| 1 | <html>
|
|---|
| 2 |
|
|---|
| 3 | <head>
|
|---|
| 4 | <meta name="content" content="Secondary Sources: The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, by JA Froude: Chapter One">
|
|---|
| 5 | <meta name="page_topic" content="Secondary Sources: The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, by JA Froude: Chapter One">
|
|---|
| 6 | <meta name="author" content="Marilee Mongello">
|
|---|
| 7 | <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0">
|
|---|
| 8 | <meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
|
|---|
| 9 | <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
|
|---|
| 10 | <meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
|
|---|
| 11 | <title>Secondary Sources: The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, by JA Froude:
|
|---|
| 12 | Chapter Four</title>
|
|---|
| 13 | <style>
|
|---|
| 14 | </style>
|
|---|
| 15 | <style fprolloverstyle>A:hover {color: #0000FF; font-weight: bold}
|
|---|
| 16 | </style>
|
|---|
| 17 | </head>
|
|---|
| 18 |
|
|---|
| 19 | <body link="#0000FF" vlink="#0000FF" alink="#0000FF">
|
|---|
| 20 |
|
|---|
| 21 | <table border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%" height="667">
|
|---|
| 22 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 23 | <td width="25%" height="29"></td>
|
|---|
| 24 | <td valign="top" width="50%" height="29"> </td>
|
|---|
| 25 | <td width="25%" height="29"></td>
|
|---|
| 26 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 27 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 28 | <td width="25%" height="3"></td>
|
|---|
| 29 | <td width="50%" height="3"><font size="3"></font></td>
|
|---|
| 30 | <td width="25%" height="3"></td>
|
|---|
| 31 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 32 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 33 | <td width="25%" height="610"></td>
|
|---|
| 34 | <td valign="top" width="50%" height="610">
|
|---|
| 35 | <p align="center"> </p>
|
|---|
| 36 | <p align="center"><b><font size="7">The Divorce of<br>Catherine of Aragon</font></b><br>
|
|---|
| 37 | <font size="5">by
|
|---|
| 38 | JA Froude, 1891</font></p>
|
|---|
| 39 | <p align="center">
|
|---|
| 40 | <img border="0" src="aragon-new1.jpg" alt="miniature portrait of Katharine of Aragon by Lucas Horenbout" width="325" height="321"></td>
|
|---|
| 41 | <td width="25%" height="610"></td>
|
|---|
| 42 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 43 | </table>
|
|---|
| 44 | <blockquote>
|
|---|
| 45 | <blockquote>
|
|---|
| 46 | <font face="Times New Roman">
|
|---|
| 47 | </font><font face="Times New Roman">
|
|---|
| 48 | </font><font face="Times New Roman">
|
|---|
| 49 | <div align="left">
|
|---|
| 50 | <b><font size="4">CHAPTER FOUR</font></b></div>
|
|---|
| 51 | <blockquote>
|
|---|
| 52 | <p align="left"><font size="4">Anne Boleyn -- Letters to her from the
|
|---|
| 53 | <font class="highlight_yellow">King</font> -- The Convent at Wilton -- The
|
|---|
| 54 | Divorce -- The Pope's promises -- Arrival of Campeggio in England --
|
|---|
| 55 | Reception at the Bridewell Palace -- Proposal to Catherine to take the
|
|---|
| 56 | veil -- Her refusal -- Uncertainty of the succession -- A singular
|
|---|
| 57 | expedient -- Alarms of Wolsey -- The true issue -Speech of the
|
|---|
| 58 | <font class="highlight_yellow">King</font> in the City -- Threats of the
|
|---|
| 59 | Emperor -- Defects in the Bull of Pope Julius -- Alleged discovery of a
|
|---|
| 60 | brief supplying them -- Distress of Clement. </font></p>
|
|---|
| 61 | </blockquote>
|
|---|
| 62 | <p align="left"><font size="3">THE marriage with Anne Boleyn was now a fixed
|
|---|
| 63 | idea in <font class="highlight_yellow">Henry</font>'s mind. He had become
|
|---|
| 64 | passionately attached to her, though not perhaps she to him. The evidence of
|
|---|
| 65 | his feeling remains in a series of letters to her -- how preserved for
|
|---|
| 66 | public inspection no one knows. Some of them were said to have been stolen
|
|---|
| 67 | by Campeggio. Perhaps they were sold to him; at any rate, they survive. A
|
|---|
| 68 | critic in the "<i>Edinburgh Review</i>" described them as such as "might
|
|---|
| 69 | have been written by a pot-boy to his girl." The pot-boy must have been a
|
|---|
| 70 | singular specimen of his kind. One, at any rate, remains to show that,
|
|---|
| 71 | though <font class="highlight_yellow">Henry</font> was in love, he did not
|
|---|
| 72 | allow his love to blind him to his duty as a prince. The lady, though
|
|---|
| 73 | obliged to wait for the full gratification of her ambition, had been using
|
|---|
| 74 | her influence to advance her friends, while Wolsey brought upon himself the
|
|---|
| 75 | rebuke of his master by insufficient care in the distribution of Church
|
|---|
| 76 | patronage. The correspondence throws an unexpected light upon the
|
|---|
| 77 | <font class="highlight_yellow">King</font>'s character. </font></p>
|
|---|
| 78 | <p align="left"><font size="3">The Abbess of Wilton had died. The situation
|
|---|
| 79 | was a pleasant one. Among the sisters who aspired to the vacant office was a
|
|---|
| 80 | certain Eleanor Carey, a near connection of Anne, and a favourite with her.
