marriage, to defray tbe cost of her enthronement.
Wolsey said he could not persuade the English to
accept the French alliance, instead of that of the
eraperor, without a large pecuniary inderanity. And
he also wished to procure money for his master, who,
through his mother, had inherited the taste of the
princes of the House of York for prodigality and
display. The treaty of peace having been settled between
the 15th and 20th of April on the basis arranged by
Wolsey, on the 23rd, Saint George's Day, Henry
VIII. invited the ambassadors to a splendid banquet.
After dinner he took them into the great" hall of
Greenwich Palace, where they found the Queen of
England, the ex-Queen of France, widow of Louis
XIL, and the young Princess Mary, and the king
desired them to talk to her in French, Latin, and
* PaUlart.
p2

212 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
Italian. She answered all the questions the ambassa
dors put to her with marvellous facility. She also
played on the spinnet with great perfection. They
were surprised at the young lady's great accomplish
ments when she was hardly twelve years old. But
on this same occasion, when Henry VIII. at first
only seeraed taken up with showing off his daughter,,
he entered on a delicate matter with the ambassa
dors, naraely, a journey to France, which he de
sired to raake in person, in order to see Francis L,
and fiually ratify their treaties. The arabassadors
answered that he might well leave that charge to the
cardinal, whose zeal and ability be rightly estimated.
The king sharply replied, " I have sorae things to
comraunicate to your master of which Wolsey knows
nothing." That confidence could have had nothing
to do witb peace or war, but the secret matter he had
so much at heart.*
On the 30th of April, the treaty having been signed
and sealed witb the great seal, it was arranged that
the heralds-of-arms of the two kings, Poyntz and
Clarencieux, should be sent to Spain a little later,
together with the Bishop of Tarbes, to carry the
eraperor a declaration of war and a challenge.
On the 4th of May there was a solemn audience at
Greenwich, when the king appeared seated on his
throne, beside him Cardinal Wolsey and his chief
* Correspondance de Dodieu. Letters and Despatches, Brewer.
Introduction, vol. iv, pp. cciv, ccv.

AUDIENCE AT GREENWICH. 213
ministers, the pope's ambassadors, and those of
Venice. Behind the throne were ranged the Knights
of the Garter, in their robes. The French ambassa
dors were introduced, and the Bishop of Tarbes,
standing uncovered at the foot of the throne, ad
dressed a Latin speech to the king, and he replied,
complimenting the ambassadors and thanking God
for the happy issue of the negotiations. Next day
mass was said by the Bishop of London. At last it
was all wound up with a splendid feast, when Wyatt
and Rastall* figured as poets, and Hans Holbein was
the painter. The day before " there was a joust, the
challengers being four and the competitors sixteen,
each of whom ran six courses." After a magnificent
repast, at which the queen and princesses were pres
ent, there were dances in character that lasted all
the evening. Towards midnight the king and the
Vicomte de Turenne disappeared for a time, and re
turned with six other gentleraen disguised as Vene
tian noblemen, each having a lady for his partner.
The king's was Anne Boleyn.
The Bishop of Tarbes did not fail to mention this
fact in his diplomatic correspondence.!
* The poet RastaU had married the sister of Sir Thomas More.
This feast cost Henry £8,000.
t See the third volume of L'Histoire du Divorce, par Joachim
Legrand.

214

CHAPTER VI.

Perfidious plans of Cranmer — Catharine claims her Defence
— Arrival in London of Mendoza, the Spamsh Ambassa
dor — He is long prevented from seeing the Queen in
private — Wolsey goes to France — Mendoza takes advan
tage of it to communicate more easily with Catharine —
Unpopularity of Wolsey, Popularity of the Queen —
Catharine's Letter to Charles V, — ^Mendoza discovers and
announces the preparations for the Divorce Suit — Con
sultation of Divines and their Evasive Answer — Cruel
Conversation of the King with Catharine — Mendoza in
forms the Emperor of this Domestic Scene — Charles V.
takes his Aunt's Side with Henry VIIL, and at the same
time uses influence with the Pope in her favour — ^Insidi
ous Advice of Gardiner to Mendoza — 'Affectionate Letter
of Charles V. to his aunt — Catharine endeavours to pre
pare her defence.

TITE have seen that Catharine and her daughter
It continued to hold their proper position at
Court, and that Henry VIIL, in his external conduct,
seemed to pay them great attention. But his hidden
and ostensible policy did not correspond, and he was
always working in darkness at what he called the
secret business. His plan was to create a desert
around Catharine and prevent her from having com-

cranmer's strategy. 215
munication, first with her nephew, Charles V., then
witb all the churchraen, or any other persons who
would be declared enemies of the divorce. By
means of alternate threats and cajoleries, the silence
and inertia of the unhappy queen raight be pro
tracted, and her submission obtained to the decision
of the pope or his delegates, if she could first be
persuaded to recognize the nullity of the bull of dis
pensation. The priest and theologian Cranmer,* who
was the creature of the Boleyns, always more bold
and hasty than Wolsey, advised that the suit against
Catharine should be suddenly and quietly commenced,
and she should be officially cited to appear before the
ecclesiastical tribunal ; at the same tirae, he wished
that she should be induced to think that appearance
or reply to this citation was a vain and useless
forraality. Then she would have been conderaned by
contumacy. After a certain delay, any judgment
raight have been given against ber and her appeal
not received.!
Thus Cranmer wished to carry the position by a
judicial surprise and unjustifiable stratagem.
But all on a sudden Catharine, who had been
thought to be intiraidated, discouraged, ^^and quite
subraissive, broke forth to the astonishraent of all,
and chiefly of the king and bis accomplices. It is
* He was already chaplain to the Earl of Wiltshire.
! Cranmer's works, u., p, 242. Letters and Despatches, Brewer
Introduction, p. ccUx,

216 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
not known how she had been informed of their
raachinations. She loudly demanded council, lay or
ecclesiastic, who could teach her the judicial means
of defending her cause and raaintaining her rights.
This new incident disconcerted Henry's plans ; he
did not dare to take a step without raaking sure of
the assistance of his new ally, the King of France,
and therefore forraed the design of sending Car
dinal Wolsey to Francis I., as he already knew the
five points of the business ; besides, there was no
cleverer diplomatist or more dexterous negotiator to
be found. The excuse for this embassy would be the
giving the finishing touch to the treaties of peace
and war with France. Only neither Wolsey nor
Henry VIII. suspected that the presence of one man
in London would have been enough to enlighten
Catharine and raise her courage. This man was
Inigo de Mendoza, the new ambassador of Charles V.
to the King of England.
It is true that Catharine had already turned her
eyes towards Charles V. After two years of silence
she had written an affecting letter to bring herself to
his remembrance ; she also had a little later the
opportunity of sending information of her position
to the eraperor by a gentleraan of her household,*
naraed Philipp, a Spaniard, who had asked permis-
* Mendoza only mentions him in his letters of the mdnth of
August ; perhaps he did not know that PhiUpp had started at the
beginning of July.

CATHARINE MOVES. 217
sion to visit his sick father. The queen herself had
not ventured to give this permission, but she had
referred the decision to Henry VIII. The king
thought perhaps that it was inexpedient to separate
this faithful servant from Catharine, but when Wolsey
was asked about it be wrote to the king that, as
soon as Philipp had landed at Calais, he must, not
withstanding the safe conduct, be arrested in France
on some alleged pretext, and be kept there in
definitely while his papers were searched. But, as
soon as Philipp was provided with his permission
and safe conduct, he proceeded to Spain by sea.
Meanwhile Wolsey wrote to Ghinucci and Lee, the
ambassadors at the iraperial court, to inform them
that reports of a divorce between the king and queen
had prevailed in England, but that they should be
attributed to Henry VIII.'s care to remove every
kind of doubt as to the legitimacy of the Princess
Mary from the rainds of the French ambassadors,
since her hand had been asked for Francis I. or his
son. He insisted on their taking pains to forewarn
the emperor of the odious calumnies that were in
circulation on this matter.
The ambassadors themselves were well informed
of the real intentions of the King of England, but
they understood that they must deceive Charles
V. and his Court, and no doubt they faithfully per
formed their mission.
But all these precautions failed. While the king.

218 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Wolsey, and their agents multiplied artifices and
tricks in order to thicken, botb within and with
out the kingdom of England, the veils that con
cealed the true situation of the queen, Charles V.
knew it perfectly, and was kept informed of all that
passed by his new ambassador, Inigo de Mendoza.
This gentleman had been sent to England by the
emperor in the middle of the year 1526, but, being
detained in France by various obstacles, he was not
able to land in England till towards the end of De
cember of the same year. Soon after his arrival, he
suspected, from the state of isolation in which the
queen was kept, and the difficulties he encountered
in approaching her, that she was fettered in all her
movements, and even in the expression of her inten
tions and thoughts. He had secretly placed hiraself
in communication with her, but she caused informa
tion to be sent him through his confessor that it was
absolutely necessary to apply to Wolsey in order to
see her, only Mendoza would have to give security
that the only aim of his visit was to give the queen
news of her friends in Spain. Wolsey, as an ex
planation of the reason of the continued refusal of
this audience, alleged apprehension that the queen
would speak of the raarriage proposed between her
daughter and a French prince, and send word to
Charles V. to oppose it.
However, Mendoza went to see Wolsey, who had
not yet gone to France; he told him that he had

INIGO DE MENDOZA. 219
been brought up by the care of Queen Isabella of
.Castille ; that, while be was still very young, he had
been attached to the household, and even to the
person of the Princess Catharine, and so he had
many recollections to recall to that lady — could talk
with her of her parents and friends whom she hud
left in her native land. The cardinal proraised that
he should bave an audience of her on the next Sun
day. Mendoza was really adraitted to see her and
converse with her at the tirae appointed, but the
cardinal was present at the interview, and there was
no chance of touching, bowever lightly, on the ques
tions that were most interesting to the unhappy
queen. Besides, at the end of a few minutes, the
visit was abruptly terminated by the cardinal's saying
to the ambassador, " The king has many things to
tell you. Her highness will, perhaps, excuse us if
we take our leave. You shall have an audience at
another time."* His intention clearly was to pre
vent any confidential communication between Men
doza and the queen.
Being a Spaniard, as Mendoza observes in his
correspondence with Charles V., she keenly desired
the continuance of peace between her native and her
adopted country, and she might also have had some
vague suspicions that the proposed war against her
nephew had sorae connection with the meditated
attack upon herself In this matter she was suffer-
* Letters and Despatches, Brewer, Introduction, vol. iv, p, cclxv..

220 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
ing -under a twofold anxiety. Naturally, therefore,
she must have been impatient to know the emperor's-
Teal feelings, both towards herself and King Henry
_VIII. Wolsey left the English Court late in the spring
to go to France. He was to go through Canterbury
¦ on his way to erabark. Both the queen and Anne
Boleyn viewed his departure with pleasure. The
latter hoped that, when separated from this trouble
some witness, Henry would be less guarded, and
would not be so careful in the growing intiraacy of
bis relations \yith her. The first plainly saw that she
would be able to comraunicate more freely with
Charles V.'s agents and Charles V. hiraself. Men
doza, on his side, perceived that he should not be
•closely watched by a king fully occupied with his
pleasures and his attachraent, whereas he had been
very strictly observed by a careful and vigilant
•statesman, as perseveringly attentive to little things
as he was used to be to important business. Even
before Wolsey's departure, while the cardinal was
engaged with the French envoys, Mendoza had
obtained a private audience of the queen, and given
ber a letter from the emperor. She seemed to feel
a pleasant surprise and great exciteraent on seeing
his affectionate expressions, and could see that the
insinuations made to her against the emperor were
unfounded ; she had been raade to believe that he
had forgotten her, and only looked upon her with

THE QUEEN AND MENDOZA. 221
cold indifference. No doubt these insinuations were
due to Wolsey and to Henry himself.*
The queen seemed very much hurt at the way in
which she was treated. Not only was she kept
away from public business, but she was even left in
ignorance of everything that could interest her per
sonally. Mendoza told the queen that, to his great
regret, he could not appeal to the name and author
ity of Charles V. in this matter, as it would be more
injurious than useful to her ; but he would endeavour
to keep her inforraed of anything he knew, and not
be sparing of his advice and assistance.
About the sarae tirae Mendoza wrote again to
Charles V., to ask his instructions as to the conduct
to be observed towards the queen. As to the ques
tion of peace or war the legate Wolsey was going so
soon to France that he said he should not have time
to receive proposals of alliance. He then laments
that the queen's desire for peace with the erapire is
no longer an eleraent in the councils of Henry VIII.
Mendoza's correspondence attests that there was
rauch irritation against the king, or rather his minis
ter Wolsey, among the merchants of England, and
especially the City of London. Men in tirade desired
to reraain at peace with Flanders, as their chief
raart ; they, therefore, did not desire a breach
between Henry VIII. and the emperor.
* Mendoza's letters of March 2nd and 18th, 1527. See Gayangos,
Calendar, vol. in, part u, also pp. 185, 186.

