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16 <Metadata name="Content">Secondary Sources: The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, by JA Froude: Chapter One</Metadata>
17 <Metadata name="Page_topic">Secondary Sources: The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, by JA Froude: Chapter One</Metadata>
18 <Metadata name="Author">Marilee Mongello</Metadata>
19 <Metadata name="Title">Secondary Sources: The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, by JA Froude: Chapter Two</Metadata>
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36
37&lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;3&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; height=&quot;667&quot;&gt;
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50 &lt;td valign=&quot;top&quot; width=&quot;50%&quot; height=&quot;610&quot;&gt;
51 &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
52 &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;7&quot;&gt;The Divorce of&lt;br&gt;Catherine of Aragon&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
53 &lt;font size=&quot;5&quot;&gt;by
54 JA Froude, 1891&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
55 &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
56 &lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;_httpdocimg_/aragon-new1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;miniature portrait of Katharine of Aragon by Lucas Horenbout&quot; width=&quot;325&quot; height=&quot;321&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
57 &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;610&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
58 &lt;/tr&gt;
59&lt;/table&gt;
60&lt;blockquote&gt;
61 &lt;blockquote&gt;
62 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
63 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
64 &lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;
65 &lt;b&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;CHAPTER TWO&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
66 &lt;blockquote&gt;
67 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;Mission of Wolsey to Paris --
68 Visits Bishop Fisher on the way -- Anxieties of the Emperor -- Letter of
69 the Emperor to Henry VIII. -Large offers to Wolsey -- Address of the
70 French Cardinals to the Pope -- Anne Boleyn chosen by Henry to succeed
71 Catherine -- Surprise and displeasure of Wolsey -- Fresh attempts of the
72 Emperor to bribe him -- Wolsey forced to continue to advocate the divorce
73 -Mission of Dr. Knight to Rome -- The Pope at Orvieto -- The King applies
74 for a dispensation to make a second marriage -- Language of the
75 dispensation demanded -- Inferences drawn from it -- Alleged intrigue
76 between the King and Mary Boleyn. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
77 &lt;/blockquote&gt;
78 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;IT was believed at the time --
79 and it was the tradition afterwards -- that Wolsey, in his mission to Paris,
80 intended to replace Catherine by a French princess, the more surely to
81 commit Francis to the support of Henry in the divorce, and to strengthen the
82 new alliance. Nothing can be inherently more likely. The ostensible reason,
83 however, was to do away with any difficulties which might have been
84 suggested by the objection of the Bishop of Tarbes to the legitimacy of the
85 Princess Mary. If illegitimate, she would be no fitting bride for the Duke
86 of Orleans. But she had been born &lt;i&gt;bonâ fide parentum.&lt;/i&gt; There was no
87 intention of infringing her prospective rights or of altering her present
88 position. Her rank and title were to be secured to her in amplest measure.
89 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
90 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Cardinal went upon his
91 journey with the splendour attaching to his office and befitting a churchman
92 who was aspiring to be the spiritual president of the two kingdoms. On his
93 way to the coast he visited two prelates whose support to his policy was
94 important. Archbishop Warham had been cold about the divorce, if not openly
95 hostile. Wolsey found him &amp;quot;not much changed from his first fashion,&amp;quot; but
96 admitting that, although it might be unpleasant to the Queen, truth and
97 justice must prevail. Bishop Fisher was a more difficult subject. He had
98 spoken in the Legate's court in Catherine's favour. It was from him, as the
99 King supposed, that Catherine herself had learnt what was impending over
100 her. Wolsey called at his palace as he passed through Rochester. He asked
101 the Bishop plainly if he had been in communication with the Queen. The
102 Bishop, after some hesitation, confessed that the Queen had sought his