|
|---|
| 81 | The appointment rested virtually with the Crown. The Lady Anne spoke to the
|
|---|
| 82 | King. The King deputed Wolsey to inquire into the fitness of the various
|
|---|
| 83 | candidates, with a favourable recommendation of Eleanor Carey's claims. The
|
|---|
| 84 | inquiry was made, and the result gives us a glimpse into the habits of the
|
|---|
| 85 | devout recluses in these sacred institutions.</font></p>
|
|---|
| 86 | <p align="left"><font size="3">"As for the matter of Wilton," wrote Henry to
|
|---|
| 87 | Anne, "my Lord Cardinal here had the nuns before him, and examined them in
|
|---|
| 88 | the presence of Master Bell, who assures me that she whom we would have had
|
|---|
| 89 | Abbess has confessed herself to have had two children by two different
|
|---|
| 90 | priests, and has since been kept not long ago by a servant of Lord Broke
|
|---|
| 91 | that was. Wherefore I would not for all the gold in the world clog your
|
|---|
| 92 | conscience nor mine, to make her ruler of a house which is of so ungodly
|
|---|
| 93 | demeanour, nor I trust you would not that, neither for brother nor sister, I
|
|---|
| 94 | should so distain mine honour or conscience. And as touching the Prioress
|
|---|
| 95 | [Isabella Jordan] or Dame Eleanor's elder sister, though there is not any
|
|---|
| 96 | evident cause proved against them, and the Prioress is so old that of many
|
|---|
| 97 | years she could not be as she was named, yet notwithstanding, to do you
|
|---|
| 98 | pleasure I have done that neither of them shall have it, but that some other
|
|---|
| 99 | good and well-disposed woman shall have it, whereby the house shall be
|
|---|
| 100 | better reformed, whereof I assure you it hath much need, and God much the
|
|---|
| 101 | better served." </font></p>
|
|---|
| 102 | <p align="left"><font size="3">This letter is followed by another to the
|
|---|
| 103 | Cardinal. Wolsey, in whose hands the King had left the matter, in a second
|
|---|
| 104 | letter which is lost, instead of looking out for the "good and well-disposed
|
|---|
| 105 | woman," though IsaBella Jordan's reputation was doubtful, yet chose to
|
|---|
| 106 | appoint her, and the King's observations upon this action of his are worth
|
|---|
| 107 | attending to, as addressed by such a person as Henry is supposed to have
|
|---|
| 108 | been to a Cardinal Archbishop and Legate of the Holy See. Many of the
|
|---|
| 109 | letters signed by the King were the composition of his ministers and
|
|---|
| 110 | secretaries. This to Wolsey was his own. </font></p>
|
|---|
| 111 | <p align="left"><font size="3">"The great affection and love I bear you,
|
|---|
| 112 | causeth me, using the doctrine of my Master, <i>quem diligo castigo,</i>
|
|---|
| 113 | thus plainly as now ensueth to break to you my mind, ensuring you that
|
|---|
| 114 | neither sinister report, affection to my own pleasure, interest, nor
|
|---|
| 115 | mediation of any other body beareth part in this case, wherefore whatsoever
|
|---|
| 116 | I do say, I pray you think it spoken of no displeasure, but of him that
|
|---|
| 117 | would you as much good both of body and soul as you would yourself. </font>
|
|---|
| 118 | </p>
|
|---|
| 119 | <p align="left"><font size="3">"Methinks it is not the right train of a
|
|---|
| 120 | trusty loving friend and servant when the matter is put by the master's
|
|---|
| 121 | consent into his arbitre and judgement -especially in a matter wherein his
|
|---|
| 122 | master hath both royalty and interest, to elect and choose a person who was
|
|---|
| 123 | by him defended. And yet another thing which displeaseth me more. That is to
|
|---|
| 124 | cloke your offence made by ignorance of my pleasure, saying that you
|
|---|
| 125 | expressly knew not my determinate mind in that behalf. Alas, my lord, what
|
|---|
| 126 | can be more evident or plainer than these words, specially to a wise man
|
|---|
| 127 | -'His Grace careth not who, but referreth it all to you, so that none of
|
|---|
| 128 | those who either be or have been spotted with incontinence, like as by
|
|---|
| 129 | report the Prioress hath been in her youth, have it;' and also in another
|
|---|
| 130 | place in the letter, 'And therefore his Highness thinketh her not meet for
|
|---|
| 131 | that purpose;' thirdly, in another place in the same letter by these words,
|
|---|
| 132 | 'And though his Grace speaketh not of it so openly, yet meseemeth his
|
|---|
| 133 | pleasure is that in no wise the Prioress have it, nor yet Dame Eleanor's