222 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
A little later Mendoza goes so far as to say that
there might be six or seven thousand men who
would rise in the county of Cornwall, and at least
forty thousand in the heart of England ; but added
tbat they must be led, and had no chief. Besides,
there was no dependence to be placed upon the
people. Nothing is raore fickle than their favour or
hatred. He says, elsewhere, that the Fleraish work
men had been sent away, but the English workmen
were not a bit more contented.
Thus the alliance with France was thoroughly
unpopular, and Wolsey was execrated because he
was ardently labouring to engage the King of Eng
land in it. There was also a grudge against him
for being of the party against the queen, who was
much beloved, and because he endeavoured to pre
judice the mind of Henry VIII. against ber.
The queen herself, when inforraed by Mendoza
how favourable these popular sentiments were to her
cause, and encouraged by him to renew her friendly
intercourse with Charles V., wrote a letter to that
prince almost the very day after the banquet given
to the French ambassadors. She does not venture
upon the question of the divorce; but her deep
mental grief may be perceived.
" Most high and powerful Lord, — I hardly know
bow to confess the many obligations in which I
stand towards your highness for the many favours

LETTER TO CHARLES V. 223
conferred upon me. I hold it to be that your high
ness has chosen to show sorrow for my death, per
ceiving that neither my existence nor my services
are such as to deserve being recalled to your
memory. And yet, trusting in your highness's in
nate kindness and virtue, I will, with the help of
God, employ my life in the furtherance of those
objects which may be for your highness's service,
thougb ray abilities be scanty, and my powers
small. " As Francisco Poynes, gentleman, and esquire of
the household of the king my lord, bearer of this
letter, will inform your highness, I take this oppor
tunity to write and request that he may be credited
in whatever he may say in my name; the said
Poynes being a person whom I entirely trust, and
to whom I bear much goodwill, and am, besides,
under great obligations on account of his many
virtues. " As I fear that my letter may be tedious to your
highness, as written by one unexperienced (lega.)
in these matters, I shall say no more here than beg
and entreat your highness to have pity on so much
bloodshed and perdition of souls, so costly, and re
deeraed at such a price; bearing in mind that this
world is perishable and of short duration, and the
next one eternal. There is urgent need that peace
between Christian princes be concluded before God
sends down his scourge, which cannot tarry if these

224 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
quarrels and disagreements (disconciertos) continue
between Christian princes.
" If, in the expression of these ray sentiments, I
have given the least offence, I beg your highness
to pardon me; my ignorance alone is the cause.
God, etc. " Your good aunt, " Catharine.*
" Grannuche (Greenwich), 10th of May.''
It seems that Mendoza had advised her to send
Poyntz to the eraperor, and entrust to him by word
of raouth what she did not venture to write. The
queen alludes to an absurd and odious rumour cur
rent about her, namely, that she had plotted against
the king's life.
In a letter written to the eraperor a few days
later Mendoza tells hira that he has at last found out
something about the proposed divorce. His letter
contains most curious particulars.
" He hears, on reliable authority, that the legate,
as the finishing stroke to all his iniquities! bas been
scheraing to bring about the queen's divorce. She
is so full of apprehension on this account that she
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, part U, pp. 185, 186.
t He sabido por ciesto que este bueno del Legado por hechar
el seUo a todas sus maldades travaja por decasar i, la Reyna, y
elia esta tan medrosa que no ha osado hablar comigo. Han me
certificado que estd. el Rey tan adelante en eUo que a juntado
alqunos obispos y letrados secretamente, etc.

MENDOZA^S LETTER. 225
has not ventured to speak with him (Mendoza). It
is added the king is so bent on this divorce that he
has secretly assembled certain bishops and lawyers
that they may sign a declaration to the effect that
his marriage is null and void, on account of her
having been his brother's wife. It is therefore to be
feared that, either the pope will be induced by some
false statement to side against the queen, or that the
cardinal, in virtue of his legatine powers, may take
some steps fatal to the said marriage. He (Mendoza)
is perfectly aware, though the queen herself has not
ventured, and does not venture, to speak to hira on
the subject, that all her hope rests, after God, on the
emperor. Is convinced that the principal cause of all
that she is raade to suffer is that she identifies herself
entirely with the eraperor's interests. The cause is
in itself so just that, independently even of the near
relationship existing, the emperor raight well espouse
it. It would be very advisable if, with all possible
secrecy, the pope were to be put on his guard in case
any application should be made to Rome against
this marriage ; also that His Holiness should tie the
legate's hands, and, by having the case referred en
tirely to himself, should prevent hira from taking
part in it, or appointing judges in this kingdom.
Cannot learn what answer these bishops and lawyers
have given the king on the subject of the divorce ;
and therefore thinks it advisable that, before the re
sult of these consultations and meetings becomes
VOL. I. Q

226 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
public, the emperor should secretly inform his ambas
sador at Rome ofthe whole affair, that he may be on
his guard. Believes that, if the afiair should be pro
ceeded with, it will soon be made public. Should
the king see that he canrioi. succeed, he will not run
the risk ofany oTtbe preliminary steps being known ;
but, should be insist on pursuing the course he has
begun, some great popular disturbance must ensue,
for the queen is much beloved in this kingdom, and
the people are also greatly excited at the rumours of
war. The queen desires perfect secrecy to be kept
iu this matter, at least for the present, so much so
that the above wish of hers has been communicated
by a third person, who pretended not to come from
her, though he (Mendoza) suspects that he came with
her consent."*
No doubt this letter was considerably earlier in
date than the instructions which Wolsey had sent to
the English ambassadors in Spain, desiring them to
present the matter under an entirely false aspect. It
must have been confirraed by Philipp's verbal account
to the emperor, who thenceforth knew what to be
lieve. There was no chance now of his being deceived
by the cautious policy of Wolsey and Henry VIII.
In another letter, of a little later date,! Mendoza
announces the immediate return of the Bishop of
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol, iU, part u, pp. 193, 194,
t May 25th. Gayangos, Calendar, vol. ui, part U, pp. 208, 209.

mendoza's letter. 227
Tarbes to France, and also Wolsey's departure, and
adds : —
" The suit against the Queen of England goes on
secretly, but he (Mendoza) has been told that, if the
legal terms are to be kept, the queen will neither be
notified of it nor indicted for two or raore raonths.
Thinks there will be many more voices in her favour
than against her, both because she is beloved here,
as because the legate, who is suspected to be at the
bottom of all this, is universally hated."
A contemporary writer* gives an account of what
passed at the meeting mentioned by Mendoza, when
he could not find out the conclusion, from the pro
found secrecy enjoined on all those present.
"My lord, being corapelled to declare to his
majesty this opinion and wisdom in the advanceraent
of the king's desires, thought it not safe for him to
wade too far alone, or to give rash judgment in so
weighty a matter, but desired of the king to ask
counsel of aucient and faraous learning, both in the
divine and civil laws. Now this being obtained, he,
by his legation authority, lent out his comraissions
for the bishops of this realm, who not long after
assembled all at Westrainster, before ray Lord Cardi
nal. And not only these prelates, but also the most
learned men of both universities, and sorae frora
divers cathedral colleges in this realra, who were
* Cavendish, Life of Wolsey, chapter xv, p. 57,
q2

228 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
thought sufficiently able to resolve this doubtful
question. "At this learned asserably was the king's case con
sulted of, debated, argued, and judged frora day to
day. But, in conclusion, when these ancient fathers
of law and divinity parted, they were all of one
judgment, and that contrary to the expectation of
most men. And I heard some of the most famous
and learned amongst them say the king's case was
too obscure for any raan, and the points were doubt
ful to have any resolution therein, and so at that time
with a general consent departed, without any reso
lution or judgment.
"In this assembly of bishops and divers other
learned men, it was thought very expedient that
the king should send out his commissioners into all
universities in Christendom, as well here in England
as foreign regions, there to have this case argued
substantially, and to bring with them frora thence'
every definition of the same, under the scale of every
university, and thus for this time were their deter
minations."* It is evident that the bishops and members of the
* This shows that it was Wolsey who assembled the EngUsh
bishops to give their advice on the divorce, that they decUned to
give an opinion on the king's marriage to Catharine, that they
desired that other universities should be consulted, and that it was
Wolsey, and not Warham, who convoked the bishops. Certainly,
according to Lord Herbert, the latter assembled some divines at
Lambeth, but not bishops, Legrand, vol. ii. Defense de Sanderus.

MEETING OP DOCTORS. 229
meeting were afraid of Henry's displeasure, in case
they should express an opinion in favour of the
validity of his raarriage ; therefore they had recourse
to Pilate's expedient, and referred the case to judges
of less authority than themselves. They only wanted
to gain time in order to escape the responsibility
which burdened their consciences.
It will afterwards be shown how the universities
were consulted, what was tbe process, and what
their replies.
A second meeting of doctors of theology alone,
without bishops, took place afterwards, sumraoned
by Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury. This has
been wrongly confused with the former, and it seems
to have been a little more favourable to the views
of Henry VIIL* However, this conclusion still was
that the case was suffiqiently doubtful to be referred
Refutation des deux premiers Uvres de L'Histoire de la Reforma
tion, par Burnet, pp. 60, 61.
See the letters of the Bishop of Bayonne, of August 20th, 1528,
and those of the months of October and May, when this prelate
accuses himseK of having been the author of most pernicious ad
vice concerning the divorce. In the letter of August 20th, ad
dressed to the Grand Master du BeUay, he says : " Pour vous en
dire ma fantaisie, le roy en est si avant, qu'aultre que Dieu ne Ten
saurait oter." Anne had returned to Court ; Wolgey complains
to De BeUay that terrible terms have been used against him ; the
legate does not quite know how he stands. If this marriage takes
place he wUl have difficulty in maintaining his credit, Legrand,
vol. iu, p. 164, Preuves, p. 168.
* It was Lord Herbert who made this confusion, and after him
Burnet. It is exposed by J, Legrand, Histoire du Divorce.
Sanders' Defence, vol. ii, p. 61.

230 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
to the Court of Rome. However insufficient were
_theresQlutioa«— aHd-_4?cisions of the bishops and
divines in their deliberationB''onr~Qia-Jm.arriage of
Henry VIIL, they were~thought to beweapons that
'"could be usedT^inst the queen. Though Wolsey was
always advising wbeiTat a distance, as well as near,
to do nothing hastil^%_that all forms should be ob
served, and /gentle meansyised rather than force,
Henry VIIL, perhaps pressed by Anne Boleyn, and
unable to restrain his impatience, chose to corae to
an unreserved and open explanation with his un
happy wife. It is curious that this explanation took
place almost the day after Wolsey's departure — that
is to say, about the end of the month of June, 1527.
The king, having virtually separated from the
queen from the date of the 20th or 22nd of June,
gave her his reasons for this determination by re
vealing to her for the first time that they had botb
been in a state of mortal sin all the long years they
had lived together. This was, he said, the opinion
of many prelates and men learned in the canon law
whom he had consulted ; and therefore, as the con
tinuance of such a life troubled, and even tortured,
his conscience, he bad taken the unalterable resolu
tion of obtaining a separation from her a mensa et
a thoro, so she had only to name the place where she
would take refuge.
We give Mendoza's account of this domestic scene
in a letter written to the emperor July 13th, 1527.

HENRY AND THE QUEEN. 231
" The queen, bursting into tears, and being too much
agitated to reply, the king said to her, by way of
consolation, that all should be done for the best (todo
se haria por mejor), and begged ber to keep secrecy
upon what be had told ber. This the king raust
have said, as it is generally believed, to inspire her
with confidence, and prevent her seeking the redress
she is entitled to ; for so great is the attachment
that the English bear to the queen that some deraon
stration (escandulo) would probably take place in ber
household {apartamentos). Not that the people of
England are ignorant of the king's intentions, for
the affair is as notorious as if it had been proclairaed
by the public crier, but they cannot believe that he
will ever carry so wicked a purpose into effect.
However this raay be, though people say that such
an iniquity cannot be tolerated, he (Mendoza) at
taches no faith to such popular asseverations, espe
cially as they have no leader to guide them, and
therefore, should this king carry out his design, and
the suit now coraraenced go on, the people will most
probably content themselves with grumbling (con
murmurar). The queen, having no one but the em
peror to corae to her aid, would, if she couldl, despatch
a special messenger (to Spain), but these English are
so suspicious at this time that no servant of hers
would be allowed to sail. Besides, as at this point
of the negotiations, and until the matters now pend
ing between his majesty and this king be settled one

232 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
way or another, such a step would by no means be
advisable, he (Mendoza) has dissuaded the queen
from sending a special messenger, giving her to un
derstand that it was far better for her case that she
should write a letter than despatch one of her own
household." *
The queen had informed Mendoza that she wished
that the pope would deprive Wolsey of his comrais
sion as legate. Mendoza vigorously supported this
desire, and advised Charles V. to do all he could to
procure the cardinal's disgrace at the Court of Rome.
He wished to carry on open war against that states
raan, detesting him cordially, and saying that it
would be much better to have him for a declared'
enemy than a false friend, as he is now ; and that, if
the emperor could corapass the fall of the rainister,
it would be a patent of popularity for his raajesty in
England. Nevertheless, he strongly insists on the inconveni
ences that raight arise if Charles V. and his ambas
sador seeraed to interfere between Henry VIIL and
his wife ; he was afraid the king raight be irritated
to no advantage.
His language changes on this point, and his atti
tude is altered on the receipt of precise instructions
frora the emperor on the necessity of acting openly
for the protection of his aunt. Charles V. thought
the honour of his blood and of his race was concern-
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. in, part U, p. 276.

CHARLES V.'s MESSAGE. 233
ed, so he wrote a letter to the king, botb moderate
and firm, to claira for the queen the continuance of
the respect due to her. Mendoza was to carry this
letter to King Henry VIIL, and proposed to make
the coraraunication with great circumspection and
diplomatic precaution. " The morsel, however, shall
be given to him in such disguise as to be as little
repugnant as possible to his palate, though his con-
npirnprj'n nn prrvnrtrd tha't whatever is most_for_bis
good meets with the least favour."
Mendoza is quite afraid of the effect of Charles V.'s
message to Henry VIII. 
" But in truth the king is so swayed by his passions,
and so deterrained to persevere in his error, that he
is rather seeking the means of accoraplishing his pur
pose than advice for abandoning it. Owing to which
reason those who counsel hira best he considers as
his worst friends. But his majesty will act in this
case as befits his rank and parentage, and, disregard
ing the inconvenience that may arise therefrom, will
help with his authority and power wherever most
wanted." *
It seems that, the ice having been broken between
Catharine and Henry VIII. at their interriew about
the end of the month of June, her situation could not
be made much worse. But it was the political good
* Letter of August 16th, 1527. Gayangos, Calendar, vpl. iu,
part u, p. 326. The remonstrance must have been made, but there
is no evidence to describe its effect upon Henry VHL

234 CATHARINE OF ARAGON*
understanding of the two monarchs that was very
much threatened, and indeed the maintenance of
peace. It was especially through this motive that
Mendoza hoped to prevail over the King ofEngland.
Charles V. also informed his ambassador that, as
soon as he had got wind of the notion of divorce, he
had sent a hint to the pope at Rome to put him on
his guard against the intrigues of Henry VIII. Men
doza forwarded this information to the queen, deplor
ing that she had not agents of her own at the Court
of Rorae, and that she could not correspond directly
with a safe person, who could act in ber favour with
the pope. He recognized that the dangerous state
of the roads in Italy greatly interrupted the regu
larity of communication in that country.
As to the business of the divorce in itself, Mendoza
thought he had discovered that the persons who
directed it were embcirrassed, and were changing
their plan of campaign ; they did not confine them
selves to maintaining that divine law absolutely for
bids a marriage between brother and sister-in-law,
but asserted that the dispensation granted by Julius
II. was obtained upon false premises.
Upon this Dr. Gardiner,* who said he was greatly
opposed to the divorce, and a strong partisan of
the queen, came to see Mendoza, and tried to sug
gest to him that the existing pope could effectually
remedy any defect in regularity of the original dis-
* He was Wolsey's man of confidence.