103 advice, and said that he had declined to give an opinion without the King's
104 command. Before Wolsey left London, at a last interview at York Place, the
105 King had directed him to explain &amp;quot;the whole matter&amp;quot; to the Bishop. He went
106 through the entire history, mentioned the words of the Bishop of Tarbes, and
107 discussed the question which had risen upon it, on account of which he had
108 been sent into France. Finally, he described the extreme violence with which
109 Catherine had received the intelligence. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
110 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Bishop greatly blamed the
111 conduct of the Queen, and said he thought that if he might speak to her he
112 might bring her to submission. He agreed, or seemed to agree, that the
113 marriage had been irregular, though he did not himself think that it could
114 now be broken. Others of the bishops, he thought, agreed with him; but he
115 was satisfied that the King meant nothing against the laws of God, and would
116 be fully justified in submitting his misgivings to the Pope.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
117 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Mendoza's and the Queen's
118 letters had meanwhile been despatched to Spain, to add to the anxieties
119 which were overwhelming the Emperor. Nothing could have been less welcome at
120 such a juncture than a family quarrel with his uncle of England, whose
121 friendship he was still hoping to retain. The bird that he had caged at Rome
122 was no convenient prisoner. The capture of Rome had not been ordered by
123 himself, though politically he was obliged to maintain it. The time did not
124 suit for the ambitious Church reforms of Lope de Soria. Peace would have to
125 be made with the Pope on some moderate conditions. His own Spain was hardly
126 quieted after the revolt of the &lt;i&gt;Comunidades.&lt;/i&gt; Half Germany was in
127 avowed apostasy from the Church of Rome. The Turks were overrunning Hungary,
128 and sweeping the Mediterranean with their pirate fleets, and the passionate
129 and restless Francis was watching his opportunity to revenge Pavia and
130 attack his captor in the Low Countries and in Italy. The great Emperor was
131 moderate, cautious, prudent to a fault. In a calmer season he might have
132 been tempted to take the Church in hand; and none understood better the
133 condition into which it had fallen. But he was wise enough to know that if a
134 reform of the Papacy was undertaken at all it must be undertaken with the
135 joint consent of the other Christian princes, and all his present efforts
136 were directed to peace. He was Catherine's natural guardian. Her position in
137 England had been hitherto a political security for Henry's friendship. It
138 was his duty and his interest to defend her, and he meant to do it; not,
139 however, by sending roving expeditions to land in Cornwall and raise a civil
140 war; all means were to be tried before that; to attempt such a thing, he
141 well knew, would throw Europe into a blaze. The letters found him at
142 Valladolid. He replied, of course, that he was shocked at a proceeding so
143 unlooked for and so scandalous, but he charged Mendoza to be moderate and to
144 confine himself to remonstrance. He wrote himself to Henry --
145 confidentially, as from friend to friend, and ciphering his letter with his
146 own hand. He was unable to believe, he said, that Henry could contemplate
147 seriously bringing his domestic discomforts before the world. Even supposing
148 the marriage illegitimate -- even supposing that the Pope had no power to
149 dispense in such cases -- &amp;quot;it would be better and more honourable to keep
150 the matter secret, and to work out a remedy.&amp;quot; He bade Mendoza remind the
151 King that to question the dispensing power affected the position of other
152 princes besides his own; that to touch the legitimacy of his daughter would
153 increase the difficulties with the succession, and not remove them. He
154 implored the King &amp;quot;to keep the matter secret, as he would do himself.&amp;quot;
155 Meanwhile, he told Mendoza, for Catherine's comfort, that he had written to
156 demand a mild brief from the Pope to stop the scandal. He had requested him,
157 as Catherine had suggested, to revoke Wolsey's powers, or at least to
158 command that neither he nor any English Court should try the case. If heard
159 at all it must be heard before his Holiness and the Sacred College. But he
160 could not part with the hope that he might still bring Wolsey to his own and
161 the Queen's side. A council of Cardinals was to meet at Avignon to consider
162 the Pope's captivity. The Cardinal of England was expected to attend.