|
|---|
| 134 | eldest sister, for many considerations the which your Grace can and will
|
|---|
| 135 | best consider.' </font></p>
|
|---|
| 136 | <p align="left"><font size="3">"Ah, my Lord, it is a double offence both to
|
|---|
| 137 | do ill and to colour it too; but with men that have wit it cannot be
|
|---|
| 138 | accepted so. Wherefore, good my Lord, use no more that way with me, for
|
|---|
| 139 | there is no man living that more hateth it. These things having been thus
|
|---|
| 140 | committed, either I must have reserved them <i>in pectore,</i> whereby more
|
|---|
| 141 | displeasure might happen to breed, or else thus soundly and plainly to
|
|---|
| 142 | declare them to you, because I do think that <i>cum amico et familiari
|
|---|
| 143 | sincere semper est agendum,</i> and especially the master to his best
|
|---|
| 144 | beloved servant and friend, for in so doing the one shall be more
|
|---|
| 145 | circumspect in his doing, the other shall declare and show the lothness that
|
|---|
| 146 | is in him to have any occasion to be displeased with him. </font></p>
|
|---|
| 147 | <p align="left"><font size="3">"And as touching the redress of Religion
|
|---|
| 148 | [convent discipline], if it be observed and continued, undoubtedly it is a
|
|---|
| 149 | gracious act. Notwithstanding, if all reports be true, <i>ab imbecillis
|
|---|
| 150 | imbecilla expectantur.</i> How be it, Mr. Bell hath informed me that the
|
|---|
| 151 | Prioress's age, personage and manner, <i>præ se fert gravitatem.</i> I pray
|
|---|
| 152 | God it be so indeed, seeing she is preferred to that room. I understand
|
|---|
| 153 | furthermore, which is greatly to my comfort, that you have ordered yourself
|
|---|
| 154 | to Godward as religiously and virtuously as any Prelate or father of
|
|---|
| 155 | Christ's Church can do, where in so doing and persevering there can be
|
|---|
| 156 | nothing more acceptable to God, more honour to yourself, nor more desired of
|
|---|
| 157 | your friends, among the which I reckon myself not the least. . . . </font>
|
|---|
| 158 | </p>
|
|---|
| 159 | <p align="left"><font size="3">"I pray you, my Lord, think it not that it is
|
|---|
| 160 | upon any displeasure that I write this unto you. For surely it is for my
|
|---|
| 161 | discharge before God, being in the room that I am in, and secondly for the
|
|---|
| 162 | great zeal I bear unto you, not undeserved in your behalf. Wherefore I pray
|
|---|
| 163 | you take it so; and I assure you, your fault acknowledged, there shall
|
|---|
| 164 | remain in me no spark of displeasure, trusting hereafter you shall
|
|---|
| 165 | recompense that with a thing much more acceptable to me. And thus fare you
|
|---|
| 166 | well; advertising you that, thanked be God, I and all my folk be, and have
|
|---|
| 167 | been since we came to Ampthill, which was on Saturday last, July 11, in
|
|---|
| 168 | marvellous good health and clearness of air. </font></p>
|
|---|
| 169 | <p align="left"><font size="3">"Written with the hand of him that is, and
|
|---|
| 170 | shall be your loving Sovereign Lord and friend, -- Henry R."</font></p>
|
|---|
| 171 | <p align="left"><font size="3">Campeggio meanwhile was loitering on his way
|
|---|
| 172 | as he had been directed, pretending illness, pretending difficulties of the
|
|---|
| 173 | road. In sending him at all the Pope had broken his promise to Charles. He
|
|---|
| 174 | engaged, however, that no sentence should be given which had not been
|
|---|
| 175 | submitted first to Charles's approval. The Emperor, anxious to avoid a
|
|---|
| 176 | complete rupture with England, let the Legate go forward, but he directed
|
|---|
| 177 | Mendoza to inform Wolsey that he must defend his aunt's honour; her cause
|
|---|
| 178 | was his and he would hold it as such. Wolsey, though afraid of the
|
|---|
| 179 | consequence of opposing the divorce to himself and the Church, yet at heart
|
|---|
| 180 | had ceased to desire it. Mendoza reported that English opinion was still
|
|---|
| 181 | unfavourable, and that he did not believe that the commission would have any
|
|---|
| 182 | result. The Pope would interpose delays. Wolsey would allow and recognise
|
|---|
| 183 | them. Both Legates would agree privately to keep the matter in suspense. The
|
|---|
| 184 | English Cardinal appeared to be against the Queen, but every one knew that
|
|---|
| 185 | secretly he was now on her side. Catherine only was seriously frightened.