LETTER FROM CHARLES V. 235'
pensation, and confirra it by a fresh bull. The honest
Mendoza believed in the sincerity of Gardiner, and
did not suspect a trap. But be was too good a
lawyer not to see that such an action would be an
explicit recognition of a radical defect in the act of
dispensation granted by Julius IL, and that the queen
would thus become involved in a fatal course. He
therefore thought it bad advice, and persuaded the
queen not to follow it.*
Snares were multiplying under the feet of the un
fortunate queen. But it must have been a great
consolation to her to receive the following encourag
ing and affectionate letter from Charles V. : —
" Madame and my Aunt,
" Your letter by Francisco Pbs (Philipps),
bearer of this present, came duly t6 hand. I have
perfectly well understood the verbal message he
brought from you respecting the affair (of the
divorce), and the reason why you sent him to rae.
After hira carae your own physician, Vitoria, witb
whom I had also a long conversation on the subject.
You may well imagine the pain tbis intelligence
caused me, and how much I felt for you., I cannot
express it otherwise than by assuring you that, were
my own mother concerned, I should not experience
greater sorrow than in this, your case, for the
love and affection which I profess to your serene
* See the same letter of August 16thi 1527, pp. 327, 328.

236 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
highness is certainly of the same kind as that of a
son towards his parent.
"I have imraediately set about taking the neces
sary steps for the reraedy (of your case), and you
may be certain that nothing shall be omitted on my
part to help you in your present tribulation. But it
seems to me that in the meantime your serene high
ness ought not to take this thing so much to heart
as to let it impair your bodily health, for, if this is
preserved, all other matters will be reraedied, with
God's help. I beg you to bear in mind this my
recoraraendation, and I have no doubt that in this,
as in other matters, your serene highness will act
much better than I could counsel. As I do, however,
presume that before the receipt of this, my letter, you
will have heard my intentions through Don Inigo de
Mendoza, I shall say no raore here than to refer you
to my letter to that ambassador, as well as to the
message now conveyed by the above-mentioned
Francisco, which is no doubt what your serene high
ness most wishes to know. Most earnestly entreating
you to inform me as soon as possible of the course of
this affair, that I may do all that is necessary for your
protection, as well as of your health, I remain, &o.
" In the hand of your good nephew,
" Charles.*
" Palencia, the 27th of August."
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iU, part U, p. 345.

CATHARINE'S RESIGNATION. 237
Re-assured by such proofs of devotion and affec
tion, feeling herself supported by Charles V. at a
distance, and assisted by Mendoza at hand, Catharine
thought she ought to appear both resigned and satis
fied. On his side the king, though separated from
her a thoro, saw her often, and treated her at least
with apparent courtesy and kindness. He wished to
delude the public and the queen herself, that he
might pursue his intrigues and raachinations unhin
dered. But Catharine, through Mendoza, learnt all
the plots against her ; she saw that Charles V. did
not forget her, and did not cease to labour in her
cause at the Court of Rome, and she sent him confi
dential messages as occasion served. During thi&
time the king pursued and organised his attack, and
the queen prepared and organised her defence. It
was war continued under the guise of peace.

238

CHAPTER VII.
Cardinal Wolsey's Double Mission — His Splendid Train —
His Meeting with Archbishop Warham, and afterwards
Fisher, Bishop of Rochester — He works for the Divorce
and against Catharine — Wolsey's Prayer at the tomb of
Saint Thomas of Canterbury — Expedients' proposed in
his Correspondence with Henry VIII. — Wolsey in France
— Charles V. seems to treat him gently — Wolsey at the
Court of Francis I, — The Hand of the Princess Mary is
promised to the Duke of Orleans — The other Clauses of
the Treaty of AUiance are also settled and signed —
Wolsey at last opens the Question of Divorce — But
Queen Louise of Savoy will not leave him any Hopes of
the Eventual Marriage of a Daughter of France with
Henry VHI.
A DOUBLE mission had been entrusted to Wolsey.
By the first, official and ostensible, he was com
missioned to explain and settle the clauses of the last
treaty agreed upon in England; the other," semi
official and secret, lay in confidentially comrauni
cating to Francis I. his master's plans of divorce.
Botb on his journey through England, and during
his stay in France, he had proraised to inquire after
the opinions of the clergy and the feelings of the
people. Wolsey was also to inform himself of the

wolsey's mission. 239
best means of reaching the pope's ear, and to find
out whether the iraperialists, in whose power he was,
had already extracted sorae proraise from hira, or
even sorae decision in favour of Catharine. In that
case, a protest would be laid against all the acts
done by him during the siege of the castle of Saint
Angelo, and during his captivity, because he had not
been free. This would give him a chance of retract
ing in case of need. A suggestion might also be
made to him to increase Cardinal Wolsey's powers of
jurisdiction as his legate in England.
Anne Boleyn was not afraid of the great confidence
reposed in Wolsey by Henry VIII. ; she knew very
well that, while the cardinal was promoting the
divorce, he was going to France to work for inter
ests that were not hers. But in his absence she
reckoned on pleading her own cause freely and effec
tually. And, as she foresaw, all the efforts he made
to advance the divorce would finally profit no one
but herself.
Henry desired that Cardinal Wolsey, as his lieu
tenant and special representative, should on his
mission be surrounded with all the state and marks
of ceremony generally reserved for roydty. The
cardinal is therefbre unjustly accused of a desire to
eclipse the most powerful monarchs in his pride.
Nine hundred horsemen composed his company.
There were several lords, spiritual and temporal,
among them Tunstall, Bishop of London. When he

240 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
rode through the City, Wolsey was mounted on a
mule with housings of crimson velvet and stirrups
of brass gilt ; before him were borne two crosses of
massive silver, and two pillars or small columns of
the same raetal with a ball on the top, and between
thera the great seal of England. When he gave a
banquet to the King of France, his gentleraen served
him on the knee, hat in hand--a token of respect
Francis I. himself did not exact. It is none the less
true that all these honours showered on the son of
the Ipswich butcher still more augmented the hatred
directed at him ; his rivals took advantage of it to
mine the ground beneath his feet. The higher he
rose, the nearer he drew to his fall. He had a pre
sentiment of this, and felt he was surrounded by
treacherous enemies, eager for his destruction.
The anxieties of this statesman, with his passionate
and servile devotion to King Henry VIIL, leak out
in his correspondence with that prince. He begs him
not to listen to calumnious insinuations, and to con
tinue to his old servant the affection he had always
condescended to extend to him.
He set forth quite determined to perform the deli
cate double mission entrusted to him with unim
peachable zeal. His first desire, on his journey, was
to gain, or, at any rate, favourably prepossess, to
wards Henry's projects Warhara, Archbishop of
Canterbury, and Fisher, Bishop of Rochester.
The first night of his journey he lay at Sir John

wolsey's letter. 241
Wiltshire's, aud met Warham there. He himself, in
his correspondence with Henry VIIL, gives an ac
count of his interview, saying,
" The first night I lodged at Sir Jojin Wiltshire's
house ; where met me ray Lord of Canterbury, with
whom, after comraunication on your grace's secret
matter, I showed him that the knowledge thereof
is corae to the queen's grace, and how displeasantly
she taketh it, and what your highness hath done for
the staying and pacification of her, by declaring to
her that your grace hath nothing intended nor done,
but only for the searching and trying out the truth
upon occasion given by the doubt raoved by the
Bishop of Tarbes. And, noting his countenance,
gesture, and manner, I perceive he is not much
altered from his first fashion ; expressly affirming
that, however displeasantly the queen might take it,
yet the truth and judgment of the law raust have
place." *
Wolsey afterwards went to meet the Bishop of
Rochester, He was the raost respected, the raost
revered member of the bench of English bishops.
No Protestant authors have ever reproached him
with anything worse than supposed excesses in per
sonal mortification. He had the queen's entire con
fidence, and she had sometimes confessed to him.
The iraportance to Henry VIII. and his abettors of
* Miss Strickland, vol, iv, p. 122, Ist edition, 1842. From
State Papers and Letters, Brewer, voL iv, p, cclxiv.
VOL. I. R

242 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
detaching such a man from Catharine's cause may be
understood. Besides, his example and authority
might have influenced Sir Thomas More and several
others. Fisher was old and weak, not suspicious ;
an admirable and charitable fault. So he could not
contend with equal arms in a discussion or diplo
matic encounter against the clever and astute cardi
nal. Wolsey began, very dexterously, by talking to
bim of the sorrows of the papacy and the calaraities
of the church — "and what things were devised, as
well in prayer and fasting as other good deeds, and
at your grace's commandment, by me indicated for
the same. After which communication, I asked him
whether he had lately heard any tidings from the
Court, and whether any man had been sent unto him
from the queen's grace. He answered, how truth
it is, that of late one was sent unto him from the
queen's grace, who brought him a raessage only by
mouth, without disclosure of any particularity. He
made answer, likewise by mouth, that he was ready
and prone to give unto her his counsel in anything
that concerned or touched only unto herself; but in
matters concerning your highness and her he would
nothing do without knowledge of your pleasure and
express commandment." The cardinal answered —
"Ye may be plain and frank with me, like as I,
for my part, will be with you."* He said that " the
* Brewer, Calendar. Introduction, vol. iv, p. cclxvi, ix. The

WOLSEY AND FISHER. 243
queen was of a suspicious character, and quick to
take offence. That she had wrongfully suppo@.ed
that the king wished to divorce her,^^ Jiajd^enteij:^
tained unjust intentions with regard to her; that"*
the Bishop of Tarbes must be answered, who had
asked the hand of the Princess Mary for a French
prince. It was impossible to avoid an inquiry whe
ther Catharine's raarriage with her brother-in-law
could be considered valid, although contracted con
trary to divine right. Instead of filling the world
with her coraplaints, the queen ought to have had
confidence in the king's sincere atterapts to discover
the truth, and procure a decision from competent
authorities in this difficulty. It was certain that this
would all come to good, if the queen would act differ
ently, and be confiding and submissive where she
had sworn confidence and obedience. It seeras as if
she had suggested the idea that the cardinal legate
was desirous of seeing tbe king prosecute the mat
ter !! ! It was clear that the queen, by her ill-con
sidered proceedings, was paralysing the king's kind
intentions towards her, and raight perhaps prejudice
her daughter's legitimate claims."
Thus Wolsey transformed the innocent .into the
guilty, and the guilty into the innocent. He cast
upon Catharine the responsibility of all the scandal
expression about Wolsey, severe and just as it is, is taken from
the same.
r2

244 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
I which was beginning to arise. Fisher, having no
doubts of Wolsey's sincerity, and believing his dex
terously arranged version, declared hiraself as dis
approving of Catharine's spirit of presumption and
disobedience, and expressed an intention of blaming
her for it. But this would have brought on explana
tions and betrayed everything.
" Howbeit, I have so persuaded him that he will
nothing speak or do therein, or anything counsel
her but as shall stand with your pleasure ; for he
saith, ' although she be queen of this realra, yet he
knowledgeth you for Hs high sovereign lord and
king ; and will not, therefore, otherwise behave him
self in all raatters concerning or touching your per
son than as he shall be by your grace expressly
commanded.' " *
Thus Wolsey contrived to alienate from the un
happy queen the only adviser on whose sincerity and
honesty she could iraplicitly rely, the raost worthy
member of the English bench of bishops, who could .
be of the greatest use in guiding her steps, and
giving her raost precious consolation.
When concluding his conversation with Fisher, the
cardinal slipped in some objections to the validity of
the bull of dispensation granted by Julius IL, but
Fisher made no direct reply. In this scene Wolsey,
too rauch excited by the success of his dexterous
confidences, had perhaps overshot his mark, and
* Brewer, Calendar. Introduction, vol. iv, p, cclxix.

WOLSEY AT CANTERBURY. 245
thus unintentionally had opened the eyes of his too
trustful senior.
Amid these diploraatic artifices and inextricable
snares, what could be the fate of Catharine? At
tempts were made to isolate her completely ; it
seemed as if she must soon find herself without
counsellors or friends, ignorant of the formalities of
law, and not knowing what steps to take in vindica
tion of her rights. She still had Mendoza ; but even
his rare opportunities of coramunication with her had
to be involved in mystery, in order neither to com
promise her nor himself.
Wolsey, on the day succeeding his conversation
with Fisher, at once astute and craftily hostile to
the queen, went, if we may believe it, to Canterbury,
to the feast of Saint Thomas k Becket. He officiated
there as cardinal, joining the procession in full dress.
By his order the monks of Christchurch chanted
litanies commencing with these words, Sancta Maria,
ora pro papa nostro Clemente.* The calaraities of
the church seeraed to interest him to the highest
pitch. He failed not to pray for the pope at the
shrine of Saint Thomas. How was it that the devo
tion then paid to this distinguished saint did not
lead him to reflection on the contrast? What an
example of independence, noble frankness, and heroic
resistance to the impious requisitions of tyrannical
power ought not Wolsey to have drawn from his
* Cavehdish, Life of Wolsey, p. 151.