163 Charles himself might go to Perpignan. Wolsey might meet him there, discuss
164 the state of Europe, and settle the King's secret affair at the same time.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
165 &lt;/font&gt;
166 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
167 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Should
168 this be impossible, he charged Mendoza once more to leave no stone unturned
169 to recover Wolsey's friendship. &amp;quot;In our name,&amp;quot; he said, &amp;quot;you will make him
170 the following offers: -- &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
171 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;1. The
172 payment of all arrears on his several pensions, amounting to 9,000 ducats
173 annually. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
174 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;2. Six
175 thousand additional ducats annually until such a time as a bishoprick or
176 other ecclesiastical endowment of the same revenue becomes vacant in our
177 kingdom. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
178 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;3. The
179 Duke, who is to have Milan, to give him a Marquisate in that Duchy, with an
180 annual rent of 12,000 ducats, or 15,000 if the smaller sum be not enough;
181 the said Marquisate to be held by the Cardinal during his life, and to pass
182 after him to any heir whom he shall appoint.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
183 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
184 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;As if this was not sufficient,
185 the Emperor' paid a yet further tribute to the supposed all-powerful
186 Cardinal. He wrote himself to him as to his &amp;quot;good friend.&amp;quot; He said that if
187 there was anything in his dominions which the Cardinal wished to possess he
188 had only to name it, as he considered Wolsey the best friend that he had in
189 the world.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
190 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;For the ministers of great
191 countries deliberately to sell themselves to foreign princes was the custom
192 of the age. The measure of public virtue which such a custom indicates was
193 not exalted; and among the changes introduced by the Reformation the
194 abolition or suspension of it was not the least beneficial. Thomas Cromwell,
195 when he came to power, set the example of refusal, and corruption of public
196 men on a scale so scandalously enormous was no more heard of. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
197 &lt;/font&gt;
198 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
199 &lt;p&gt;Gold, however, had flowed in upon Wolsey in such enormous streams and
200 from so many sources that the Emperor's munificence and attention failed to
201 tempt him. On reaching Paris he found Francis bent upon war, and willing to
202 promise anything for Henry's assistance. The belief at the French Court was
203 that the Emperor, hearing that the Churches of England and France meant to
204 decline from their obedience to the Roman Communion, would carry the Pope to
205 Spain; that Clement would probably be poisoned there, and the Apostolic See
206 would be established permanently in the Peninsula. Wolsey himself wrote
207 this, and believed it, or desired Henry to believe it, proving the extreme
208 uncertainty among the best-informed of contemporary politicians as to the
209 probable issue of the capture of Rome. The French Cardinals drew and sent an
210 address to the Pope, intimating that as long as he was in confinement they
211 could accept no act of his as lawful, and would not obey it. Wolsey signed
212 at the head of them. The Cardinals Salviati, Bourbon, Lorraine, and the
213 Chancellor Cardinal of Sens, signed after him. The first stroke in the game
214 had been won by Wolsey. Had the Pope recalled his powers as legate, an
215 immediate schism might have followed. But a more fatal blow had been
216 prepared for him by his master in England. Trusting to the Cardinal's
217 promises that the Pope would make no difficulty about the divorce, Henry had
218 considered himself at liberty to choose a successor to Catherine. He had
219 suffered once in having allowed politics to select a wife for him. This time
220 he intended to be guided by his own inclination. When Elizabeth afterwards
221 wished to marry Leicester, Lord Sussex said she had better fix after her own
222 liking; there would be the better chance of the heir that her realm was
223 looking for. Her father fixed also after his liking in selecting Elizabeth's
224 mother. &lt;/p&gt;
225 &lt;/font&gt;
226 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
227 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
228 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Anne Boleyn was the second
229 daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, a Norfolk knight of ancient blood, and
230 himself a person of some distinction in the public service. Lady Boleyn was
231 a Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. Anne was born in 1507, and by
232 birth and connection was early introduced into the court. When a girl she
233 was taken to Paris to be educated. In 1522 she was brought back to England,
234 became a lady-in-waiting, and, being a witty, brilliant young woman,
235 attracted and encouraged the attentions of the fashionable cavaliers of the
236 day. Wyatt, the poet, was among her adorers, and the young Percy, afterwards
237 Earl of Northumberland. It was alleged afterwards that between her and Percy
238 there had been a secret marriage which had been actually consummated. That
239 she had been involved in some dangerous intrigue or other she herself
240 subsequently confessed. But she was attractive, she was witty; she drew
241 Henry's fancy, and the fancy became an ardent passion. Now, for the first
242 time, in Wolsey's absence, the Lady Anne's name appears in connection with
243 the divorce. On the 16th of August Mendoza informed Charles, as a matter of