|
|---|
| 186 | She had doubtless been informed of the secret decretal by which the Pope
|
|---|
| 187 | appeared to have prejudged her cause. She supposed that the Pope meant it,
|
|---|
| 188 | and did not understand how lightly such engagements sate upon him. The same
|
|---|
| 189 | Clement, when Benvenuto Cellini reproached him for breaking his word,
|
|---|
| 190 | replied, smiling, that the Pope had power to bind and to loose. Catherine
|
|---|
| 191 | came before long to know him better and to understand the bearings of this
|
|---|
| 192 | singular privilege; but as yet she thought that words meant what they seemed
|
|---|
| 193 | to say. When she heard that Campeggio was actually coming, she wrote
|
|---|
| 194 | passionately to the Emperor, flinging herself upon him for protection.
|
|---|
| 195 | Charles calmed her alarm. She was not, he said, to be condemned without a
|
|---|
| 196 | hearing. The Pope had assured him that the Legates should determine nothing
|
|---|
| 197 | to her detriment. The case should be decided at Rome, as she had desired.
|
|---|
| 198 | Campeggio's orders were to advise that it should be dropped. Apart from his
|
|---|
| 199 | present infatuation, the King was a good Christian and would act as one. If
|
|---|
| 200 | he persisted, she might rely on the Pope's protection. She must consent to
|
|---|
| 201 | nothing which would imply the dissolution of her marriage. If the worst
|
|---|
| 202 | came, the King would be made conscious of his duties.</font><a onclick="return pageTxt_href_onClick(this,true);" href="froudefour.html#1"><font size="3">
|
|---|
| 203 | </font></a></p>
|
|---|
| 204 | <p align="left"><font size="3">In the middle of October the Legate arrived.
|
|---|
| 205 | He had been ill in earnest from gout and was still suffering. He had to rest
|
|---|
| 206 | two days in Calais before he could face the Channel. The passage was wild. A
|
|---|
| 207 | deputation of Peers and Bishops waited to receive him at Dover. Respectful
|
|---|
| 208 | demonstrations had been prepared at the towns through which he was to pass,
|
|---|
| 209 | and a state ceremonial was to accompany his entrance into London. But he
|
|---|
| 210 | was, or pretended to be, too sick to allow himself to be seen. He was eight
|
|---|
| 211 | days on the road from the coast, and on reaching his destination he was
|
|---|
| 212 | carried privately in a state barge to the house provided for his residence.
|
|---|
| 213 | Wolsey called the next morning. The King was absent, but returned two days
|
|---|
| 214 | later to the Bridewell palace. There Campeggio waited on him, accompanied by
|
|---|
| 215 | Wolsey. The weather continued to frown. "I wish," wrote Gerardo Molza to the
|
|---|
| 216 | Marchioness of Mantua, "that you could have seen the two Cardinals abreast,
|
|---|
| 217 | one on his mule, the other carried in his chair, the rain falling fast so
|
|---|
| 218 | that we were all drenched." The King, simple man, believed that the
|
|---|
| 219 | documents which he held secured him. The Pope in sending the Legate had
|
|---|
| 220 | acted in the teeth of the Emperor's prohibition, and no one guessed how the
|
|---|
| 221 | affair had been soothed down. The farce was well played, and the language
|
|---|
| 222 | used was what Henry expected. Messer Floriano, one of Campeggio's suit, made
|
|---|
| 223 | a grand oration, setting out the storming of Rome, the perils of the Church,
|
|---|
| 224 | and the misery of Italy, with moving eloquence. The crowd was so dense in
|
|---|
| 225 | the hall of audience that some of the Italians lost their shoes, and had to
|
|---|
| 226 | step back barefoot to their lodgings through the wet streets. </font></p>
|
|---|
| 227 | <p align="left"><font size="3">The Legate was exhausted by the exertion, but
|
|---|
| 228 | he was not allowed to rest, and the serious part of the business began at
|
|---|
| 229 | once behind the scenes. He had hoped, as the Emperor said, that the case
|
|---|
| 230 | might be dropped. He found Henry immoveable. "An angel from heaven," he
|
|---|
| 231 | wrote on the 17th of October, "would not be able to persuade the King that
|
|---|
| 232 | his marriage was not invalid. The matter had come to such a pass that it
|
|---|
| 233 | could no longer be borne with. The Cardinal of York and the whole kingdom
|
|---|
| 234 | insisted that the question must be settled in some way." One road out of the
|
|---|
| 235 | difficulty alone presented itself. The Emperor had insisted that the
|
|---|
| 236 | marriage should not be dissolved by Catherine's consent, objecting
|
|---|
| 237 | reasonably that a judgment invalidating it would shake other royal marriages