246 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
meditations over the relics of this archbishop, con
fessor, and martyr I But it was not till much later,
in the ruffled school of adversity, that he came to
regret and disavow his base complaisance for a king
whose passions and errors he should have combated
from the first.
Then he went on his way, and soon reached Calais.
In his correspondence with Henry, he always ex
pressed a hope that, if the deliverance of Cleraent
VIL from bis captivity could be accomplished, the
pope would make use of his liberty to settle the
king's business agreeably ; he thought that, if this
captivity were indefinitely prolonged, the cardinals
might be called together to meet in a place affording
complete security, such as, for instance, Avignon;
and then these princes of the church might decide in
the pope's absence* on the king's secret matter, and
perhaps he himself raight be raade president of this
august assembly.
But the cardinal did not know that at this very
time the emperor, at Mendoza's request, had already
written to the pope to beg him to withdraw his lega
tine authority in England from Wolsey, and even
take from him all cognisance and authority to judge
in the divorce suit, because he entertained an unjust
and freely-expressed prejudice against the queen.!
* State Papers, Introduction, p. ccxxx.
t Letters and Papers, Brewer, vol. iv, pt. U, p, 1502. Letter
of Charles V. to Mendoza.

CHARLES V.'s BRIBES. 247
(-
The cardinal was received with the greatest honour
as he travelled all through Picardy. When he left
Calais, he found an escort of cavalry on the frontier,
sent by Francis I. to meet him. The people received
him everywhere most favourably, for it was known
that he was the herald of peace.
It is 'rery curious that Charles V., who greatly
dreaded in alliance between England and France,
now mad» advances to Wolsey, and assured him
that he vas just about to give ' orders for the
instant payment of the arrears of his pension, and
another of ax thousand ducats to be secured to him.*
Mendoza, irdeed, was desired to exhibit a splendid
bait for his leduction — that is to say, to dazzle his
eyes with tie hope of the pontificate. The eraperor
would now liave every means of effectually promot
ing his elect on, for the chair of Saint Peter was in
his hands. Wolsey, wise by experience, turned a
deaf ear.!
"God forUd that he should allow himself to be
influenced bj such motives. It was enough for him
that the emieror intended to replace the existing
pope upon Hs seat in the plenitude of his power,
and was desrous of restoring its ancient 'splendour
to the church" * Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iu, pt. U, p. 24.
t When Clenent VIL was made pope, Wolsey had thought he
could reckon onCharles V.'s influence, from the promises before
made to him, bit it was turned in quite another direction.

248

CATHARINE OF ARAGON.

Thus the emperor and the King of France were
bidding against each other for Wolsey's favours, ^he
ambitious cardinal may almost be said to haveySeen
the greatest monarchs of Europe at his feet, afid he
was himself encircled with royal state. But the in
toxication of the present was controlled by tie fears
of the future.
However, the emperor was desirous of concluding
a treaty of peace with England, and, in ordir to gain
over Henry VIIL, he even went so far as tj offer the
hand of the Princess of Portugal for the Duke of
Richraond. But Francis I. was ready to fo to more
expense for Wolsey than could Charles V,, and he
proposed terras still raore favourable for Ingland ; so
his alliance was preferred.
Whilst Charles V. was still endeavouing to win
the cardinal by fair proraises, he was (oing all he
could at Rorae to obtain the withdrawal of the lega
tine powers. Thus did the greatest pmces of the
sixteenth century pay their tribute tothe raachia-
velism of the time.
Meanwhile, Wolsey reached Abbeville,* and waited
there several days for Francis I. At list the king
met hira at Araiens on the 4th of Augist, 1527. It
is no part of our subject to describe the raagnificent
reception of the cardinal, nor the baiquet given
by the French Court, nor the more su iptuous one
* He arrived there on July 24th, and waited ill August 3rd.
The king had been detained in Paris by a bad leg

FRANCIS I. 249
still that Wolsey himself returned. It is notori
ous that diplomatic interviews and raeetings have
always been supplemented by splendid feasts.
When Wolsey was able to obtain audience of
Francis I., the first conversation was about Princess
Mary's marriage. Francis briskly interrupted him
by saying that nothing in the world could suit him
better, and that this marriage would be the corner
stone of a new alliance between France and England.
Wolsey continues his account of the interview in
his correspondence with Henry VIIL, by saying that
he asked the king, if he was to marry Mary, what
was to become of Eleanor, and how were his child
ren to be recovered ? " Vous dictes vrai, Monsieur
Cardinal," was the answer ; then, after a pause, " I
pray you, therefore, show rae your advice." * It
was arranged, on Wolsey's advice, supported by that
of the queen-mother and the chancellor of France,
who were present, that Mary should marry the Duke
of Orleans, the king's second son.
The other point related to the harsh conditions
iraposed by Charles V. in the treaty of Madrid.
After reference to Queen Louise and his council, the
king, hesitating between two conflicting and equally
sacred sentiments, paternal love! and devotion for
his country, consented, with tears in his eyes, to the
* Brewer, Calendar. Introduction, vol. iv, ccxciu.
t We have mentioned that his two sons were kept as hostages
in a fortress untU the signature of the treaty.

250 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
whole of the clauses, when some of them were odious
to him. This involuntary token of feeling greatly
astonished the veteran Wolsey, broken and hardened
to business as he was. This statesman, in the days
of his great reverse, was to discover that no one is
exempt frora paying his tribute of tears. Happy are
they who, before they weep over their own fate,
have known how to corapassionate the fate of their
friends, their relations, and their country I
After discussing all the questions of peace and
war, Wolsey had not ventured to touch that of the
divorce. He recoiled through a secret and involun
tary repugnance at this part of the commission im
posed on him.
Wolsey wrote to Henry VIII. to ask him if it were
not advisable to wait till the raatter was in better
train at Rorae before mentioning the divorce; he
had commissioned Ghinnuci, Bishop of Worcester,
the friars Casale of Bologna, and Salviati of Flor
ence, to carry on the suit before the pope. For the
management of this delicate business in tbe midst of
soldiers and iraperial agents, Wolsey had no confi
dence in any but Italian agents, as more supple than
the English, and especially more insinuating and
adroit. Henry VIII. for himself had sent Knight,
his private secretary, to try to see the pope,
and converse with him in private. The cardinal,
first minister, knew nothing of this. Like other
absolute monarchs, Henry VIIL carried on a counter-

TREATIES WITH FRANCE. 251
diplomacy parallel to that of his official government,
and without any previous understanding.
In answer to his anxious and pressing letters on
the business of the divorce, Wolsey received a diplo
matic reply from the King of England that the only
reason he had so far caused examination of the va
lidity of his marriage was for the sake of forestalling
objections that might be afterwards made against th©
legitimacy of the princess.
It was by insisting on this official version that
Wolsey persuaded Francis I, to adopt the four treaties
he had prepared. The first confirmed the perpetual
alliance between the two kings of France and Eng
land. In the second it was agreed that the Princess
Mary should marry the young Duke of Orleans, if
she did not marry Francis I. himself. The third
settled the rate of the pecuniary subventions that
England was to furnish to France for the continu
ance of the war in Italy. By the fourth and last it
was agreed that, as long as the pope remained a
prisoner in the Castle of Saint Angelo, the two kings
would consider as void and of no effect all briefs and
bulls emanating from that pontiff ; that during such
time the churches of France and England should be
governed by their own bishops ; and that Wolsey's
decision in quality of legate should be put into
execution, notwithstanding the prohibition and in
terdict of a pope who could have no authority nor
power, because he was not at liberty.*
* Rymer, Foedera, xiv, pp. 200, 203, 227.

252 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
A short tirae afterwards, Wolsey went to Compiegne
with the Court of Francis I. There he received a
letter from his master expressing great satisfaction
at such advantageous treaties. It was then that he
ventured to write to the pope, in concert with four
French cardinals, to supplicate His Holiness to ap
point a vicar-general to represent him, and make his
authority respected on this side of the Alps. More
over, be informed Louise of Savoy of the scheme of
divorce conceived and pursued by Henry VIII. If
Catharine's marriage was annulled, he confided to
her that be should ask the hand of Renee of France,
daughter of Louis XIL, for his king. Now while
Francis' sister, the Duchess of Alen9on, was marrying
the King of Navarre, Ren^e had been proraised to
the Duke of Ferrara. That was what Louise told
Wolsey. Francis would not much have cared to
give the King of England contingent rights to the
Duchy of Brittany by this marriage.* Thus Wolsey,
in making this imprudent step, had uselessly com
promised his master's honour, and thus spoilt the
diplomatic success he had just obtained.
* As daughters of Anne of Brittany, Claude and Renee might
claim to be heirs of the duchy, although it had been annexed to
the crown of France.

CHAPTER VIII.
Wolsey in England — Henry VHl.'s Theological Treatise
against the vaUdity of his marriage — Clement VII. a
Prisoner in the Castle of Saint Angelo — Henry sends
him his secretary. Knight, who fails in his Mission —
Wolsey resumes the conduct of the business, and gives
Instructions and a fresh Commission to Casale living in
Italy, and then to Fox and Gardiner ; they go from Eng
land, and find the Pope escaped from the Castle of Saint
Angelo and gone to Orvieto — Destitution and Isolation
of Clement VII. — Curious Letter given by Wolsey to Fox
and Gardiner — Violent scene between Gardiner and the
Pope — He obtains the Conditional Dispensation he had
requested, but the terms of the Commission are reviewed,
and do not give an absolute power without appeal to
two Legates sent to determine the matter of the Divorce —
Cardinal Campeggio, as Legate and Member of the Com
mission or Ecclesiastical Court, is united to Wolsey —
Wolsey protests before Fox that he will judge conscienti
ously whatever may happen,
WHEN the cardinal returned to England, the
king gave him a private audience, and no
longgii-eoBcealed from him his intention of marrying
Anne BoleynX .JVolsey would never hitherto be-
318; he had hoped that this vehement pas
sion would not be of long duration and would have
no serious results, for it seemed to him that the

254 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
daughter of the Boleyns had merely such qualities
as shine and attract for the raoment, but do not
inspire a serious attachment. It is asserted that he
then made fresh and ardent efforts to wean Henry
VIII. from this fatal attachraent conderaned by true
policy,* but he yielded at last and tried to cover his
opposition by his zeal. Some think he could now
have retired from public affairs, but he did not even
think of a course that would have done honour to
himself and restored him in public opinion. This
statesman of vast ambition, and intoxicated with his
greatness, did not even conceive the idea of falling
back into private life. To retain his power, he was
ready to sacrifice his most legitimate repugnance,
and so at the moment he thought of nothing but
blindly assisting his master's senseless passion. He
"laboured to destroy Catharine of Aragon whom he
esteemed, for the benefit of a frivolous woman whom
he despised, and by whom he knew he was hated.
Nevertheless, there were sorae remains of the bishop
in the courtier and statesraan occupied with earthly
cares. This was to re-appear one day when Wolsey
had been pitilessly banished from the field of politics.
Henry VIII. was now leaning raore than ever upon
theology itself for the preparation and justification
of his divorce. The author of the assertio septem
sacramentorum wrote in support of his own cause
* As we have said before, we beUeve, in despite of Cavendish,
that was the time he threw himseU at the king's feet.

THE king's TREATISE. 255
more zealously still than he had done in defence of
the church against Luther. He took his stand
chiefly on the prohibition in Leviticus, looking upon
it as divine law utterly forbidding a marriage
between brother and sister-in-law. When this little
treatise was communicated to Wolsey, that prince
of the church seemed to adopt the principles of it,
and make it the absolute rule of his conduct. How
ever, he submitted it to Fisher's examination who
dared to pronounce against the king's conclusions,
and consequently against the divorce. As to Sir
Thomas More, he excused himself as not being a
divine. At this time the notion of a synod, a council, or
meeting of cardinals was given up. All the efforts
of Henry VIII. and Wolsey tended to obtain the
voiding of the dispensation of Julius IL, and grant
ing of the divorce by the juridical omnipotence of
Pope Clement VIL
" Strange to say," observes Professor Brewer, " on
this occasion the Englisb monarch and his minister
were the most uncompromising advocates for the
personal infallibility of tbe pope, and pronounced the
divine commission of Saint Peter a sufficient justi
fication for any act that his successor 'might do.
Clement himself took a more mitigated view of his
own authority. He was not convinced when they
urged him to reverse the official decisions of previous
pontiffs by an extrajudicial deterraination of his own,

256 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
and to declare that deterraination irreversible and
infallible. Nor were they more successful when, in
their anxiety to secure their own ends, they went so
far as to assert that, -v^ritbout the possession and
exercise of such an authority, the pope could not be
the father of his people, nor the head of that church
which Christ had founded for the good of mankind.
If Henry had obtained his divorce, he and Wolsey
would have ranged theraselves araong the most un
qualified supporters of the pope's personal infalli
bility. In these views they did not wholly want
the support of more tban one Roman lawyer and
ecclesiastic." *
This plan of the campaign did not permit the
English arabassadors to make an attack upon the
bull of dispensation granted by Julius II. as con
trary to divine and natural law. The very time
when they were asking Clement VII. to perform an
act of sovereign authority was not the moment for
contesting his predecessor's power. They were thus
compelled to content theraselves with asserting — and
this was their last expedient — that tbe bull had been
obtained upon a false statement, and was, therefore,
revocable" The reasons alleged in this view for
demanding the revocation, or declaration of nullity,
may thus be summed up : —
1. It was asserted that Prince Henry .had re
quested a dispensation from the pope for raarrying
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. cccu.

