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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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34&lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;3&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; height=&quot;667&quot;&gt;
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48 &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
49 &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;
50 &lt;font size=&quot;5&quot;&gt;by
51 JA Froude, 1891&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
52 &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
53 &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;
54 &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;610&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
55 &lt;/tr&gt;
56&lt;/table&gt;
57&lt;blockquote&gt;
58 &lt;blockquote&gt;
59 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
60 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
61 &lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;
62 &lt;b&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;CHAPTER TWO&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
63 &lt;blockquote&gt;
64 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;Mission of Wolsey to Paris --
65 Visits Bishop Fisher on the way -- Anxieties of the Emperor -- Letter of
66 the Emperor to Henry VIII. -Large offers to Wolsey -- Address of the
67 French Cardinals to the Pope -- Anne Boleyn chosen by Henry to succeed
68 Catherine -- Surprise and displeasure of Wolsey -- Fresh attempts of the
69 Emperor to bribe him -- Wolsey forced to continue to advocate the divorce
70 -Mission of Dr. Knight to Rome -- The Pope at Orvieto -- The King applies
71 for a dispensation to make a second marriage -- Language of the
72 dispensation demanded -- Inferences drawn from it -- Alleged intrigue
73 between the King and Mary Boleyn. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
74 &lt;/blockquote&gt;
75 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;IT was believed at the time --
76 and it was the tradition afterwards -- that Wolsey, in his mission to Paris,
77 intended to replace Catherine by a French princess, the more surely to
78 commit Francis to the support of Henry in the divorce, and to strengthen the
79 new alliance. Nothing can be inherently more likely. The ostensible reason,
80 however, was to do away with any difficulties which might have been
81 suggested by the objection of the Bishop of Tarbes to the legitimacy of the
82 Princess Mary. If illegitimate, she would be no fitting bride for the Duke
83 of Orleans. But she had been born &lt;i&gt;bonâ fide parentum.&lt;/i&gt; There was no
84 intention of infringing her prospective rights or of altering her present
85 position. Her rank and title were to be secured to her in amplest measure.
86 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
87 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Cardinal went upon his
88 journey with the splendour attaching to his office and befitting a churchman
89 who was aspiring to be the spiritual president of the two kingdoms. On his
90 way to the coast he visited two prelates whose support to his policy was
91 important. Archbishop Warham had been cold about the divorce, if not openly
92 hostile. Wolsey found him &amp;quot;not much changed from his first fashion,&amp;quot; but
93 admitting that, although it might be unpleasant to the Queen, truth and
94 justice must prevail. Bishop Fisher was a more difficult subject. He had
95 spoken in the Legate's court in Catherine's favour. It was from him, as the
96 King supposed, that Catherine herself had learnt what was impending over
97 her. Wolsey called at his palace as he passed through Rochester. He asked
98 the Bishop plainly if he had been in communication with the Queen. The
99 Bishop, after some hesitation, confessed that the Queen had sought his
100 advice, and said that he had declined to give an opinion without the King's
101 command. Before Wolsey left London, at a last interview at York Place, the
102 King had directed him to explain &amp;quot;the whole matter&amp;quot; to the Bishop. He went
103 through the entire history, mentioned the words of the Bishop of Tarbes, and
104 discussed the question which had risen upon it, on account of which he had
105 been sent into France. Finally, he described the extreme violence with which
106 Catherine had received the intelligence. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
107 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Bishop greatly blamed the
108 conduct of the Queen, and said he thought that if he might speak to her he
109 might bring her to submission. He agreed, or seemed to agree, that the
110 marriage had been irregular, though he did not himself think that it could
111 now be broken. Others of the bishops, he thought, agreed with him; but he
112 was satisfied that the King meant nothing against the laws of God, and would
113 be fully justified in submitting his misgivings to the Pope.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
114 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Mendoza's and the Queen's
115 letters had meanwhile been despatched to Spain, to add to the anxieties
116 which were overwhelming the Emperor. Nothing could have been less welcome at
117 such a juncture than a family quarrel with his uncle of England, whose
118 friendship he was still hoping to retain. The bird that he had caged at Rome
119 was no convenient prisoner. The capture of Rome had not been ordered by
120 himself, though politically he was obliged to maintain it. The time did not
121 suit for the ambitious Church reforms of Lope de Soria. Peace would have to
122 be made with the Pope on some moderate conditions. His own Spain was hardly