|
|---|
| 238 | besides hers. But no such judgment would be necessary if Catherine could be
|
|---|
| 239 | induced to enter "lax religion," to take vows of chastity which, at her age
|
|---|
| 240 | and under her conditions of health, would be a mere form. The Pope could
|
|---|
| 241 | then allow Henry to take another wife without offence to any one. The
|
|---|
| 242 | legitimacy of the Princess would not be touched, and the King undertook that
|
|---|
| 243 | the succession should be settled upon her if he had no male heir. The Queen
|
|---|
| 244 | in consenting would lose nothing, for the King had for two years lived apart
|
|---|
| 245 | from her, and would never return to cohabitation. The Emperor would be
|
|---|
| 246 | delivered from an obligation infinitely inconvenient to him, and his own
|
|---|
| 247 | honour and the honour of Spain would be equally untouched. </font></p>
|
|---|
| 248 | <p align="left"><font size="3">These arguments were laid before the Queen by
|
|---|
| 249 | both the Legates, and urged with all their eloquence. In the interests of
|
|---|
| 250 | the realm, in the interests of Europe, in the interests of the Church, in
|
|---|
| 251 | her own and her daughter's interest as well, it would have been wiser if she
|
|---|
| 252 | had complied. Perhaps she would have complied had the King's plea been
|
|---|
| 253 | confined, as at first, to the political exigencies of the succession. But
|
|---|
| 254 | the open and premature choice of the lady who was to take her place was an
|
|---|
| 255 | indignity not to be borne. She had the pride of her race. Her obstinacy was
|
|---|
| 256 | a match for her husband's. She was shaken for a moment by the impassioned
|
|---|
| 257 | entreaties of Campeggio, and she did not at once absolutely refuse. The
|
|---|
| 258 | Legate postponed the opening of his court. He referred to Rome for further
|
|---|
| 259 | instructions, complaining of the responsibility which was thrown upon him.
|
|---|
| 260 | Being on the spot he was able to measure the danger of disappointing the
|
|---|
| 261 | King after the secret commission, the secret decretal, and the Pope's
|
|---|
| 262 | private letter telling Henry that he was right. Campeggio wrote to Salviati,
|
|---|
| 263 | after his first interview with Catherine, that he did not yet despair.
|
|---|
| 264 | Something might be done if the Emperor would advise her to comply. He asked
|
|---|
| 265 | Fisher to help him, and Fisher seemed not wholly unwilling; but, after a few
|
|---|
| 266 | days' reflection, Catherine told him that before she would consent she would
|
|---|
| 267 | be torn limb from limb; she would have an authoritative sentence from the
|
|---|
| 268 | Pope, and would accept nothing else; nothing should make her alter her
|
|---|
| 269 | opinion, and if after death she could return to life, she would die over
|
|---|
| 270 | again rather than change it.</font></p>
|
|---|
| 271 | <p align="left"><font size="3">Wolsey was in equal anxiety. He had set the
|
|---|
| 272 | stone rolling, but he could not stop it. If Clement failed the King now,
|
|---|
| 273 | after all that he had promised, he might not only bring ruin on Wolsey
|
|---|
| 274 | himself, but might bring on the overthrow of the temporal power of the
|
|---|
| 275 | Church of England. Catherine was personally popular; but in the middle
|
|---|
| 276 | classes of the laity, among the peers and gentlemen of England, the
|
|---|
| 277 | exactions of the Church courts, the Pope's agents and collectors, the
|
|---|
| 278 | despotic tyranny of the Bishops, had created a resentment the extent of
|
|---|
| 279 | which none knew better than he. The entire gigantic system of clerical
|
|---|
| 280 | dominion, of which Wolsey was himself the pillar and representative, was
|
|---|
| 281 | tottering to its fall. If the King was driven to bay, the favour of a
|
|---|
| 282 | good-natured people for a suffering woman would be a poor shelter either for
|
|---|
| 283 | the Church or for him. Campeggio turned to Wolsey for advice on Catherine's
|
|---|
| 284 | final refusal. The Pope, he said, had hoped that Wolsey would advise the
|
|---|
| 285 | King to yield. Wolsey had advised. He told Cavendish that he had gone on his
|
|---|
| 286 | knees to the King, but he could only say to Campeggio that "the King --
|
|---|
| 287 | fortified and justified by reasons, writings, and counsels of many learned
|
|---|
| 288 | men who feared God -- would never yield." If he was to find that the Pope
|
|---|
| 289 | had been playing with him, and the succession was to be left undetermined,
|
|---|
| 290 | "the Church would be ruined and the realm would be in infinite peril."