REASONS FOR DIVORCE. 257
Catharine; that was false. The prince was only
twelve years old, and could not act with knowledge
of the matter.
/ 2. The dispensation was asked of the pope for the
maintenance of peace with the CathoHc sovereigns
Ferdinand and Isabella. This was an untenable
allegation ; for the prince was much too young to
have these statesmanlike views, and contract a
marriage for political reasons.
Z' 3. The bull stated that this marriage was necessary
^for the maintenance of peace between England and
Spain ; but that was an erroneous idea. The pope
had been led to suppose that sorae great calamity
would ensue, if the two kingdoras were not again
united by this alliance. Whereas, even if the mar
riage had neither been proposed nor concluded, the
two kings would not have gone to war ; and there
was at that time no reason to apprehend any rupture
between thera.
But there were traditions in the manageraent of
ecclesiastical business which the papacy had no
desire to transgress. The sovereign pontiff, Cle
ment VIL, being then separated frora his chancellerie
and ecclesiastical advisers, was very much disinclined
to do anything, or take a single measure entailing
important consequences, within the scope of his
spiritual government.
Also the pope was so closely watched and guarded
by the imperiaHsts that Knight raet with insurmount-
VOL. L S

258 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
able obstacles in his attempts to reach him. Cardi
nal Wolsey also made a pressing demand that, as it
seemed to be the pope's desire that the suit of divorce
should be prosecuted and determined according to
the requisite formalities, all might be done honoura
bly and legally.
Some proposal had been made of obtaining from
Clement, in consideration of his want of personal
liberty, a commission extending Wolsey's powers in
England, and giving him such a jurisdiction in that
country as would give him sovereign powers of
judging the divorce case by himself or his delegates.
Well I Is it credible that, however anxious Henry
VIII. was to expedite the determination of the suit
in the most favourable manner, he was jealous be
forehand of the immense spiritual power that would
be conferred on Wolsey, and offended at the idea of
thus finding hiraself face to face with a sort of
English pope in his own kingdora ? Not even for
the sake of marrying Anne Boleyn did he choose to
be in the power of one of his own subjects.
Knight was sent to Rome in order to diminish
Wolsey's overweening importance. Perhaps, also,
Henry VIII. thought, at Anne Boleyn's instigation,
that Wolsey was not working quite honestly for the
divorce, since all hope of a royal alliance for his
master had failed. The cardinal, on hearing of
Knight's journey, had written to Protonotary Gam
bara, and he succeeded in obtaining an interview

KNIGHT AT ROME. 259
with the pope, and informing him of the mission
given to Knight, who managed to reach Rorae through
dangers and difficulties of all kinds,* only to be pre
vented frora entering the Castle of Saint Angelo by
Alarcon, the coraraander of the Spanish forces.
He had, however, brought from England a draft
for brief or bull, containing both the declaration of
nullity of marriage of Henry VIIL, and the dispensa
tion necessary for bis marriage afterwards to Anne
Boleyn. He sought for a cardinal who was not of
the iraperial party, and who might be willing to con
vey it to the pope, and procure the sanction of his
seal and signature. The cardinal of the Quattro
Santi! was mentioned as a safe man, so the draft
was submitted to him. The cardinal saw that the
document was the work of a novice's unaccustoraed
hand ; he stated his objections to Knight, who con
sented to the amended draft of the bull as perfectly
answering the end proposed. The cardinal, when
pressed by Henry VIII.'s agent, consented to carry
the papers given him to the pope. They were signed
after correction, and Knight wrote to Wolsey : " At
all events, I do bring a commission with me, and a
dispensation, which I trust the king and your grace
will like well." t
* He was stopped by brigands twelve mUes from Rome, and
very nearly lost his life.
t The Quattro Santi, or Four Martyrs, is the name of a church
at Rome that always gives one of the cardinals his title.
t Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p, cccxviii.
s2

260 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Knight offered a fee of two thousand crowns to
Cardinal dei Quattro Santi, whose palace had been
pillaged by the iraperialists at the sack of Rome,* but
the noble Prince of the Church indignantly returned
this kind of bribe; he also refused gifts of hangings,
plate, and horses, attempts made to triumph over his
probity by flattering his tastes. Such specimens of
disinterested conduct were not rare at the Court of
Rome, for there was much less corruption and venality
there than has been supposed.
When the commission and dispensation reached
England, neither the one nor the other was found
to be regular. Both were declared to be of none
effect. Cardinal dei Quattro Santi bad altered the
words of the comraission and dispensation, " extract-
iug its teeth and rendering it inoffensive " (Brewer).
The drift of these changes made by hira from the
original minutes was not understood at first, so
Knight was quite triumphing in his speedy and facile
success,! and was greatly humiliated at the check and
disappointment due to his ignorance of the forras of
the Roman chancellerie.
These are the words of the draft commission given
to Wolsey by Henry VIII. An attempt had been
made to get the pope's signature to it by surprise,
* Strype, Ecclesiastical mem. Appendix, vol. i, p. 74.
t Knight said, in his letter, ' ' Sufficient, though not like the
minute." Letters and Papers, Brewer, Introduction, vol. iv,
p. cccxvni.

DRAFT COMMISSION. . 261
taking advantage of his being alone, without his
servants aud ministers, reduced, indeed, to a harsh
captivity :
" Clement VIL, to our beloved, health and apostolic
benediction. " Whereas, eighteen years ago, our dearest son in
Christ, Henry VIIL, King of England, etc., was in
duced by the persuasion of those about him, and a
pretended apostolic dispensation, to contract mar
riage with Catharine, his brother's widow ; and
whereas it has been found, upon further examination,
that the said dispensation was granted on false pre
tences, and is faulty and surreptitious — that thereby
the king's conscience is troubled ; and that, in full
confidence of our plenary power as supreme ruler
here on earth, he has required etc., etc. In considera
tion of the preraises, we appoint you, our dear son,
the Cardinal of York, of whose virtues, love of justice
and equity, we are well assured, to exercise our
authority in your own person for the trial of this
cause. We also appoint you  as assessor, enact
ing that the decision of either of you shall be valid
in the absence of the other. You are to proceed sura
raarily and de pleno, without the publicity or forraality
of judicial proceedings, and inquire into the validity
of the said dispensation. And, if you jointly or
severally are satisfied of its invalidity, you shall pro
nounce the marriage between Henry and Catharine
to be null and void, allowing the parties to separate,

262 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
and contract marriage de novo, all appeal or challenge'
set aside. Also by this our authority we empower
you to over-rule all canonical defects or objections,
and declare the issue of the first as well as of the
second marriage to be legitimate, if you think fit.
And whatever is done by you in this cause, judicially
or extra-judicially, we ratify and confirm in the fullest
manner, without revocation."
" Never was a more extravagant demand made on
a pope's good nature, and never was a stranger pro
posal submitted to the highest spiritual authority of
Christendom." * It really was a suggestion to the
sovereign pontiff to abdicate his functions of supreme
judge, and basely lend a hand to a gross iniquity.
The terms of the draft comraission also prejudged
the questiou of the invalidity of the dispensation, and
implied the delivery of the sentence without any
judicial examination of the truth. As Cardinal dei
Quattro Santi said, " A commission so drawn, and
with such clauses, could not pass without perpetual
dishonour to the pope, the king, and the cardinal."
Though Clement VH. was partial to Henry VIIL,
he had too much dignity to yield to such injurious
suggestions. No doubt he would have been very
glad if the fatal suit could be decided far from him
and without him. Catharine's acquiescence in a
regular sentence delivered on the spot raight, to a
certain degree, have set the pope's conscience at
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol, iv, p, cccxxiv.

THE pope's DIFFICULTIES. 263
rest. But the moment she appealed to the court of
Rome, the pope felt very sure he could not refuse
this appeal without coraraitting an unpardonable and
scandalous injustice.
And though he might bave some reason to dread
the possible extremities to which Henry VIII.'s wrath
might carry bira, there was also Charles V. to be
dealt with, and his influence was exactly contrary to
that of the King of England. While Knight and
Wolsey's agents were trying, in the midst of the ruins
of Rome, to circumvent the suffering pope, a prisoner
in the Castle of Saint Angelo, and to prepare him to
consent to the nullification of Catharine's marriage,
the emperor did not fail to support the cause of his
unfortunate aunt ; under the pretext of an ecclesi
astical mission, he sent the general of the cordeliers
to the sovereign pontiff with a commission to be
seech His Holiness to retain cognisance of this matter,
and to prevent its being tried, and more especially
to hinder judgment being given in England. Thus,
in the very midst of his personal troubles, Clement
tried to study this difficult question, and arrive at au
accurate and learned solution. He ordered Sanga,
his confidant and private secretary, to make him a
report of the means eraployed in the case by both
parties, and their respective systems. Meanwhile
Henry VHL, seeing that his own diploraacy had not
been successful, had again comraitted the conduct of
his interests and his cause before the pope to the

264 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
hands of Wolsey. Perhaps also, before giving him
the entire direction of external affairs, he had been
awaiting the issue of a matter. wherein Wolsey was
personally concerned.
Stafileo, dean of the court of Rota, and much
famed for his deep learning, had been begged by the
Kiugs of France and England to propose a vicar-
general of the Holy See for the whole time that
Clement VII. might be kept in captivity, or remain
in dependence on the emperor. The cardinals were
to meet at Avignon, or sorae other neutral territory,
and proceed to the actual noraination of a vicar-
general to manage the affairs of the church. Stafileo
was to bring to the notice of Clement VII. that the
person entrusted with this duty, strong in the sup
port and the favour of two powerful kings, might, by
his skill and courage, restore to its former greatness,
the power of the popes that Charles V. had broken
and trodden under foot. Cleraent Vll. was much
shocked at this proposal ; he saw in it an indirect
attack upon the rights of his pontificate ; he easily
perceived that Wolsey pointed to himself in the list
of qualities and advantages of position that this
coadjutor of the Holy See ought to possess ; he knew
that the ambitious cardinal had formerly entertained
ambitious hopes of the triple crown, and did so still.
Was it possible that he was not contented with
labouring to secure the succession to Cleraent VII.
when dead, but with feverish irapatience desired to
supplant hira while yet alive.

wolsey's endeavours. 265
This, therefore, made the pope very ill-disposed
towards Wolsey, who, in complete ignorance of this,
sent minute and urgent instructions to Casale, his
diplomatic agent resident in Italy, and tbese show
how much importance the cardinal attached to suc
cess, especially through the personal authority of the
pope, in procuring the declaration of the nullity of
the marriage of Henry with Catharine of Aragon.
Perhaps even in his impatience to obtain a speedy
decision, he injured the cause he desired to serve.
After communicating to his correspondent the
theological reasons mentioned above against the
validity of the bull of dispensation, he continues say
ing that the king considers the deaths of his children (
as a judgment of God, and that^for the avoidance of |
fresh cursesTie^had recourse to the Holy See. He
asks permission to raarry another person, frora whom
he raight hope to have male children by the grace of
God. A very pressing letter is sent from his
majesty to the pope in his own hand. The pope was
to be told, on tbe king's behalf and in Wolsey's
name, how much they lament the unworthy treatment
inflicted on His Holiness and the college of cardinals,
he is to be assured that nothing in the world would
be neglected to set him speedily at liberty. Then he
was to be informed of the nature and circumstances
of the marriage the king is bent on. Descriptions
were to be given of the remorse* that a delicate con-
* Shakespeare, in his play of "Henry VIIL," several times de-

266 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
science mugt-feelTTEird-the calamities that raust ensue
upon a ^sputed succession) the prayers of the lords
and wishesoTTlre people were to be added. Nothing
was to be omitted that might conduce to the annul
ling of the dispensation of Julius II. The present
stateof Italy and Christendom waa^o be held up

before_^ej)ppe's eyes. And he was to be made to
understand how important it was for the Holy See
that the king should never be at variance with ^he
pope, and that, if the king were satisfied in this busi
ness, he would be pledged always to support the
interests of the Church. Wolsey added that the pope
might perhaps consider it more conforraable to his
dignity to do everything for the king without refer-
rides the pretended remorse of the king. Thus in Act H, Scene
I, he introduces first the Lord Chamberlain, then Norfolk and
Suffott.
' Suff. How is the king employed?
Cham. I left him private, fuU of sad thoughts and troubles.
Nor. What's the cause ?
Cham. It seems the marriage with his brother's wife has crept
too near his conscience.
Suff. No ; his conscience has crept too near another lady.
The king afterwards joins in the conversation, and expresses-
some hypocritical regrets for Catharine.
" Would it not grieve an able man to leave
So sweet a bed-fellow ? But conscience, conscience,
O, 'tis a tender place, and I must leave her."
Thus Henry is always acting his part, and keeping on his mask
with his most intimate friends. Shakespeare understands and de
picts this singular character most admirably. This theologian of
a king was both a Tartuffe and a Nero. These are the features
that Shakespeare has seized and beautifuUy Ulustrated.

WOLSEY AND THE POPE. 26T
ence to the sacred college, and to sign the enclosed
commission with his own hand, it being formal, and
only wanting the pope's sign-manual. The king-
begs that by this commission Wolsey may have
power to examine into the nature of his marriage,
and to judge of it with the persons he should think
fit to associate with himself. There was also in the
packet a dispensation quite ready for the pope's
signature to be attached. If the pope had any
suspicions of a leaning of Wolsey to Henry VIIL, as
he was his first rainister, all possible endeavours were
to be raade to dissipate his suspicions. If he was
found infiexible on this point, Stafileo, Dean of Rota,
was to be proposed, now in England. The pope was
to be told that delay would have as bad an effect as
refusal.* Together witb the instructions for Casale, Wolsey
had written an autograph letter to the pope, insisting
vehemently on the need of success in his request, and
saying, " If the pope is not compliant, my life will
be shortened, and I dread to anticipate the conse
quences." In that he was nearer the truth than he
fancied. A refusal from His Holiness would cost the
loss of the king's friendship ; and, under the present
difficult circumstances, the necessity of favouring
Henry's views for the dissolution or nullity of his
marriage with Catharine would be felt. " There are
¦* These instructions are written in Latin, and are given here
from the continuation of Henry's Hist., book xxx, p, xix.