244 general belief, that if the suit for the divorce was successful the King
245 would marry a daughter of Master Boleyn, whom the Emperor would remember as
246 once ambassador at the Imperial court. There is no direct evidence that
247 before Wolsey had left England the King had seriously thought of Anne at
248 all. Catherine could have had no suspicion of it, or her jealous indignation
249 would have made itself heard. The Spanish Ambassador spoke of it as a new
250 feature in the case. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
251 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Boleyns were Wolsey's
252 enemies, and belonged to the growing faction most hostile to the Church. The
253 news as it came upon him was utterly distasteful. (1) Anne in turn hated
254 Wolsey, as he probably knew that she would, and she compelled him to stoop
255 to the disgrace of suing for her favour. The inference is reasonable,
256 therefore, that the King took the step which in the event was to produce
257 such momentous consequences when the Cardinal was not at hand to dissuade
258 him. He was not encouraged even by her own family. Her father, as will be
259 seen hereafter, was from the first opposed to his daughter's advancement. He
260 probably knew her character too well. But Henry, when he had taken an idea
261 into his head, was not to be moved from it. The lady was not beautiful: she
262 was rather short than tall, her complexion was dark, her neck long, her
263 mouth broad, her figure not particularly good. The fascinating features were
264 her long flowing brown hair, a pair of effective dark eyes, and a boldness
265 of character which might have put him on his guard, and did not. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
266 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The immediate effect was to
267 cool Wolsey's ardour for the divorce. His mission in France, which opened so
268 splendidly, eventuated in little. The French cardinals held no meeting at
269 Avignon. They had signed the address to Clement, but they had not made the
270 Cardinal of York into their patriarch. Rouen was not added to his other
271 preferments. Could he but have proposed a marriage for his sovereign with
272 the Princess of Alencon, all might have been different, but it had fared
273 with him as it fared with the Earl of Warwick, whom Henry's grandfather had
274 sent to France to woo a bride for him, and in his absence married Elizabeth
275 Grey. He perhaps regretted the munificent offers of the Emperor which he had
276 hastily rejected, and he returned to England in the autumn to feel the
277 consequences of the change in his situation. Mr. Brewer labours in vain to
278 prove that Wolsey was unfavourable to the divorce from the beginning.
279 Catherine believed that he was the instigator of it. Mendoza was of the same
280 opinion. Unquestionably he promoted it with all his power, and made it a
281 part of a great policy. To maintain that he was acting thus against his
282 conscience and to please the King is more dishonouring to him than to
283 suppose that he was either the originator or the willing instrument. All,
284 however, was altered when Anne Boleyn came upon the stage, and she made
285 haste to make him feel the change. &amp;quot;The Legate has returned from France,&amp;quot;
286 wrote Mendoza on the 26th of October. He went to visit the King at Richmond,
287 and sent to ask where he could see him. The King was in his chamber. It
288 happened that the lady, who seemed to entertain no great affection for the
289 Cardinal, was in the room with the King, and before the latter could answer
290 the message she said for him, &amp;quot;Where else is the Cardinal to come? Tell him
291 he may come here where the King is.&amp;quot; The Legate felt that such treatment
292 boded no good to him, but concealed his resentment. &amp;quot;The cause,&amp;quot; said
293 Mendoza, &amp;quot;is supposed to be that the said lady bears the Legate a grudge,
294 for other reasons, and because she has discovered that during his visit to
295 France the Legate proposed to have an alliance for the King found in that
296 country.&amp;quot; Wolsey persuaded Mendoza that the French marriage had been a
297 fiction, but at once he began to endeavour to undo his work, and prevent the
298 dissolution of the marriage with Catherine. He tried to procure an
299 unfavourable opinion from the English Bishops before legal proceedings were
300 commenced. Mendoza, however, doubted his stability if the King persisted in
301 his purpose, and advised that a papal decision on the case should be
302 procured and forwarded as soon as possible.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
303 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Pope's captivity, however,
304 would destroy the value of any judgment which he might give while he
305 continued in durance. The Emperor, encouraged by the intimation that Wolsey
306 was wavering, reverted to his previous hope. In a special memorandum of
307 measures to be taken, the most important, notwithstanding the refusal of the
308 previous offers, was still thought to be to &amp;quot;bribe the Cardinal.&amp;quot; He must
309 instantly be paid the arrears of his pensions out of the revenues of the
310 sees of Palencia and Badajoz. If there was not money enough in the treasury,
311 a further and larger pension of twelve or fourteen thousand crowns was to be
312 given to him out of some rich bishopric in Castile. The Emperor admitted
313 that he had promised the Cortes to appoint no more foreigners to Spanish
314 sees, but such a promise could not be held binding, being in violation of
315 the liberties of the Church. Every one would see that it was for the good of
316 the kingdom. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
317 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The renewed offer was doubtless
318 conveyed to Wolsey, but he probably found that he had gone too deep to
319 retire. If he made such an effort as Mendoza relates, he must have speedily
320 discovered that it would be useless. He had encouraged the King in a belief