|
|---|
| 291 | </font></p>
|
|---|
| 292 | <p align="left"><font size="3">How great, how real, was the dread of a
|
|---|
| 293 | disputed succession, appears from an extraordinary expedient which had
|
|---|
| 294 | suggested itself to Campeggio himself, and which he declares that some
|
|---|
| 295 | perplexed politicians had seriously contemplated. "They have thought," he
|
|---|
| 296 | wrote on the 28th of October, "of marrying the Princess Mary to the King's
|
|---|
| 297 | natural son [the Duke of Richmond] if it could be done by dispensation from
|
|---|
| 298 | His Holiness." The Legate said that at first he had himself thought of this
|
|---|
| 299 | as a means of establishing the succession; but he did not believe it would
|
|---|
| 300 | satisfy the King's desire. If anything could be more astonishing than a
|
|---|
| 301 | proposal for the marriage of a brother and sister, it was the reception
|
|---|
| 302 | which the suggestion met with at Rome. The Pope's secretary replied that
|
|---|
| 303 | "with regard to the dispensation for marrying the son to the daughter of the
|
|---|
| 304 | King, if on the succession being so established the King would abandon the
|
|---|
| 305 | divorce, the Pope would be much more inclined to grant it."</font><a onclick="return pageTxt_href_onClick(this,true);" href="froudefour.html#2"><font size="3">
|
|---|
| 306 | </font></a></p>
|
|---|
| 307 | <p align="left"><font size="3">Clement's estimate of the extent of the
|
|---|
| 308 | dispensing power was large. But the situation was desperate. He had
|
|---|
| 309 | entangled himself in the meshes. He had promised what he had no intention of
|
|---|
| 310 | performing. He was finding that he had been trifling with a lion, and that
|
|---|
| 311 | the lion was beginning to rouse himself. Again and again Wolsey urged the
|
|---|
| 312 | dangers upon him. He wrote on the 1st of November to Casalis that "the
|
|---|
| 313 | King's honour was touched, having been so great a benefactor to the Holy
|
|---|
| 314 | See. The Pope would alienate all faith and devotion to the Apostolic See.
|
|---|
| 315 | The sparks of opposition which had been extinguished with such care and
|
|---|
| 316 | vigilance would blaze out to the utmost anger of all, both in England and
|
|---|
| 317 | elsewhere."<a href="froudefour.html#3"> </a>Clement and his Cardinals heard, but
|
|---|
| 318 | imperfectly believed. "He tells us," wrote Sanga, "that if the divorce is
|
|---|
| 319 | not granted the authority of the Apostolic See in England will be
|
|---|
| 320 | annihilated; he is eager to save it because his own greatness is bound up
|
|---|
| 321 | with ours." The Curia was incredulous, and thought that Wolsey was only
|
|---|
| 322 | alarmed for himself. Wolsey, however, was right. </font></p>
|
|---|
| 323 | <p align="left"><font size="3">Although opinions might have varied on the
|
|---|
| 324 | merits of the King's request, people were beginning to ask what value as a
|
|---|
| 325 | supreme judge a Pope could have, who could not decide on a point of canon
|
|---|
| 326 | law. </font></p>
|
|---|
| 327 | <p align="left"><font size="3">The excitement was growing. Certain knowledge
|
|---|
| 328 | of what was going on was confined to the few who had access to the secret
|
|---|
| 329 | correspondence, and they knew only what was meant for their own eyes. All
|
|---|
| 330 | parties, English and Imperial alike, distrusted the Pope. He had impartially
|
|---|
| 331 | lied to both, and could be depended on by neither, except so far as they
|
|---|
| 332 | could influence his fears. Catherine was still the favourite with the London
|
|---|
| 333 | citizens. She had been seen accidentally in a gallery of the Palace, and had
|
|---|
| 334 | been enthusiastically cheered. The King found it necessary to explain
|
|---|
| 335 | himself. On the 8th of November he summoned the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, the
|
|---|
| 336 | Privy Council, and a body of Peers, and laid the situation before them from
|
|---|
| 337 | his own point of view. He spoke of his long friendship with the Emperor, and
|
|---|
| 338 | of his hope that it would not be broken, and again of his alliance with
|
|---|
| 339 | France, and of his desire to be at peace with all the world. "He had
|
|---|
| 340 | wished," he said, "to attach France more closely to him by marrying his
|
|---|
| 341 | daughter to a French prince, and the French Ambassador, in considering the
|
|---|
| 342 | proposal, had raised the question of her legitimacy. His own mind had long
|
|---|
| 343 | misgiven him on the lawfulness of his marriage. M. de Tarbes' words had
|
|---|
| 344 | added to his uneasiness. The succession to the crown was uncertain; he had
|
|---|
| 345 | consulted his bishops and lawyers, and they had assured him that he had been
|
|---|
| 346 | living in mortal sin. . . . He meant only to do what was right, and he
|
|---|
| 347 | warned his subjects to be careful of forming hasty judgments on their
|
|---|
| 348 | Prince's actions." </font></p>
|
|---|
| 349 | <p align="left"><font size="3">Apart from the present question the King was
|
|---|
| 350 | extremely popular, and reports arriving from Spain touched the national
|
|---|
| 351 | pride. There was a talk of calling Parliament. Mendoza and Catherine again
|
|---|
| 352 | urged Charles to speak plainly. The Pope must inhibit Parliament from
|
|---|
| 353 | interfering. The Nuncio in London would present the order, and Parliament,
|
|---|
| 354 | they thought, would submit. They were mistaking the national temper.