268 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
.secret reasons which cannot be trusted to writing —
for which, and other causes, the king will never live
with her as his wife."*
When these instructions reached Casale at his resi
dence in Florence, Cleraent VII. had just escaped
from the Castle of Saint Angelo, and taken refuge
at Orvieto. But when this Italian emissary was
setting out on his journey to go to the pope at, his
new residence, other instructions reached him with a
second draft commission. The proposal was now no
longer to make Wolsey sole judge of the divorce
question, for fear of their making the queen's appeal
inevitable ; but the request was that an Italian
cardinal of the party in opposition to the emperor
should be associated with him, such as Campeggio,
Trani, Farnese, or Stafileo, the Dean of Rota;! if the
pope displayed any intention of selecting the second
judge outfeide the cardinals, from the anti-English
party, the first coraraission was to be adhered to.
It is supposed that Wolsey was very glad himself
to get another person to share the unpopularity of
bis actions with regard to Catharine, and his perilous
responsibility to Henry VIII.
* Letters and Despatches, vol. iv, part u, p. 1638. Introduc
tion, pp. cccxxxi, cccxxxii. The letter is in the Record Office,
Wolsey to Sir Gregory Casale. It is not to be handed to the pope.
The expression is, " In this I wiU state what I wish you to lay
before the pope." The letter is in Latin, and is not stated to be
in Wolsey's hand.
t But this name was rejected at first sight by the pope.

THE POPE AND CASALE. 269
When Casale arrived at Orvieto, the pope was
nearly alone there, and without any regular chan
cellerie ; he was sad, dejected, and discouraged.
Nothing was more painful to him than to be thu&
discovered, and, it may be said, hunted in his new
retreat by the English agents, leaving him no time
to breathe. After eight days of entreaties, pushed
almost to importunity,* Casale extracted the grant
of the commission from tbe holy father, with the
condition, it is true, that it should be amended by
Cardinal Quattro Santi ; and yet Clement could not
give it to Henry VIII.'s secretary without shedding
tears. It is easy to imagine the pope's misery in his
cruel position. One way Clement VIL had a timid
conscience and hesitating character, and seemed as
if he did not yet know on which side was the right
in the business of Catharine of Aragon. Another
way, both in the interests of the Church and of him
self, be must be afraid of entirely turning his back
either on Henry VIII. or on Charles V. For the
moment he had escaped from the imperial armies,
but they were on his traces, and his restoration to
the Vatican seemed more distant than ever. In
truth, France and England had just dec]|p,red war
against the emperor, and Lautrec, at the head of a
powerful army, proclaimed that he would soon be in
Romagna. Meanwhile, Clement thought he ought
to proceed cautiously, and not take an irrevocable
* December 30th, 1527.

¦270 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
decision. At the same time, he recommended Henry
VIII. and his agents to preserve the raost absolute
secrecy on the concessions he had made them, for
fear of annoying and irritating Charles V.
Cardinals Siraonetta and Quattro Santi, who were
at Orvietto, wished that the suit should be entirely
concluded in England, and that Henry, after his
divorce had been decided on the spot, should raarry
whoraever he would, if he thought he could con
scientiously do so. But in order to do this, Catha
rine raust renounce the appeal to Rome, and take the
veil. In the draft commission the name of the cardinal,
to be appointed to join with Wolsey to exaraine into
the validity of the marriage of Henry VIIL, had been
left in blank. Among the cardinals named one had
a bishopric in Spain, another was detained as a hos
tage at Naples ; as for Campeggio, he was available,
and was accepted by Casale, but they did not dare
to let him depart before the arrival of Lautrec, so
that he might travel in safety. Besides, when the
French array was at the gates of Rome, the emperor
would perhaps make proposals of accoramodation to
the pope. Clement VII. secretly cherished this hope,
as then he would be more independent of the King
of England.
But during this time the dispensation and com
mission, corrected by Cardinal dei Quattro Santi,
had been examined at the Court of London. This

FOX AND GARDINER. 271
time they were found correct in forra, but insufficient
in matter ; and two fresh arabassadors were sent to
the pope — two Englishmen — Fox, the king's almoner,
and Gardiner, Wolsey's secretary.* Doctor Gardiner,
a distinguished lawyer, owed his fortune to the car
dinal of York, who loved him well, and called hira
his own half {dimidium mei). The king and his first
rainister thus each had their own representative.
Doctor Gardiner had the precedence of Fox, and
was naraed the head of the embassy.
The two ambassadors received their instructions
and despatches early in February. Passing through
Rorae, they were to see Gregory Casale, and to act
in concert with hiui, telling hira the new position
taken up. They were coraraissioned to thank the
pope for his good intentions, and to make him under
stand that the dispensation and commission, as His
Holiness had thought he ought to word them, were not
sufficient for the good and stability of the realm.
Henry VIIL, also wishing to know the pope's inten
tions from his own mouth, had sent him Doctors
Gardiner and Fox, who would be commissioned to
tell him all they thought necessary to explain the
cause of divorce. " Secondly," continues the de
spatch, " as Wolsey finds that the pope has been
labouring under sorae misapprehension, as _ if the^
king had set on foot this cause, not from fear of his
succession, but out of a vain affection or undue love
* Some authors say Stafileo was joined with them.

272 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
to a gentlewoman of not so excellent qualities as she
is here esteemed, the ambassadors are to assure the
pope that the cardinal would not, for any earthly
/affection to his prince, or desire of reward, transgress
the truth, or swerve from tbe right path ; nor would
he have consented in any way to have reported to His
Holiness otherwise than his conviction of the insuf
ficiency of the marriage, nor have been guilty of
any dissiraulation. If God has given any light of
true doctrine to the greatest divines and lawyers
of this realra, and if, in this angle of the world, there
be any hope of God's favour, Wolsey is well assured,
and dare put his soul that the king's desire is founded
_upon justice,* and does not spring from any grudge
or displeasure to the queen, whora the king honours
and loves, and minds to love and to treat as his
sister with all raanner of kindness ; and, as she is the
relict of his dearest brother, he will entertain her
with all joy and felicity. But as this raatriraony is
contrary to God'.gJaw, the king'sconscience is griesfa^
ously^ offended. On the other side, the approved
excellentVirtuous qualities of the said gentlewoman
(Anne), the purity of her life, her constant virginity,
her maidenly and womanly modesty, her soberness,
chasteness, meekness, humility, wisdora, descent right
noble and high through regal blood, education in all
good and laudable qualities and manners, apparent

i

* How could a man be proposed as judge who had given his
pinion so openly in favour of one of the parties ?

wolsey's eulogy. 273
aptness to procreation of children, with her other
infinite good qualities, more to be regarded and
esteemed than the only progeny, be the grounds on
which the king's desire is founded, which Wolsey
regards as honest and necessary,"*
How could Wolsey, who makes such an osten
tatious parade of his sincerity, ever dare to speak
seriously of the remorse of this poor Henry VIII. ?
How could he manage to write this long eulogy of
the virtues of Anne Boleyn without burning his
fingers ? We must be deeply grieved at the sight of
a bishop, a prince of the Church, who prided himself
on still having some feeling of sacerdotal dignity, de
meaning himself to such concessions. Co-operating
with the intrigues of Henry VIIL and his favourites,
lending himself to their raachinations, he was drawn
to the top of a precipice, and could not stop. The
historian raust tell the truth about public men, whose
character he bas to discuss, whoever they be.
Gardiner and his colleague left Dover on the lltb
of February, 1528, and were driven by storra to Grave
lines, only landing with great difficulty; they also
were nearly drowned in Roraagna, while crossing a
torrent swollen by recent storra.! Thus bqth in the
beginning and ending of their journey they lost their
baggage and most of their clothes. These difficul-
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. cccxxxvUi.
t They crossed the torrent at a ford on taU horses, and the
water came up to their girdles.
VOL. I. T

274 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
ties delayed them so long that they only reached
Orvieto on March 25th.
There they found that the pope could not be said
to have fully and truly recovered bis liberty, " for
hunger, scarcity, bad lodgings, and ill air keep him
as much confined as he was in Castel Angelo."*
" The air of this city is very contagious, and the
weather so moist that, except there be some change
of the inhabitants soon, it will be of little consequence
who are lords of this country, unless for penance you
would wish it to the Spaniards as being unworthy to
die in battle."!
The ambassadors found no chance of repairing
their wardrobe at Orvieto. The townsmen said
they had no more clothes than they wore ; so there
were none to be borrowed or raade new in the
place. This was also a cause of delay. When the
arabassadors at last tbought they were presentable,
they asked an audience of His Holiness.! They were
taken to a dilapidated palace, belonging to the bishop
of the place ; and on tbeir way to the pope's presence
they had to pass through three rooras, " all naked
and unhanged, the roofs fallen down, and, as we can
guess, thirty persons, riff-raff and other, standing in
the charaber for a garnishment." The pope received
them in his bed-chamber. When Gardiner had ex-
* Letters and Papers, Brewer, vol. iv, pt. u, p. 1809.
t Letters and Papers, Brewer, vol. iv, pt. ii, p, 1812,
t This was Monday, March 25th, 1528.

GARDINER'S AUDIENCE. 275
plained the cause of their coraing, and directed the
pope's attention to the defects in the dispensation
and coraraission, the pope replied that, notwithstand
ing his promise to araend thera, he must disserable
until Italy was pacified.
Then the ambassadors protested against further
delay. " And whereas it was declared bow your grace
{Wolsey), being advertised that His Holiness some
what stayed in expedition of the king's desire, for
that it was showed him that the matter (the divorce)
was set forth without your consent or knowledge,
and you begged us to protest of your sincerity and
mind concerning the merits and the qualities of the
gentlewoman (Anne Boleyn), the pope said all such
protestation was needless, for be could not believe
that the king would be led by any undue (improper)
affection, and he desired to see the king's labour and
study in the matter. He added he did not believe
the report tbat you were not privy to it, or that any
thing of so high consequence would not be set forth
without your advice. But he confessed that the
report had raade him waver until he had ascertained
the truth."*
Next day the ambassadors presented the king's
book to the pope. He began to read it standing,
then sat down on a form covered with an old cover
let not worth twenty pence; he read the pre-
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. cocxlii,
T 2

276 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
liminary epistle and the latter part of the book
touching the law with great attention. As be turn
ed the leaves he made reflections and comments on
the question, then he coraraended the talent used in
its preparation, and said he would like to keep it,
and read it at leisure. And as the preliminary
epistle was addressed to Wolsey and the other
EngHsh bishops, the pope asked what they had
answered. The ambassadors replied that "there
was none; but he might infer the answer from
Wolsey's letters." Then he deraanded whether the
king had ever broken the raatter to. the queen.
They told hira it had been done, and there was
reason to believe she would be content to abide by
the judgment of the church. We may, in passing,
observe that this was a more than hazardous ex
pression. Then he asked them whether Wolsey
raight not be objected to as a suspected judge.
" For tbat, by answering the king's epistle and
delivering your mind, you had given sentence before
hand, and could not be considered indifferent." This
was an objection they had not anticipated, and it was
not very easily parried.*
In tbe evening they had an interview with Cardi
nal di Quattro Santi, and thought they had persuad
ed him that a commission meeting in England, and
composed of English bishops, would be most in con
formity with canon law. Next day, when they had
* Letters and Papers, Brewer, Introduction, vol. iv, p. cocxlui.

MORE DEBATES. 277
another audience of the pope, they found hira in his
study with three cardinals. He had seats brought,
took one himself, and asked them to be seated by
him. The commission to be appointed for the judg
ment of the divorce was discussed. Gardiner, as
leader of the erabassy, sustained this discussion in
Latin for several hours. These debates extended to
several other days. The pope urged on the ambassa
dors to accept a general commission at common law
to take the evidence, instead of one or two commis
sions clothed with powers both extraordinary and
definitive. Gardiner and Fox * complained that the
pope and his advisers were objecting merely on a
point of form. They said that, if the king could
obtain no more favour from them than an ordinary
person, he would take the reraedy into his own
hands, and not suffer his cause to be decided by raen
whose hearts had already prejudged it.!
It seeras that this threat, so sharp. and unexpected,
intiraidated Clement VII. ; for he protested that he
would do all he could for his raajesty's satisfaction
as soon as be had consulted two other cardinals, the
Cardinal of Monte and the Cardinal of Ancona.
When these fresh counsellors of th*e sovereign
pontiff had corae the discussion was resumed in thejr
jpresence. Then (it was the 1st of April) the pope,
* It seems Stafileo, a partizan of Henry VIIL, was also present
.at this discussion.
! Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol, iv, p. cccxUv,

278 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
who seemed justly terrified at the iramense responsi
bility they wished to lay on him, declared that he
was no canonist, and that he must have the advice
of his cancellaria and of his lawyers ; that, in a suit
of so much iraportance, it was not enough for him,
the head of the church, to be considered justified in
England ; that he must be justified before the whole
(christian world. Gardiner answered that there was
no reason to fear what the world would say; that
the suit must be tried on its own merits, and judged
according to equity and justice. In fact, the dis
cussion was reduced to the point of determining
whether the commission should be given exactly
in the terras of tbe draft brought from England
(giving Wolsey power to judge summarily, and
finally), or whether it should be a general com
mission at comraon law, only giving the judges a
power of first instance. Gardiner and his colleagues
obstinately adhered to Wolsey's draft. The pope and
his advisers said that the comraission asked for was
contrary to law and custom, and returned to the
incompetence of Wolsey, which was said to be
alleged by the queen herself.
This proposition was strongly contested by Gardi
ner with a boldness of language to which the pope
was certainly not accustomed. According to the
audacious ambassador, " If they could not point out
the right way to the wanderer — a task entrusted to
thera by God — specially to a prince from whom they

GARDINER'S AUDACITY. 279
had received so many obligations, the world would
exclaim against their cunning and dissimulation, for
they proraised much, and performed nothing." That
His Holiness had no need of his canonist ; that the
whole canon law was in himself, in the sanctuary of
his conscience, inspired according to the well-known
adage, " Quod Pontifex habet omnia jura in scrinio pectoris."
The pope replied, with ingenious raodesty, that he
had not the key of this sanctuary. Thus, in two
words, he routed the learned and pressing arguraents
that Gardiner had urged in a discussion of four long
hours. Despairing of their cause, Gardiner and his col
leagues consented to the appointraent of a general
commission in rather wider terras tban had been
drawn up in England. " We were always told that
it should be of our own devising. But when it was
drawn and subraitted to them, everyone had some
fault to find. One thought the raatter was good,
but the style was too ornate ; another that the whole
was inadmissible ; another complained of the begin
ning, and proposed to substitute a different one of
his own composition." In Gardiner's homely phrase,
" they praised the present flavour of the meat, but
blamed the cooking." *
At last it was agreed to entrust the composition
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p, cccxlvi.