321 that the divorce would be granted by the Pope as a matter of course, and the
322 King, having made up his own mind, was not to be moved from it. If Wolsey
323 now drew back, the certain inference would be that he had accepted an
324 imperial bribe. There was no resource, therefore, but to go on. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
325 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;While Wolsey had been
326 hesitating, the King had, unknown to him, sent his secretary, Dr. Knight, to
327 Rome with directions to obtain access if possible to the Pope, and procure
328 the dispensation which had been already applied for to enable him to marry a
329 second time without the formalities of a judgment. Such an expedient would
330 be convenient in many ways. It would leave Catherine's position unaffected
331 and the legitimacy of the Princess Mary unimpugned. Knight went. He found
332 that without a passport he could not even enter the city, still less be
333 allowed an interview. &amp;quot;With ten thousand crowns he could not bribe his way
334 into St. Angelo.&amp;quot; He contrived, however, to have a letter introduced, which
335 the Pope answered by telling Knight to wait in some quiet place. He (the
336 Pope) would &amp;quot;there send him all the King's requests in as ample a form as
337 they were desired.&amp;quot; Knight trusted in a short time &amp;quot;to have in his custody
338 as much, perfect, sped, and under lead, as his Highness had long time
339 desired.&amp;quot;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
340 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Knight was too sanguine. The
341 Emperor, finding the Pope's detention as a prisoner embarrassing, allowed
342 him, on the 9th of December, to escape to Orvieto, where he was apparently
343 at liberty; but he was only in a larger cage, all his territories being
344 occupied by Imperial troops, and he himself watched by the General of the
345 Observants, and warned at his peril to grant nothing to Catherine's
346 prejudice. Henry's Secretary followed him, saw him, and obtained something
347 which on examination proved to be worthless. The negotiations were left
348 again in Wolsey's hands, and were pressed with all the eagerness of a
349 desperate man. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
350 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Pope Clement had ceased to be a
351 free agent. He did not look to the rights of the case. He would gladly have
352 pleased Henry could he have pleased him without displeasing Charles. The
353 case itself was peculiar, and opinions differed on the rights and wrongs of
354 it. The reader must be from time to time reminded that, as the law of
355 England has stood ever since, a marriage with a brother's widow was not a
356 marriage. As the law of the Church then stood, it was not a marriage unless
357 permitted by the Pope; and according to the same law of England the Pope
358 neither has, nor ever had, any authority to dispense with the law. Therefore
359 Henry, on the abstract contention, was in the right. He had married
360 Catherine under an error. The problem was to untie the knot with as little
361 suffering to either as the nature of the case permitted. That the
362 negotiations were full of inconsistencies, evasions, and contradictions, was
363 natural and inevitable. To cut the knot without untying it was the only
364 direct course, but that all means were exhausted before the application of
365 so violent a remedy was rather a credit than a reproach. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
366 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The first inconsistency was in
367 the King. He did not regard his marriage as valid; therefore he thought
368 himself at liberty to marry again; but he did not wish to illegitimatise his
369 daughter or degrade Catherine. He disputed the validity of the dispensation
370 of Julius II.; yet he required a dispensation from Clement which was equally
371 questionable to enable him to take a second wife. The management of the case
372 having reverted to Wolsey, fresh instructions were sent to Sir Gregory
373 Casalis, the regular English agent at the Papal court, to wait on Clement.
374 Casalis was &amp;quot;bid consider how much the affair concerned the relief of the
375 King's conscience, the safety of his soul, the preservation of his life, the
376 continuation of his succession, the welfare and repose of all his subjects
377 now and hereafter.&amp;quot; The Pope at Orvieto was personally accessible. Casalis
378 was to represent to him the many difficulties which had arisen in connection
379 with the marriage, and the certainty of civil war in England should the King
380 die leaving the succession no better provided for. He was, therefore, to
381 request the Pope to grant a commission to Wolsey to hear the case and to
382 decide it, and (perhaps as an alternative) to sign a dispensation, a draft
383 of which Wolsey enclosed. The language of the dispensation was peculiar.
384 Wolsey explained it by saying that &amp;quot;the King, remembering by the example of
385 past times what false claims [to the crown] had been put forward, to avoid
386 all colour or pretext of the same, desired this of the Pope as absolutely
387 necessary.&amp;quot; If these two requests were conceded, Henry undertook on his part
388 to require the Emperor to set the Pope at liberty, or to declare war against
389 him if he refused. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
390 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;A dispensation, which was to
391 evade the real point at issue, yet to convey to the King a power to take
392 another wife, was a novelty in itself and likely to be carefully worded. It
393 has given occasion among modern historians to important inferences
394 disgraceful to everyone concerned. The sinister meaning supposed to be
395 obvious to modern critics could not have been concealed from the Pope
396 himself. Here, therefore, follow the words which have been fastened on as
397 for ever fatal to the intelligence and character of Henry and his Ministers.