123 quieted after the revolt of the &lt;i&gt;Comunidades.&lt;/i&gt; Half Germany was in
124 avowed apostasy from the Church of Rome. The Turks were overrunning Hungary,
125 and sweeping the Mediterranean with their pirate fleets, and the passionate
126 and restless Francis was watching his opportunity to revenge Pavia and
127 attack his captor in the Low Countries and in Italy. The great Emperor was
128 moderate, cautious, prudent to a fault. In a calmer season he might have
129 been tempted to take the Church in hand; and none understood better the
130 condition into which it had fallen. But he was wise enough to know that if a
131 reform of the Papacy was undertaken at all it must be undertaken with the
132 joint consent of the other Christian princes, and all his present efforts
133 were directed to peace. He was Catherine's natural guardian. Her position in
134 England had been hitherto a political security for Henry's friendship. It
135 was his duty and his interest to defend her, and he meant to do it; not,
136 however, by sending roving expeditions to land in Cornwall and raise a civil
137 war; all means were to be tried before that; to attempt such a thing, he
138 well knew, would throw Europe into a blaze. The letters found him at
139 Valladolid. He replied, of course, that he was shocked at a proceeding so
140 unlooked for and so scandalous, but he charged Mendoza to be moderate and to
141 confine himself to remonstrance. He wrote himself to Henry --
142 confidentially, as from friend to friend, and ciphering his letter with his
143 own hand. He was unable to believe, he said, that Henry could contemplate
144 seriously bringing his domestic discomforts before the world. Even supposing
145 the marriage illegitimate -- even supposing that the Pope had no power to
146 dispense in such cases -- &amp;quot;it would be better and more honourable to keep
147 the matter secret, and to work out a remedy.&amp;quot; He bade Mendoza remind the
148 King that to question the dispensing power affected the position of other
149 princes besides his own; that to touch the legitimacy of his daughter would
150 increase the difficulties with the succession, and not remove them. He
151 implored the King &amp;quot;to keep the matter secret, as he would do himself.&amp;quot;
152 Meanwhile, he told Mendoza, for Catherine's comfort, that he had written to
153 demand a mild brief from the Pope to stop the scandal. He had requested him,
154 as Catherine had suggested, to revoke Wolsey's powers, or at least to
155 command that neither he nor any English Court should try the case. If heard
156 at all it must be heard before his Holiness and the Sacred College. But he
157 could not part with the hope that he might still bring Wolsey to his own and
158 the Queen's side. A council of Cardinals was to meet at Avignon to consider
159 the Pope's captivity. The Cardinal of England was expected to attend.
160 Charles himself might go to Perpignan. Wolsey might meet him there, discuss
161 the state of Europe, and settle the King's secret affair at the same time.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
162 &lt;/font&gt;
163 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
164 &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
165 this be impossible, he charged Mendoza once more to leave no stone unturned
166 to recover Wolsey's friendship. &amp;quot;In our name,&amp;quot; he said, &amp;quot;you will make him
167 the following offers: -- &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
168 &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
169 payment of all arrears on his several pensions, amounting to 9,000 ducats
170 annually. &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;2. Six
172 thousand additional ducats annually until such a time as a bishoprick or
173 other ecclesiastical endowment of the same revenue becomes vacant in our
174 kingdom. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
175 &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
176 Duke, who is to have Milan, to give him a Marquisate in that Duchy, with an
177 annual rent of 12,000 ducats, or 15,000 if the smaller sum be not enough;
178 the said Marquisate to be held by the Cardinal during his life, and to pass
179 after him to any heir whom he shall appoint.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
180 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
181 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;As if this was not sufficient,
182 the Emperor' paid a yet further tribute to the supposed all-powerful
183 Cardinal. He wrote himself to him as to his &amp;quot;good friend.&amp;quot; He said that if
184 there was anything in his dominions which the Cardinal wished to possess he
185 had only to name it, as he considered Wolsey the best friend that he had in
186 the world.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
187 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;For the ministers of great
188 countries deliberately to sell themselves to foreign princes was the custom
189 of the age. The measure of public virtue which such a custom indicates was
190 not exalted; and among the changes introduced by the Reformation the
191 abolition or suspension of it was not the least beneficial. Thomas Cromwell,
192 when he came to power, set the example of refusal, and corruption of public
193 men on a scale so scandalously enormous was no more heard of. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
194 &lt;/font&gt;
195 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
196 &lt;p&gt;Gold, however, had flowed in upon Wolsey in such enormous streams and
197 from so many sources that the Emperor's munificence and attention failed to
198 tempt him. On reaching Paris he found Francis bent upon war, and willing to
199 promise anything for Henry's assistance. The belief at the French Court was