280 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
of the document to the cardinals present, and they
promised not to make too many alterations in the
original draft. But when the form they had drawu
was submitted to Gardiner, he found so raany
changes — and changes that certainly, to his raind,
were not iraprovements — that he broke out into
violent protestations, and declared that it was a
complete deception. The two parties raade re
criminations of dissiraulation and deceit. Gardiner
especially accused the nuncio Garabarra of having
lured the ambassadors to Rome by captious prom
ises. Garabarra replied that he had done no more
than his commission required. Gardiner exclaimed
'tFat, " when he should have to report what sort of
friends the king found in the Papal Court, he would
abandon it, and the Apostolic See, now tottering,
would collapse entirely, to the applause and satisfac
tion of all the world." *
— Hearing this insolent proclamation of revolt against
the Church made in the name of England, Clement
VII. could not contain himself. He raised his arms
to heaven with exclamations of indignation, surprise,
and scandal (" bade them put in the words contended
for "), quitted his seat, and walked up and down the
room with all the raarks of great agitation.
According to Gardiner's own account, " after all
these tempests, they eame into still water." He
does not tell us, as is most likely, that, in order to
* Brewer, p. cocxlvU.

THE COMMISSION GRANTED. 281
get into this still water, he had to retract his too
hasty words, and excuse himself to the noble pontiff,
whose sacred character be had so grossly ignored,
W^hatever bappened in consequence of this incredible
scene, evidently the pope and the arabassadors came
to a final understanding. A comraission without
exceptional clauses was granted for Wolsey and
Carapegglo to try tbe divorce case in England. The
pope, delivering it to the arabassadors, expressed a
hope that it would give satisfaction to the king.
Gardiner was not quite contented with it, but he
thought it better to take it as it was.*
Fox was immediately sent to England to carry
the comraission with the contingent dispensation to
raarry Anne Boleyn. He was delighted that the
latter document had been sent back correctly copied
from the draft, without any alteration. But, as the
dispensation was not to become effective until the
raarriage was annulled, it did not signify much by
itself; its importance was only accessory, and it
could only become of value if the sentence of divorce
was finally pronounced. The terms of constitution
of the commission had much more significance, and
had an essentially different bearing.
Reaching England about the end of April, Fox
* As there was no transfer to common law, the appeal was
implicitly reserved.
It is to be remembered that Gardiner was the sturdy, rough
EngUshman of Queen Mary's time — the only one of her ministers
found incorruptible by foreign influence or gold. (Ed.)

282 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
hastened to Greenwich, where he expected to find
the king and Wolsey. As the king could not ira
mediately give him audience, he ordered him to be
introduced to Anne Boleyn's chamber, "who at that
time, for that ray lady princess and divers others
the queen's maidens were sick of the smaU-pox, lay
in the gallery in the tilt-yard.* And so, adraitted
unto her presence, after declaration made unto the
same in generality, first, of such expeditions as were
obtained, and sith, of your singular fideHty, diligence,
and dexterity, used, not only in the impetration
thereof, but also in hastening the coming of the
legate with your most hearty and humble com
mendations, which she most thankfully received,
and seemed to take the same most marvellously to
heart, oftentimes in communication calling me Master
Stevens,! with promise of large recompense for your
good acquittal in the preraises."!
As they were talking the king carae in, and then
Fox raade him a detailed report of everything that
had passed at Orvieto. He presented the dispensa
tion, then the commission, telling him that this last
docuraent could only be obtained after long debate,
and could not be got in tbe forra arranged in Eng
land ; the arabassadors were obliged to content them-
* So at this time Anne Boleyn was one of the queen's maids of
honour. Fox no doubt means the Princess Mary. The date of
the letter is May, 1528.
t I.e., Stephen Gardiner, mistaking Fox for him.
% Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccoxUx.

fox's return. 283
selves witb the draft settled by the Roman cardinals ;
but its deficiencies were in some sort supplied by a
promise raade by the pope, as he said, not to transfer
the suit,' and to confirm the sentence, whatever it
might ibe,* \ The king gave way to warm expressions
of pleasure and thankfulness, and showed much
satisfaction at the successful issue of the diplomatic
negotiations. Fox thought it right to attribute the success in
great part to Wolsey, owing to tbe excellent instruc
tions the cardinal had given to the ambassadors, and
also the letters written to the pope even before their
arrival, as he had proved that, when the king ex
pressed his wish for a divorce and fresh marriage, he
had not yielded to childish caprice, that his proceed
ing had been derived from conscientious reflection,
and the person on whom be had fixed his choice was
worthy of his affection.
Then the king desired Fox to wait upon Wolsey,
and inform hira of what had passed at Orvieto. The
minister was not so well satisfied as the king with
the terms of the commission ; nevertheless the next
day he seemed to be contented with it, when he
found himselfin company with Lord Rochford, Anne
Boleyn's father. It was generally allowed that
Gardiner had managed the negotiation well, but, as
he had allowed himself to make use of violence and
intimidation, Wolsey blamed him in that respect, and
* Did the pope reaUy say this ? It may be doubted.

¦284 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
said that, in treating with the pope, he ought never
to have failed in the respectful, behaviour due to the
head of the Church.
A little later, as it was supposed by the lawyers
that the queen might refuse to appear, or might
appeal against the sentence, Gardiner was instructed
" to make secret inquiry at the Court of Rome when
it could be done ; and, in such a case, bow such a
refusal would affect their proceedings, what was the
remedy, and whether, during the api3ealrit_woiil.d be
lawful for the_parties_jto_jiiarry^again. In rainbr
points connected with the process he was to obtain
tbe opinions of learned raen, chiefly with the view of
obviating any objections which might arise on the
queen's part, of whose line of defence the cardinal
bad contrived to obtain some information. Gardiner
was also to " inforra himself how far, in a case of this
bigh consequence, for the conservation of his honour,
or else immortal ignorainy and slander, and the dara
nation of bis soul, Wolsey, for the discharge of his
conscience, might rest the king's cause on the fact
that he was wholly unacquainted with the granting
of the bull for the dispensation of bis marriage with
bis brother's wife, and whether the said ground be so
justifiable, and of such sort, as his grace raight well
build his conscience upon it, without grudge or
scruple hereafter."*
What argument of any weight could have been
* Letters and Papers, Brewer, Introduction, vol, iv, cccUii.

fox's letters. 285
drawn from the establishment of this fact? No
bishop or priest would have married Henry VIII. to
his sister-in-law without having the bull of dispensa
tion laid before hira. Besides, the validity of this-
bull had been recognized by the king's council at
the time of his marriage, after a discussion, when tbo
contrary had been affirmed. Since Henry VIII. not
only bad made no opposition to this dispensation,
but bad taken advantage of it, he could not come
forward to assert its nullity. Besides, this nullity
was covered by his silence during eighteen years of
nuptial cohabitation with Catharine of Aragon.
Fox recognized, in his correspondence with Gar
diner, that, however broad were the powers granted
by the commission, the queen could always exercise
her right of appeal to the pope, and would at least,
as a final resource, require that the decision of the
business should be given at Rome, and this at the very
end would disconcert the hopes of Henry VIIL, and
make all his plans of carapaign abortive.
" Insorauch," writes Fox to Gardiner, "that yester
day, to my great, and no less joy and comfort, his
grace openly, in presence of Mr. Tuke, Mr. Wolman,
Mr. Bell, and me, made protestation to the king's
highness that, although he was so rauch bound unto
the sarae as any subject raight unto his prince ; and
by reason thereof his grace was of so perfect devotion,
faith, and loyalty towards his raajesty that be could
gladly spend goods, blood, and Hfe in his just causes ;

286 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
yet sith his grace (Wolsey) was more obliged to
God, and that he was sure he should render an
account de operibus suis .heiore Him. He would, in
this matter, rather suffer high indignation, yea, and
his body jointly to be torn in pieces, than he would
do anything in this cause otherwise than justice
requireth; in that his highness should look after
other favour to be ministered unto him in this cause
on his grace's part, than the justness of the cause
would bear. But, if the bull {i.e., of Pope JuHus)
were sufficient, he would so pronounce it, aud rather
suffer extrema quaeque than do the contrary, or else
contra consdentiam suam.*
Thus Wolsey's Christiau conscience seeras some
times to awaken. In accepting the offi.ce of judge,
he evidently sometimes tries to be serious. It seems
as if he were trying to pledge himself by this
energetic and independent language, and sort of
profession of faith.
Wolsey felt that he was surrounded witb enemies
and arabuscades. Public opinion was turning against
hira, and the king's favour threatened to desert him.
Failing men, he was tempted to turn to the God
who never fails His servants. But Ceesar was to be
his real god on earth for some time longer.
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. cccUii.
Letter, May 11,

287

CHAPTER IX.
The Two Kings' Defiance, and the Emperor's Reply —
Policy and Attitude of Wolsey before the Arrival of
Cardinal Campeggio — The Appointment of the Abbess of
Wilton — Discontent of Henry VHI., and his Correspond
ence with Wolsey on this Business — The Sweating Sick
ness — Henry's Momentary Return to Catharine — His
Letters to Anne Boleyn, and hers to Wolsey,
IN the month of January, 1528, at Wolsey's instiga
tion, the English ambassadors were recalled from
the emperor's court, and the two Kings of France
and England sent a formal challenge to Charles V.
This was placed in his hands by Clarencieux and
Guyenne, kings-at-arms. The challenge contained a
long diatribe against the imperial policy. Among
other things, veheraent reproaches were raade against
Charles V. for the sack of Rome and ill-treatment of
the pope. The payment of the emperor's debts to
the English crown was claimed ; and, according to
the terms of tbe defiance, tbese debts were increased
by the stipulated forfeit for having failed in the
promise to marry the Princess Mary.
Charles V. made a triumphant reply to all these

288 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
complaints. In the note he gave Clarencieux for the
King of England, he acknowledged his debt to that
prince of the sums lent him, and declared he would
free himself in proper tirae and place, but he denied
that he owed any inderanity for the suspension of
the pension during the war, and asserted that, by
the treaties of Paris and London, this debt was
charged on Francis I. As to the claim raade for the
alleged forfeit he was accused of, this reproach was
not serious, because Henry himself had objected to
the celebration of this marriage with the Princess
Mary, and had afterwards given his consent to the
alliance Charles V. had contracted with Isabella of
Portugal. As to the sack of Rome, and the profana
tions comraitted there, the emperor had been as much
distressed and scandalised as any other Christian
prince, and he would afterwards try to find a remedy.
He winds up,
" Should not I have much more reason to send a
defiance to King Henry than he has to me, if, as is
reported, he wishes to separate from the queen ray
aunt, and raarry another? I cannot believe this,
having in my hands the pope's dispensation in favour
of this marriage, so araple and so entirely free from
subterfuge that I canuot see what can give cause for
such a separation. How can the king's wish that I
should marry his daughter be explained, if he endea
vours to make her out to be illegitimate,* All this
* Some English authors have asserted that a junta at Toledo

POPULAR DISCONTENT. 289
is done by the evil and sinister instigation of the
Cardinal of Ybrk, whose ambition I would not gratify,
and who has boasted that he would put the era
peror's affairs into such an entangleraent tbat no
thing of the sort had been seen for raany centuries.
And I protest before God and the whole world that
all the damage and all the ^ils resulting from the
said wars shall be laid to the charge of whoever is
the author of them." *
The people, and especially the merchants and
workmen, were much enraged against Wolsey for
this declaration of war ; the cessation of comraercial
relations with imperial dominions closed the ordi
nary channels for English manufactures through
Flanders.! Attempts at insurrection were repressed in the
county of Kent with unheard-of severity ; the minis
ter directing was held chiefly responsible, though he
did not take the most active share in it.
There was a little Lutheranism mingled with this
had objected to this marriage on the pretex t that the legitimacy
of the Princess Mary might be contested. Would not Charles V.
have aUuded to this in the document quoted? No Spanish
author mentions it. And the editors of the two qpUections have
not found any trace of this protest in the various archives they
have searched with so much success.
* Histou-e du Divorce, par Joachim Legrand. Pifeces Justifica
tives, vol. Ui, pp. 44-47. This very long protest is greatly
analysed and abridged.
t In London itselt there was a disturbance, caUed the appren
tices' rising.
VOL. I. U

290 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
agitation. Wolsey wished to stifle the heresy in its
birth ; he was rigorous against the innovators, look
ing on them as rebels, both in a temporal and
spiritual light.
In another direction, in order to meet a certain ten
dency to which Henry VIII. himself began to yield,
the cardinal was working at the suppression of the
sraaller raonasteries, and his agents took the oppor
tunity of speculating and raaking severe exactions.
Thus he made himself unpopular both with Catholics
and Lutherans.
Nevertheless, till now Wolsey seeraed as if he
could console himself for everything with the king's
favour. And behold I he found he was just getting
into disgrace with that prince. Sorae retrospective
details are here necessary. It was in an essentially
religious view, said Henry VIIL, that Wolsey was
endeavouring to reforra the larger monasteries, and
when the abbesses or superiors of religious comrau
nities caused scandal, he thought it his duty to judge
and depose thera. Especially he would not consent
to the nomination of persons of doubtful character
to these exalted positions.
Now the Abbess of Wilton was recently dead.
John Carey, whose brother had married Mary
Boleyn, Anne's elder sister, begged for the post for
his sister Elinor. His request was backed by Anne
Boleyn and the king himself Wolsey replied that

THE ABBESS OF WILTON. 291
he could the more easily give effect to their recom
mendations because tbe nuns of the monastery had
placed tbe choice of the new abbess in his hands.
But, on the customary inquiry and examination, it
appeared that Elinor Carey was notoriously guilty
of misconduct and immorality.
As soon as Wolsey was inforraed of this by his
coraraissioner, Doctor Bell, he referred to the king,
who did not insist, but apparently only desired his
rainister, in case Elinor was not appointed, not to
select as abbess the person who stood in the convent
as the representative of the opposite party, one Isa
bella Jordan ; and imraediately afterwards the king,
in order to give a half-satisfaction to Anne Boleyn,
wrote to her : " I would not for all the world cloy
your conscience nor raine to make her ruler of a
house which is of so ungodly demeanour ; nor I trust
you would not that, neither for brother (Carey) nor
sister, I should so disstain mine honour or conscience.
And as touching the prioress (Isabella Jordan), or
Dame Elinor's eldest sister, though there is not any
evident case proved against them, and that the
prioress is so old that of raany years she could not
be as she was named, yet notwithstanding, to do you
pleasure, I have done that neither of them shall have
it, but .... some other good and well-disposed

* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccclxxxvi.
U2

292 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
However, Wolsey, perhaps misunderstanding the
intentions expressed by the king, and desirous of
confuting the scandalous outrages and scorn unjustly
heaped by Elinor's party upon the worthy prioress,
Isabella Jordan, declared that it was according to
the counsel of the best nuns of the convent that he
nominated the latter as abbess. He sent Doctor
Bell to announce this nomination to Henry VIIL,
and asked hira to ratify it. The king received the
raessage with much vexation ; he displayed the
greatest indignation at Wolsey's proceeding, saying
that he had given his royal word to several of Elinor
Carey's friends that, if their protSgee could not be
appointed, neither should her rival ; that on these
terms he had left the decision of the raatter to Wol
sey with perfect confidence in his wisdom and loyal
ty; "and surely," says Doctor Bell, "for ray duty
and true heart toward your grace, I would rather
than part of my small substance you had elected
some other."
Wolsey was much alarmed when he heard how
strongly the king had expressed his displeasure, and
hastened to write to him, and make the best excuses
he could. Henry answered him in a letter which
still shows some good feeling ; there is to be seen in
it the cordial tone he used with his friends, even
when he was angry. And yet in this letter there is
already a feeling of the blind workings of anger that
make one shudder.