|
|---|
| 355 | Mendoza's letters had persuaded the Spanish Council that the whole of
|
|---|
| 356 | England was in opposition to the King. The Spanish Chancellor had said
|
|---|
| 357 | publicly that if the cause was proceeded with there would be war, and "the
|
|---|
| 358 | King would be dethroned by his own subjects." The words were reported to
|
|---|
| 359 | Wolsey, and were confirmed by an English agent, Sylvester Darius, who had
|
|---|
| 360 | been sent to Valladolid on business connected with the truce. Darius had
|
|---|
| 361 | spoken to the Chancellor on the probability of England taking active part
|
|---|
| 362 | with France. "Why do you talk of the King of England?" the Chancellor had
|
|---|
| 363 | answered; "if we wished, we could expel him from his kingdom in three
|
|---|
| 364 | months. What force had the King? his own subjects would expel him. He knew
|
|---|
| 365 | how matters were." It was one thing for a free people to hold independent
|
|---|
| 366 | opinions on the arrangements of their own royal family. It was another to be
|
|---|
| 367 | threatened with civil war at the instigation of a foreign sovereign. Wolsey
|
|---|
| 368 | quoted the dangerous language at a public meeting in London; and a voice
|
|---|
| 369 | answered, "The Emperor has lost the hearts of a hundred thousand
|
|---|
| 370 | Englishmen." A fresh firebrand was thrown into the flames immediately after.
|
|---|
| 371 | The national pride was touched on a side where it was already sensitive from
|
|---|
| 372 | interest. There were 15,000 Flemish artisans in London. English workmen had
|
|---|
| 373 | been jealous of their skill, and had long looked askance at them. The cry
|
|---|
| 374 | rose that they had an army of traitors in their midst who must be instantly
|
|---|
| 375 | expelled. The Flemings' houses were searched for arms, and watched by a
|
|---|
| 376 | guard, and the working city population, traders, shopkeepers, mechanics,
|
|---|
| 377 | apprentices, came over to the King's side, and remained there. </font></p>
|
|---|
| 378 | <p align="left"><font size="3">Meantime the cause itself hung fire. A new
|
|---|
| 379 | feature had been introduced to enable Campeggio to decline to proceed and
|
|---|
| 380 | the Pope to withdraw decently from his promises. The original Bull of Pope
|
|---|
| 381 | Julius permitting the marriage had been found to contain irregularities of
|
|---|
| 382 | form which were supposed fatal to it. The validity of the objection was not
|
|---|
| 383 | denied, but was met by the production of a brief alleged to have been found
|
|---|
| 384 | in Spain, and bearing the same date with the Bull, which exactly met that
|
|---|
| 385 | objection. No trace of such a brief could be found in the Vatican Register.