200 that the Emperor, hearing that the Churches of England and France meant to
201 decline from their obedience to the Roman Communion, would carry the Pope to
202 Spain; that Clement would probably be poisoned there, and the Apostolic See
203 would be established permanently in the Peninsula. Wolsey himself wrote
204 this, and believed it, or desired Henry to believe it, proving the extreme
205 uncertainty among the best-informed of contemporary politicians as to the
206 probable issue of the capture of Rome. The French Cardinals drew and sent an
207 address to the Pope, intimating that as long as he was in confinement they
208 could accept no act of his as lawful, and would not obey it. Wolsey signed
209 at the head of them. The Cardinals Salviati, Bourbon, Lorraine, and the
210 Chancellor Cardinal of Sens, signed after him. The first stroke in the game
211 had been won by Wolsey. Had the Pope recalled his powers as legate, an
212 immediate schism might have followed. But a more fatal blow had been
213 prepared for him by his master in England. Trusting to the Cardinal's
214 promises that the Pope would make no difficulty about the divorce, Henry had
215 considered himself at liberty to choose a successor to Catherine. He had
216 suffered once in having allowed politics to select a wife for him. This time
217 he intended to be guided by his own inclination. When Elizabeth afterwards
218 wished to marry Leicester, Lord Sussex said she had better fix after her own
219 liking; there would be the better chance of the heir that her realm was
220 looking for. Her father fixed also after his liking in selecting Elizabeth's
221 mother. &lt;/p&gt;
222 &lt;/font&gt;
223 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
224 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
225 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Anne Boleyn was the second
226 daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, a Norfolk knight of ancient blood, and
227 himself a person of some distinction in the public service. Lady Boleyn was
228 a Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. Anne was born in 1507, and by
229 birth and connection was early introduced into the court. When a girl she
230 was taken to Paris to be educated. In 1522 she was brought back to England,
231 became a lady-in-waiting, and, being a witty, brilliant young woman,
232 attracted and encouraged the attentions of the fashionable cavaliers of the
233 day. Wyatt, the poet, was among her adorers, and the young Percy, afterwards
234 Earl of Northumberland. It was alleged afterwards that between her and Percy
235 there had been a secret marriage which had been actually consummated. That
236 she had been involved in some dangerous intrigue or other she herself
237 subsequently confessed. But she was attractive, she was witty; she drew
238 Henry's fancy, and the fancy became an ardent passion. Now, for the first
239 time, in Wolsey's absence, the Lady Anne's name appears in connection with
240 the divorce. On the 16th of August Mendoza informed Charles, as a matter of
241 general belief, that if the suit for the divorce was successful the King
242 would marry a daughter of Master Boleyn, whom the Emperor would remember as
243 once ambassador at the Imperial court. There is no direct evidence that
244 before Wolsey had left England the King had seriously thought of Anne at
245 all. Catherine could have had no suspicion of it, or her jealous indignation
246 would have made itself heard. The Spanish Ambassador spoke of it as a new
247 feature in the case. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
248 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Boleyns were Wolsey's
249 enemies, and belonged to the growing faction most hostile to the Church. The
250 news as it came upon him was utterly distasteful. (1) Anne in turn hated
251 Wolsey, as he probably knew that she would, and she compelled him to stoop
252 to the disgrace of suing for her favour. The inference is reasonable,
253 therefore, that the King took the step which in the event was to produce
254 such momentous consequences when the Cardinal was not at hand to dissuade
255 him. He was not encouraged even by her own family. Her father, as will be
256 seen hereafter, was from the first opposed to his daughter's advancement. He
257 probably knew her character too well. But Henry, when he had taken an idea
258 into his head, was not to be moved from it. The lady was not beautiful: she
259 was rather short than tall, her complexion was dark, her neck long, her
260 mouth broad, her figure not particularly good. The fascinating features were
261 her long flowing brown hair, a pair of effective dark eyes, and a boldness
262 of character which might have put him on his guard, and did not. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
263 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The immediate effect was to
264 cool Wolsey's ardour for the divorce. His mission in France, which opened so
265 splendidly, eventuated in little. The French cardinals held no meeting at
266 Avignon. They had signed the address to Clement, but they had not made the
267 Cardinal of York into their patriarch. Rouen was not added to his other
268 preferments. Could he but have proposed a marriage for his sovereign with
269 the Princess of Alencon, all might have been different, but it had fared
270 with him as it fared with the Earl of Warwick, whom Henry's grandfather had
271 sent to France to woo a bride for him, and in his absence married Elizabeth
272 Grey. He perhaps regretted the munificent offers of the Emperor which he had
273 hastily rejected, and he returned to England in the autumn to feel the
274 consequences of the change in his situation. Mr. Brewer labours in vain to
275 prove that Wolsey was unfavourable to the divorce from the beginning.