LETTER TO WOLSEY. 293
" The great affection and love I bear you causeth
me, using the doctrine of my raaster, quem diligo
castigo, thus plainly as now ensueth to break to you
my mind, ensuring you that neither sinister report,
affection to my own pleasure, interesse parts, nor
meditation of any other body, beareth place in this
case ; wherefore, whatsoever I do say, I pray think
it spoken of no displeasure, but of him that would
do you as much good, both of body and soul, as you
would yourself.
"Methinks it is not the right train of a trusty,
loving friend and servant, when the matter is put, by
the master's consent, into his arbitre and judgment
(specially in a matter wherein his master hath both
royalty and interest), to elect and choose a person
which was by him defended (forbidden). And yet
another thing, which much displeaseth me more —
that is, to cloak your offence made by ignorance of
my pleasure, saying that you expressly knew uot
my determinate mind in that behalf."
Here the king recalls the expressions he had three
times before used and adds,
" Ah ! ray lord, it is a double offence both to do ill
and 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
living that more hateth it.
" These things being thus comraitted, either I must

294 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
have reserved them in pectore, whereby more dis
pleasure might happen to breed, or else thus roundly
and plainly to declare them to you; because I do
think that cum amico et familiari sincere semper est
agendum, and especially the master to his best beloved
servant and friend, for in so doing the one shall be
more circumspect in his doing, the other shall declare
and show the loftiness that is in him to have any
occasion to be displeased with hira.
"And as touching the redress of religion {i.e. of
the nuns), if it be observed and continued, undoubt
edly it is a gracious act ; notwithstanding, if all re
ports be true, ab imbecillis imbecilla expectantur. How
beit, Mr. Bell hath informed me that her age,
personage, and manner prae se fit gravitatem, I pray
God it be so indeed, seeing that she is preferred to
that room. I understand, furthermore (which is
greatly to ray comfort), that you have ordered your
self to Godward as reHgiously and virtuously as any
prelate or father of Christ's Church can do ; when in
so doing and persevering there can nothing raore be
acceptable to God, raore honour to yourself, nor raore
desired of your friends, amongst the which I reckon
myself not the least.""*
He then proceeds, in a very friendly way, and with
some delicacy, to inform Wolsey that there were
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol, iv, p. ccclxxxvUi.

wolsey's fears. 295
strange reports current about him. That it was said
in the religious world that the raonasteries were
giving the cardinal considerable sums of money,*
either to buy off suppression, or to obtain from his
spiritual authority as legate some iraraunities or other
favours they would have no chance of obtaining with
out making use of this means of corruption.
Notwithstanding these fine protestations Wolsey
was terrified ; he vaguely felt the talon hidden be
neath the velvet. He had a prevision that the de
votion and the services of a whole life would not
always prevail against even the least cause of dis
pleasure. And, if the king failed him, what was left ?
He alleged in excuse that the fear of the prevaihng
epidemic, which will be described immediately, had
caused bis secretaries and chief officers to leave him,
that he had not his usual advisers with him when, on
pressing entreaties, and himself weakened by the
malady, he had a little too hastily come to the de
termination of appointing Isabella Jordan Abbess of
Wilton, but that this nomination was conditional, and
only to be definitive ff the king confirmed it. Lastly
his letter gave a very plausible explanation of his
employment of the subsidies from the monasteries,
* When the king in need had demanded a contribution from
the reUgious communities, they had treated him very shabbily.
But with Wolsey they showed great UberaUty, and this made him
give them a squeeze.

296 CATHARINE OF ARAGON. I
naraely, on the religious and scientific foundations
with which he was endowing the University of
Oxford. The king accepted this explanation, and showed
his satisfaction at his remarks having been so well
received ; he desired Wolsey for the future to require
no contributions from the monasteries for any pur
pose whatever, so as to deprive his enemies of any
cause of coraplaint.
" Thus I end this rude yet loving letter, assuring
you that at this hour there reraains no spark of dis
pleasure towards you in ray heart." *
Wolsey's reply is full of exaggerated expressions
of personal devotion and thankfulness to the king.
It begins thus :
" Sire, — Your gracious, loving letters, whereby I
do perceive that no spark of displeasure reraaineth in
your noble heart towards rae, hath, on ray truth, so
letificate and re-coraforted me, being so replenished
with heaviness and sorrow, ut videar ex morte ad vitam
restitiitus." He also declares at length that the money received
by hira frora the convents was all employed in en
dowments for learning at Oxford, and that be bad
uot diverted one single penny for his own use or
that of his family.
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. cccxciu,
pt. U, p. 1970

THE SWEATING SICKNESS. 297
About this tirae Wolsey had a severe attack of an
epideraic illness that was prevailing in London.
This malady, causing quite a panic in the city and
the English Court, was called the sweating sickness.
Jean du Bellay, recently appointed French ambassa
dor to England, describes it thus :
" This sweat, which has made its appearance with
in these four days, is a most perilous disease. One
has a little pain in the head and beart, suddenly a
sweat breaks out, and a doctor is useless ; for, whe
ther you wrap yourself up much or little, in four
hours, and sometiraes in two or three, you are dis
patched without languishing, as in those troublesorae
fevers. However, only about two thousand have
caught it in London. Yesterday, going to swear the
truce, we saw thera as thick as flies rushing from the
streets and shops into their houses to take the sweat
whenever they felt ill. I found the Arabassador of
Milan leaving his lodgings in great haste because
two or three had been suddenly attacked." *
The malady raged principally in the counties of
Kent and Sussex, and had rapidly swept over Lon
don and the neighbourhood. At Court, the first per
son attacked by the disease was *Anne Boleyn.
Then there was a panic and general rout. Every
one fled. The king moved to Waltham in great
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol, iv, p. ccclxxu.

298 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
haste. Anne went to her father's house at Hever.
The king had only kept very few persons with him ;
and the number dirainished every day. Two of the
king's favourites died of this malady, WilHam Corap
ton, to whora he was much attached, and William
Carey, the husband of Mary Boleyn. The king,
constantly fleeing frora the malady, left Waltham for
Hunsdon, and at last retreated to Tittenhanger, a
little house belonging to Wolsey, twenty miles
from London. He took every precaution not to
be surprised by death, and thus escaped 'the com
plaint. At this time — it was a little before the episode of
the Abbess of Wilton — he was very anxious about
Wolsey's health. He even sent him a copy of his
will,* and told him that the queen was always in
quiring after the cardinal. For now the king seemed
to have returned to Catharine, and lived with her
witb all the external signs of intiraacy, and when,
in prospect of speedy death, as daily imminent by
the sweating sickness, he thought it necessary to
take the sacrament, Catharine went to the altar, and
repeived the holy communion with him.
Some persons were deceived by these appearances,
perhaps even Catharine herself, and conceived a
* Lingard, vol. vi, p. 140. " He (the cardinal) made his wUl,
and sent it to Henry for his approbation," The text is taken
from Brewer, (Ed.)

THE PRINCESS MARY. 299
hope that Henry would know how to understand
the warning of Providence sent hira, and that he
would give up the project of the divorce ; * but, in
reality, through tbese strange vicissitudes of terror
and devotion, be had hardly relaxed in his prosecu
tion of his secret designs.
First, it is just the very time when he suppressed
the household assigned to the Princess Mary and her
private establishraent at Ludlow on the score of
expense. No doubt, in view of the growing un
popularity that attached to his attempt at divorce,!
he wished to put down this little court, as it was
hostile to him, and might have become a nucleus of
opposition, if opportunity served. And he did not
see that public opinion would be more strongly pro
nounced than ever when the parsimonious treatment
of the Princess Mary was contrasted witb the pro
digal expenditure still lavished on the Duke of
Richmond, who looked forward to inheriting the
crown. When Henry bad ceased to fear any danger of the

* Lingard, vol. vi, p. 140. Letters and Papers, Brewer. In
troduction, vol. iv, p, ccolxxvU. »
t The MUanese ambassador confirms Mendoza's opinion ; for he
writes to his Court, " Many persons apprehend that, should this
marriage take place, the population here will rebel." Letters and
Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccclxxvU. From Vene
tian Calendar, vol. iv, p. 252 ; and the Frenoh ambassador, Jean
du Bellay, says the same.

300 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
contagion to hiraself, and when Anne Boleyn was
not quite recovered from the succession of troubles
which had vexed her greatly, tbe interrupted
correspondence between thera was resumed — no
longer in the language of a king, like the letters
to Wolsey.
" He came to me last night," he said to Anne,
" with news as sad as possible. I was vexed, for
three reasons : firstly, for having raade known the
continuation of the illness of ray beloved mistress,
whose health is as dear to me as ray own, and whose
sufferings I would willingly share. Secondly, be
cause I fear having to suffer yet longer from this
absence, which is so trying to rae. Thirdly, because
the doctor in whom I should have the raost con
fidence is staying at sorae distance. I therefore
send you ray second physician. Doctor Butts, pray
ing God that He raay restore to health as soon
as possible her who is worthy of all my affection.
Bo governed, I pray you, by his advice, and,
thanks to him, I hope to see you soon return con
valescent." *
We might extract a number of other passages
illustrating the king's violent passion, and extra-
* State Papers, p. 1921. Introduction, vol. iv, p. coclxxviU.
See also the collection of Henry VIII.'s letters to Anne Boleyn,
pubUshed by Crapelet, Paris, 1828, and Audin's Vie de Henri
VIIL, vol. i, p. 462. We do not think it possible to reproduce aU
that Audin quotes.

anne's LETTERS. 301
ordinary is the want of delicacy, even sometiraes
grossness of bis expressions.*
Anne Boleyn's letters to Wolsey seem more in
teresting. They are evidently much laboured and
carefully written under the inspiration of Henry
VIIL She addresses very exaggerated professions
of affection to the cardinah " In my most humblest
wise that ray poor heart can think, I do thank your
grace for your rich and goodly present, the which I
shall never be able to deserve without your great
help ; of the which I have hitherto had so great
plenty, that all the days of my life I ara raost bound of
all creatures, next the king's grace, to love and serve
your grace." !
She also says she flatters herself that the cardinal
is convinced, and that she is very impatient to hear
news from him of the legate Carapegglo ; as they
would be sure to be good if they came from him.
She knows that he is as impatient as she is, and
would be more, if it were possible. But it is necessary
to wait and hope.
The king wrote to congratulate Wolsey on the
restoration of his health, and betrayed the secret of
his greatest interest, " being grieved at not hearing
* As, for instance, a letter sent with a bit of "hart's flesh."
They give a melancholy notion of the lady they were intended for,
who could be pleased with such language. Vol. iv, pt. ii, p. 1932.
t Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol, iv, p. ccclxxxu,
and pt, U, p. 1960,

302 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
of the legate's arrival in France, but hoping that the
difficulties will soon be cleared away by the cardinal's
pains, through God's help."
Protestant writers are in ecstasies over the pious
sentiments of the king, only endeavouring to accom
plish his wishes by the raost lawful raeans.
In another letter to Wolsey, Anne Boleyn says she
is eagerly longing for Carapeggio's arrival, for, if it
be God's will that the business is to be pursued, she
prays for a speedy conclusion.
" Now, good my lord, your discretion may consider
as yet how little it is in my power to recorapense
you, but all only with my good-will ; the which, I
assure you, that, after this matter is brought to pass,
you shall find me, as I am bound in the meantirae to
owe you my service ; and then, look what things in
this world I can imagine to do you pleasure in, you
shall find me the gladdest woman in the world to
do it." *
A raost edifying expression ! The fervent prayers
of Lady Anne had no truly lofty and disinterested
aira, but they raay be considered raore sincere than
the indications of good-will sbe showered on Wolsey.
Certainly the cynicism of her promises to the judge,
of a great reward if she ever became queen, were
remarkable. It is bribery and corruption in a fla
grant form, it must be acknowledged.
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccclxxxiU.

A CREATURE OP HENRY VHI. 3 03
And, after this, can anyone venture to blame
Catharine ioi suspecting the cardinal's justice, and
thinking it her duty to refuse hira ? The under
standing of this upright judge with the other side is
evident. A creature of Henry VIIL, loaded with
benefits, he could not give an irapartial decision in
his master's suit.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

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