398 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
399 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Pope, after reviewing the
400 later history of England, the distractions caused by rival claimants of the
401 crown, after admitting the necessity of guarding against the designs of the
402 ambitious, and empowering Henry to marry again, was made to address the King
403 in these words: -- &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
404 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;In order to take away all
405 occasion from evil doers, we do in the plenitude of our power hereby suspend
406 &lt;i&gt;hâc vice&lt;/i&gt; all canons forbidding marriage in the fourth degree, also
407 all canons &lt;i&gt;de impedimento publicœ honestatis&lt;/i&gt; preventing marriage in
408 consequence of clandestine espousals, further all canons relating to
409 precontracts clandestinely made but not consummated, also all canons
410 affecting impediments created by affinity rising &lt;i&gt;ex illicito coitu,&lt;/i&gt;
411 in any degree even in the first, so far as the marriage to be contracted by
412 you, the petitioner, can be objected to or in any wise be impugned by the
413 same. Further, to avoid canonical objections on the side of the woman by
414 reason of former contract clandestinely made, or impediment of public
415 honesty or justice arising from such clandestine contract, or of any
416 affinity contracted in any degree even the first, &lt;i&gt;ex illicito coitu:&lt;/i&gt;
417 and in the event that it has proceeded beyond the second or third degrees of
418 consanguinity, whereby otherwise you, the petitioner, would not be allowed
419 by the canons to contract marriage, we hereby license you to take such woman
420 for wife, and suffer you and the woman to marry free from all ecclesiastical
421 objections and censures.&amp;quot; &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
422 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The explanation given by Wolsey
423 of the wording of this document is that it was intended to preclude any
424 objections which might be raised to the prejudice of the offspring of a
425 marriage in itself irregular. It was therefore made as comprehensive as
426 possible. Dr. Lingard, followed by Mr. Brewer, and other writers see in it a
427 transparent personal application to the situation in which Henry intended to
428 place himself in making a wife of Anne Boleyn. Two years subsequent to the
429 period when this dispensation was asked for, when the question of the
430 divorce had developed into a battle between England and the Papacy, and the
431 passions of Catholics and Reformers were boiling over in recrimination and
432 invective, the King's plea that he was parting from Catherine out of
433 conscience was met by stories set floating in society that the King himself
434 had previously intrigued with the mother and sister of the lady whom he
435 intended to marry; precisely the same obstacle existed, therefore, to his
436 marriage with Anne, being further aggravated by incest. No attempt was ever
437 made to prove these charges; no particulars were given of time or place. No
438 witnesses were produced, nor other evidence, though to prove them would have
439 been of infinite importance. Queen Catherine, who if any one must have known
440 it if the accusation was true, never alludes to Mary Boleyn in the fiercest
441 of her denunciations. It was heard of only in the conversation of
442 disaffected priests or secret visitors to the Spanish Ambassador, and was
443 made public only in the manifesto of Reginald Pole, which accompanied Paul
444 III.'s Bull for Henry's deposition. Even this authority, which was not much
445 in itself, is made less by the fact that in the first draft of &amp;quot;Pole's
446 Book,&amp;quot; sent to England to be examined in 1535, the story is not mentioned.
447 Evidently, therefore, Pole had not then heard of it or did not believe it.
448 The guilt with the mother is now abandoned as too monstrous. The guilt with
449 the sister is peremptorily insisted on, and the words of the dispensation
450 are appealed to as no longer leaving room for doubt. To what else, it is
451 asked, can such extraordinary expressions refer unless to some disgraceful
452 personal &lt;i&gt;liaison?&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
453 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The uninstructed who draw
454 inferences of fact from the verbiage of legal documents will discover often
455 what are called &amp;quot;mare's nests.&amp;quot; I will request the reader to consider what
456 this supposition involves. The dispensation would have to be copied into the
457 Roman registers, subject to the inspection of the acutest canon lawyers in
458 the world. If the meaning is so clear to us, it must have been clear to
459 them. We are, therefore, to believe that Henry, when demanding to be
460 separated from Catherine, as an escape from mortal sin, for the relief of
461 his conscience and the surety of his succession, was gratuitously putting
462 the Pope in possession of a secret which had only to be published to
463 extinguish him and his plea in an outburst of scorn and laughter. &lt;/font&gt;
464 &lt;/p&gt;
465 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;There was no need for such an
466 acknowledgment, for the intrigue could not be proved. It could not be
467 required for the legitimation of the children that were to be born; for a
468 man of Wolsey's ability must have known that no dispensation would be held
469 valid that was granted after so preposterous a confidence. It was as if a
470 man putting in a claim for some great property, before the case came on for
471 trial privately informed both judge and jury that it was based on forgery.