276 Catherine believed that he was the instigator of it. Mendoza was of the same
277 opinion. Unquestionably he promoted it with all his power, and made it a
278 part of a great policy. To maintain that he was acting thus against his
279 conscience and to please the King is more dishonouring to him than to
280 suppose that he was either the originator or the willing instrument. All,
281 however, was altered when Anne Boleyn came upon the stage, and she made
282 haste to make him feel the change. &amp;quot;The Legate has returned from France,&amp;quot;
283 wrote Mendoza on the 26th of October. He went to visit the King at Richmond,
284 and sent to ask where he could see him. The King was in his chamber. It
285 happened that the lady, who seemed to entertain no great affection for the
286 Cardinal, was in the room with the King, and before the latter could answer
287 the message she said for him, &amp;quot;Where else is the Cardinal to come? Tell him
288 he may come here where the King is.&amp;quot; The Legate felt that such treatment
289 boded no good to him, but concealed his resentment. &amp;quot;The cause,&amp;quot; said
290 Mendoza, &amp;quot;is supposed to be that the said lady bears the Legate a grudge,
291 for other reasons, and because she has discovered that during his visit to
292 France the Legate proposed to have an alliance for the King found in that
293 country.&amp;quot; Wolsey persuaded Mendoza that the French marriage had been a
294 fiction, but at once he began to endeavour to undo his work, and prevent the
295 dissolution of the marriage with Catherine. He tried to procure an
296 unfavourable opinion from the English Bishops before legal proceedings were
297 commenced. Mendoza, however, doubted his stability if the King persisted in
298 his purpose, and advised that a papal decision on the case should be
299 procured and forwarded as soon as possible.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
300 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Pope's captivity, however,
301 would destroy the value of any judgment which he might give while he
302 continued in durance. The Emperor, encouraged by the intimation that Wolsey
303 was wavering, reverted to his previous hope. In a special memorandum of
304 measures to be taken, the most important, notwithstanding the refusal of the
305 previous offers, was still thought to be to &amp;quot;bribe the Cardinal.&amp;quot; He must
306 instantly be paid the arrears of his pensions out of the revenues of the
307 sees of Palencia and Badajoz. If there was not money enough in the treasury,
308 a further and larger pension of twelve or fourteen thousand crowns was to be
309 given to him out of some rich bishopric in Castile. The Emperor admitted
310 that he had promised the Cortes to appoint no more foreigners to Spanish
311 sees, but such a promise could not be held binding, being in violation of
312 the liberties of the Church. Every one would see that it was for the good of
313 the kingdom. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
314 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The renewed offer was doubtless
315 conveyed to Wolsey, but he probably found that he had gone too deep to
316 retire. If he made such an effort as Mendoza relates, he must have speedily
317 discovered that it would be useless. He had encouraged the King in a belief
318 that the divorce would be granted by the Pope as a matter of course, and the
319 King, having made up his own mind, was not to be moved from it. If Wolsey
320 now drew back, the certain inference would be that he had accepted an
321 imperial bribe. There was no resource, therefore, but to go on. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
322 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;While Wolsey had been
323 hesitating, the King had, unknown to him, sent his secretary, Dr. Knight, to
324 Rome with directions to obtain access if possible to the Pope, and procure
325 the dispensation which had been already applied for to enable him to marry a
326 second time without the formalities of a judgment. Such an expedient would
327 be convenient in many ways. It would leave Catherine's position unaffected
328 and the legitimacy of the Princess Mary unimpugned. Knight went. He found
329 that without a passport he could not even enter the city, still less be
330 allowed an interview. &amp;quot;With ten thousand crowns he could not bribe his way
331 into St. Angelo.&amp;quot; He contrived, however, to have a letter introduced, which
332 the Pope answered by telling Knight to wait in some quiet place. He (the
333 Pope) would &amp;quot;there send him all the King's requests in as ample a form as
334 they were desired.&amp;quot; Knight trusted in a short time &amp;quot;to have in his custody