|
|---|
| 386 | It had informalities of its own, and its genuineness was justly suspected,
|
|---|
| 387 | but it answered the purpose of a new circumstance. A copy only was sent to
|
|---|
| 388 | England, which was shown by Catherine in triumph to Henry, but the original
|
|---|
| 389 | was detained. It would be sent to Rome, but not to London; without it
|
|---|
| 390 | Campeggio could pretend inability to move, and meanwhile he could refuse to
|
|---|
| 391 | proceed on his commission. Subterfuges which answer for the moment revenge
|
|---|
| 392 | themselves in the end. Having been once raised, it was absolutely necessary
|
|---|
| 393 | that a question immediately affecting the succession should be settled in
|
|---|
| 394 | some way, and many of the peers who had been hitherto cool began to back the
|
|---|
| 395 | King's demands. An address was drawn up, having among others the Duke of
|
|---|
| 396 | Norfolk's signature, telling the Pope that the divorce must be conceded, and
|
|---|
| 397 | complaints were sent through Casalis againt Campeggio's dilatoriness. The
|
|---|
| 398 | King, he was to say, would not submit to be deluded. </font></p>
|
|---|
| 399 | <p align="left"><font size="3">Casalis delivered his message, and describes
|
|---|
| 400 | the effect which it produced. "The Pope," he wrote, "very angry, laid his
|
|---|
| 401 | hand on my arm and forbade me to proceed, saying there was but too good
|
|---|
| 402 | ground for complaint, and he was deluded by his own councillors. He had
|
|---|
| 403 | granted the decretal only to be shown to the King, and then burnt. Wolsey
|
|---|
| 404 | now wished to divulge it. He saw what would follow, and would gladly recall
|
|---|
| 405 | what had been done, even with the loss of one of his fingers." </font></p>
|
|---|
| 406 | <p align="left"><font size="3">Casalis replied that Wolsey wished only to
|
|---|
| 407 | show it to a few persons whose secrecy might be depended on. Was it not
|
|---|
| 408 | demanded for that purpose? Why had the Pope changed his mind? The Pope, only
|
|---|
| 409 | the more excited, said he saw the Bull would be the ruin of him, and he
|
|---|
| 410 | would make no more concessions. Casalis prayed him to consider. Waving his
|
|---|
| 411 | arms violently, Clement said, "I do consider. I consider the ruin which is
|
|---|
| 412 | hanging over me. I repent what I have done. If heresies arise, is it my
|
|---|
| 413 | fault? I will not violate my conscience. Let them, if they like, send the
|
|---|
| 414 | Legate back, because he will not proceed. They can do as they please,
|
|---|
| 415 | provided they do not make me responsible." </font></p>
|
|---|
| 416 | <p align="left"><font size="3">Did the Pope mean, then, Casalis asked, that
|
|---|
| 417 | the commission should not proceed? The Pope could not say as much as that;
|
|---|
| 418 | he had told Campeggio, he said, to dissuade the King and persuade the Queen.
|
|---|
| 419 | </font></p>
|
|---|
| 420 | <p align="left"><font size="3">"What harm could there be," Casalis inquired,
|
|---|
| 421 | "in showing the decretal, under oath, to a few of the Privy Council?" </font>
|
|---|
| 422 | </p>
|
|---|
| 423 | <p align="left"><font size="3">The Pope said the decretal ought to have been
|
|---|
| 424 | burnt, and refused to discuss the matter further.</font></p>
|
|---|
| 425 | </font>
|
|---|
| 426 | <font face="Times New Roman" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
|
|---|
| 427 | <hr>
|
|---|
| 428 | <p align="left"><font size="2">From <i>The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon:
|
|---|
| 429 | The Story as Told by the Imperial Ambassadors Resident at the Court of Henry
|
|---|
| 430 | VIII</i> by J.A. Froude. Published in New York by C. Scribner's Sons,
|
|---|
| 431 | 1891.</font></p>
|
|---|
| 432 | </blockquote>
|
|---|
| 433 | </blockquote>
|
|---|
| 434 |
|
|---|
| 435 | <p align="center"><font size="2">to Chapter Five</font></p>
|
|---|
| 436 | <p align="center"><a href="secondary.html">
|
|---|
| 437 | <font size="2">to Secondary Sources</font></a></p>
|
|---|
| 438 | <p align="center">
|
|---|
| 439 | <a href="monarchs/aragon.html"><font size="2">to
|
|---|
| 440 | Katharine of Aragon website</font></a></p>
|
|---|
| 441 | </font>
|
|---|
| 442 | <blockquote>
|
|---|
| 443 | <blockquote>
|
|---|
| 444 | <font style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
|
|---|
| 445 | <font face="Times New Roman">
|
|---|
| 446 | </font><font style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
|
|---|
| 447 | </font>
|
|---|
| 448 | <p class="3text" align="left"> </p>
|
|---|
| 449 | </font>
|
|---|
| 450 | </blockquote>
|
|---|
| 451 | </blockquote>
|
|---|
| 452 |
|
|---|
| 453 | </body>
|
|---|
| 454 |
|
|---|
| 455 | </html><!-- text below generated by server. PLEASE REMOVE --><!-- Counter/Statistics data collection code --><script language="JavaScript" src="http://hostingprod.com/js_source/geov2.js"></script><script language="javascript">geovisit();</script><noscript><img src="http://visit.webhosting.yahoo.com/visit.gif?us1108082635" alt="setstats" border="0" width="1" height="1"></noscript>
|
|---|
| 456 | <IMG SRC="http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=76001524&t=1108082635" ALT=1 WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1>
|
|---|