472 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
473 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;We are called on to explain
474 further, why, when all Europe was shaken by the controversy, no hint is to
475 be found in any public document of a fact which, if true, would be decisive;
476 and yet more extraordinary, why the Pope and the Curia, when driven to bay
477 in all the exasperation of a furious controversy, left a weapon unused which
478 would have assured them an easy victory. Wolsey was not a fool. Is it
479 conceivable that he would have composed a document so fatal and have drawn
480 the Pope's pointed attention to it? My credulity does not extend so far. We
481 cannot prove a negative; we cannot prove that Henry had not intrigued with
482 Mary Boleyn, or with all the ladies of his court. But the language of the
483 dispensation cannot be adduced as an evidence of it, unless King, Pope, and
484 all the interested world had parted with their senses. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
485 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;As to the story itself, there
486 is no ground for distinguishing between the mother and the daughter. When it
487 was first set circulating both were named together. The mother only has been
488 dropped, lest the improbability should seem too violent for belief. That
489 Mary Boleyn had been the King's mistress before or after her own marriage is
490 now asserted as an ascertained fact by respectable historians -- a fact
491 sufficient, can it be proved, to cover with infamy for ever the English
492 separation from Rome, King, Ministers, Parliaments, Bishops, and every one
493 concerned with it. The effectiveness of the weapon commends it to Catholic
494 controversialists. I have only to repeat that the evidence for the charge is
495 nothing but the floating gossip of Catholic society, never heard of, never
496 whispered, till the second stage of the quarrel, when it had developed into
497 a passionate contest; never even then alleged in a form in which it could be
498 met and answered. It could not have been hid from Queen Catherine if it was
499 known to Reginald Pole. We have many letters of Catherine, eloquent on the
500 story of her wrongs; letters to the Emperor, letters to the Pope; yet no
501 word of Mary Boleyn. What reason can be given save that it was a legend
502 which grew out of the temper of the time? Nothing could be more plausible
503 than to meet the King's plea of conscience with an allegation which made it
504 ridiculous. But in the public pleadings of a cause which was discussed in
505 every capital in Europe by the keenest lawyers and diplomatists of the age,
506 an accusation which, if maintained, would have been absolutely decisive, is
507 never alluded to in any public document till the question had passed beyond
508 the stage of discussion. The silence of all responsible persons is
509 sufficient proof of its nature. It was a mere floating calumny, born of wind
510 and malice. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
511 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Mr. Brewer does indeed imagine
512 that he has discovered what he describes as a tacit confession on Henry's
513 part. When the Act of Appeals was before the House of Commons which ended
514 the papal jurisdiction in England, a small knot of Opposition members used
515 to meet privately to deliberate how to oppose it. Among these one of the
516 most active was Sir George Throgmorton, a man who afterwards, with his
517 brother Michael, made himself useful to Cromwell and played with both
518 parties, but was then against the divorce and against all the measures which
519 grew out of it. Throgmorton, according to his own account, had been admitted
520 to an interview with the King and Cromwell. In 1537, after the Pilgrimage of
521 Grace, while the ashes of the rebellion were still smouldering, after
522 Michael Throgmorton had betrayed Cromwell's confidence and gone over to
523 Reginald Pole, Sir George was reported to have used certain expressions to
524 Sir Thomas Dyngley and to two other gentlemen, which he was called on by the
525 Council to explain. The letter to the King in which he replied is still
526 extant. He said that he had been sent for by the King after a speech on the
527 Act of Appeals, &amp;quot;and that he saw his Grace's conscience was troubled about
528 having married his brother's wife.&amp;quot; He professed to have said to Dyngley
529 that he had told the King that if he did marry Queen Anne his conscience
530 would be more troubled at length, for it was thought he had meddled both
531 with the mother and the sister; that his Grace said: &amp;quot;Never with the
532 mother,&amp;quot; and my Lord Privy Seal (Cromwell), standing by, said, &amp;quot;nor with the
533 sister neither, so put that out of your mind.&amp;quot; Mr. Brewer construes this
534 into an admission of the King that Mary Boleyn had been his mistress, and
535 omits, of course, by inadvertence, that Throgmorton, being asked why he had
536 told this story to Dyngley, answered that &amp;quot;he spake it only out of
537 vainglory, to show he was one that durst speak for the Commonwealth.&amp;quot;
538 Nothing is more common than for &amp;quot;vainglorious&amp;quot; men, when admitted to
539 conversations with kings, to make the most of what they said themselves, and
540 to report not very accurately what was said to them. Had the conversation