335 as much, perfect, sped, and under lead, as his Highness had long time
336 desired.&amp;quot;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
337 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Knight was too sanguine. The
338 Emperor, finding the Pope's detention as a prisoner embarrassing, allowed
339 him, on the 9th of December, to escape to Orvieto, where he was apparently
340 at liberty; but he was only in a larger cage, all his territories being
341 occupied by Imperial troops, and he himself watched by the General of the
342 Observants, and warned at his peril to grant nothing to Catherine's
343 prejudice. Henry's Secretary followed him, saw him, and obtained something
344 which on examination proved to be worthless. The negotiations were left
345 again in Wolsey's hands, and were pressed with all the eagerness of a
346 desperate man. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
347 &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
348 free agent. He did not look to the rights of the case. He would gladly have
349 pleased Henry could he have pleased him without displeasing Charles. The
350 case itself was peculiar, and opinions differed on the rights and wrongs of
351 it. The reader must be from time to time reminded that, as the law of
352 England has stood ever since, a marriage with a brother's widow was not a
353 marriage. As the law of the Church then stood, it was not a marriage unless
354 permitted by the Pope; and according to the same law of England the Pope
355 neither has, nor ever had, any authority to dispense with the law. Therefore
356 Henry, on the abstract contention, was in the right. He had married
357 Catherine under an error. The problem was to untie the knot with as little
358 suffering to either as the nature of the case permitted. That the
359 negotiations were full of inconsistencies, evasions, and contradictions, was
360 natural and inevitable. To cut the knot without untying it was the only
361 direct course, but that all means were exhausted before the application of
362 so violent a remedy was rather a credit than a reproach. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
363 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The first inconsistency was in
364 the King. He did not regard his marriage as valid; therefore he thought
365 himself at liberty to marry again; but he did not wish to illegitimatise his
366 daughter or degrade Catherine. He disputed the validity of the dispensation
367 of Julius II.; yet he required a dispensation from Clement which was equally
368 questionable to enable him to take a second wife. The management of the case
369 having reverted to Wolsey, fresh instructions were sent to Sir Gregory
370 Casalis, the regular English agent at the Papal court, to wait on Clement.
371 Casalis was &amp;quot;bid consider how much the affair concerned the relief of the
372 King's conscience, the safety of his soul, the preservation of his life, the
373 continuation of his succession, the welfare and repose of all his subjects
374 now and hereafter.&amp;quot; The Pope at Orvieto was personally accessible. Casalis
375 was to represent to him the many difficulties which had arisen in connection
376 with the marriage, and the certainty of civil war in England should the King
377 die leaving the succession no better provided for. He was, therefore, to
378 request the Pope to grant a commission to Wolsey to hear the case and to
379 decide it, and (perhaps as an alternative) to sign a dispensation, a draft
380 of which Wolsey enclosed. The language of the dispensation was peculiar.
381 Wolsey explained it by saying that &amp;quot;the King, remembering by the example of
382 past times what false claims [to the crown] had been put forward, to avoid
383 all colour or pretext of the same, desired this of the Pope as absolutely
384 necessary.&amp;quot; If these two requests were conceded, Henry undertook on his part
385 to require the Emperor to set the Pope at liberty, or to declare war against
386 him if he refused. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
387 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;A dispensation, which was to
388 evade the real point at issue, yet to convey to the King a power to take
389 another wife, was a novelty in itself and likely to be carefully worded. It
390 has given occasion among modern historians to important inferences
391 disgraceful to everyone concerned. The sinister meaning supposed to be
392 obvious to modern critics could not have been concealed from the Pope
393 himself. Here, therefore, follow the words which have been fastened on as
394 for ever fatal to the intelligence and character of Henry and his Ministers.