541 been authentic, Throgmorton would naturally have appealed to Cromwell's
542 recollection. But Mr. Brewer accepts the version of a confessed boaster as
543 if it was a complete and trustworthy account of what had actually passed. He
544 does not ask himself whether if the King or Cromwell had given their version
545 it might not have borne another complexion. Henry was not a safe person to
546 take liberties with. Is it likely that if one of his subjects, who was
547 actively opposing him in Parliament, had taxed him with an enormous crime,
548 he would have made a confession which Throgmorton had only to repeat in the
549 House of Commons to ruin him and his cause? Mr. Brewer should have added
550 also that the authority which he gave for the story was no better than
551 Father Peto, afterwards Cardinal Peto, as bitter an enemy of the Reformation
552 as Pole himself. Most serious of all, Mr. Brewer omits to mention that
553 Throgmorton was submitted afterwards to a severe cross-examination before a
554 Committee of Council, the effect of which, if he had spoken truly, could
555 only be to establish the authenticity of a disgraceful charge.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
556 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The last evidence alleged is
557 the confession made by Anne Boleyn, after her condemnation, of some mystery
558 which had invalidated her marriage with the King and had been made the
559 ground of an Act of Parliament. The confession was not published, and
560 Catholic opinion concluded, and concludes still, that it must have been the
561 Mary Boleyn intrigue. Catholic opinion does not pause to inquire whether
562 Anne could have been said to confess an offence of the King and her sister.
563 The cross-examination of Throgmorton turns the conjecture into an absurdity.
564 When asked, in 1537, whom he ever heard say such a thing, he would have had
565 but to appeal to the proceedings in Parliament in the year immediately
566 preceding. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
567 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Is it likely finally that if
568 Throgmorton's examination proves what Mr. Brewer thinks it proves, a record
569 of it would have been preserved among the official State Papers? &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
570 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;If all the stories current
571 about Henry VIII. were to be discussed with as much detail as I have allowed
572 to this, the world would not contain the books which should be written. An
573 Irish lawyer told me in my youth to believe nothing which I heard in that
574 country which had not been sifted in a court of justice, and only half of
575 that. Legend is as the air invulnerable, and blows aimed at it, if not
576 &amp;quot;malicious mockery&amp;quot; are waste of effort. Charges of scandalous immorality
577 are precious to controversialists, for if they are disproved ever so
578 completely the stain adheres. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
579 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
580 &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Notes:&lt;/b&gt; 1.
581 &lt;/font&gt;
582 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
583 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
584 The date of Henry's resolution to marry Anne is of some consequence, since
585 the general assumption is that it was the origin of the divorce. Rumour, of
586 course, said so afterwards, but there is no evidence for it. The early
587 love-letters written by the King to her are assigned by Mr. Brewer to the
588 midsummer of 1527. But they are undated, and therefore the period assigned
589 to them is conjecture merely.&lt;/p&gt;
590 &lt;/font&gt;
591 &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;From &lt;i&gt;The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon:
592 The Story as Told by the Imperial Ambassadors Resident at the Court of Henry
593 VIII&lt;/i&gt; by J.A. Froude.&amp;nbsp; Published in New York by C. Scribner's Sons,
594 1891.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
595 &lt;/blockquote&gt;
596&lt;/blockquote&gt;
597
598&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;
599&lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2ffroudethree.html&quot;&gt;to Chapter Three&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
600&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fsecondary.html&quot;&gt;
601&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;to Secondary Sources&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
602&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
603&lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2faragon.html&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;to
604Katharine of Aragon website&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
605 &lt;/font&gt;
606 &lt;/font&gt;
607&lt;blockquote&gt;
608 &lt;blockquote&gt;
609 &lt;font style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
610 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
611 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font style=&quot;FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
612 &lt;/font&gt;
613 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
614 &lt;/font&gt;
615 &lt;/blockquote&gt;
616&lt;/blockquote&gt;
617
618
619
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622</Content>
623</Section>
624</Archive>
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