395 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
396 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Pope, after reviewing the
397 later history of England, the distractions caused by rival claimants of the
398 crown, after admitting the necessity of guarding against the designs of the
399 ambitious, and empowering Henry to marry again, was made to address the King
400 in these words: -- &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
401 &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
402 occasion from evil doers, we do in the plenitude of our power hereby suspend
403 &lt;i&gt;hâc vice&lt;/i&gt; all canons forbidding marriage in the fourth degree, also
404 all canons &lt;i&gt;de impedimento publicœ honestatis&lt;/i&gt; preventing marriage in
405 consequence of clandestine espousals, further all canons relating to
406 precontracts clandestinely made but not consummated, also all canons
407 affecting impediments created by affinity rising &lt;i&gt;ex illicito coitu,&lt;/i&gt;
408 in any degree even in the first, so far as the marriage to be contracted by
409 you, the petitioner, can be objected to or in any wise be impugned by the
410 same. Further, to avoid canonical objections on the side of the woman by
411 reason of former contract clandestinely made, or impediment of public
412 honesty or justice arising from such clandestine contract, or of any
413 affinity contracted in any degree even the first, &lt;i&gt;ex illicito coitu:&lt;/i&gt;
414 and in the event that it has proceeded beyond the second or third degrees of
415 consanguinity, whereby otherwise you, the petitioner, would not be allowed
416 by the canons to contract marriage, we hereby license you to take such woman
417 for wife, and suffer you and the woman to marry free from all ecclesiastical
418 objections and censures.&amp;quot; &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
419 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The explanation given by Wolsey
420 of the wording of this document is that it was intended to preclude any
421 objections which might be raised to the prejudice of the offspring of a
422 marriage in itself irregular. It was therefore made as comprehensive as
423 possible. Dr. Lingard, followed by Mr. Brewer, and other writers see in it a
424 transparent personal application to the situation in which Henry intended to
425 place himself in making a wife of Anne Boleyn. Two years subsequent to the
426 period when this dispensation was asked for, when the question of the
427 divorce had developed into a battle between England and the Papacy, and the
428 passions of Catholics and Reformers were boiling over in recrimination and
429 invective, the King's plea that he was parting from Catherine out of
430 conscience was met by stories set floating in society that the King himself
431 had previously intrigued with the mother and sister of the lady whom he
432 intended to marry; precisely the same obstacle existed, therefore, to his
433 marriage with Anne, being further aggravated by incest. No attempt was ever
434 made to prove these charges; no particulars were given of time or place. No
435 witnesses were produced, nor other evidence, though to prove them would have
436 been of infinite importance. Queen Catherine, who if any one must have known
437 it if the accusation was true, never alludes to Mary Boleyn in the fiercest
438 of her denunciations. It was heard of only in the conversation of
439 disaffected priests or secret visitors to the Spanish Ambassador, and was
440 made public only in the manifesto of Reginald Pole, which accompanied Paul
441 III.'s Bull for Henry's deposition. Even this authority, which was not much
442 in itself, is made less by the fact that in the first draft of &amp;quot;Pole's
443 Book,&amp;quot; sent to England to be examined in 1535, the story is not mentioned.
444 Evidently, therefore, Pole had not then heard of it or did not believe it.
445 The guilt with the mother is now abandoned as too monstrous. The guilt with
446 the sister is peremptorily insisted on, and the words of the dispensation
447 are appealed to as no longer leaving room for doubt. To what else, it is
448 asked, can such extraordinary expressions refer unless to some disgraceful
449 personal &lt;i&gt;liaison?&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
450 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The uninstructed who draw
451 inferences of fact from the verbiage of legal documents will discover often
452 what are called &amp;quot;mare's nests.&amp;quot; I will request the reader to consider what
453 this supposition involves. The dispensation would have to be copied into the
454 Roman registers, subject to the inspection of the acutest canon lawyers in
455 the world. If the meaning is so clear to us, it must have been clear to
456 them. We are, therefore, to believe that Henry, when demanding to be
457 separated from Catherine, as an escape from mortal sin, for the relief of
458 his conscience and the surety of his succession, was gratuitously putting
459 the Pope in possession of a secret which had only to be published to
460 extinguish him and his plea in an outburst of scorn and laughter. &lt;/font&gt;
461 &lt;/p&gt;
462 &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
463 acknowledgment, for the intrigue could not be proved. It could not be
464 required for the legitimation of the children that were to be born; for a
465 man of Wolsey's ability must have known that no dispensation would be held
466 valid that was granted after so preposterous a confidence. It was as if a
467 man putting in a claim for some great property, before the case came on for
468 trial privately informed both judge and jury that it was based on forgery.
469 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
470 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;We are called on to explain
471 further, why, when all Europe was shaken by the controversy, no hint is to
472 be found in any public document of a fact which, if true, would be decisive;
473 and yet more extraordinary, why the Pope and the Curia, when driven to bay
474 in all the exasperation of a furious controversy, left a weapon unused which
475 would have assured them an easy victory. Wolsey was not a fool. Is it
476 conceivable that he would have composed a document so fatal and have drawn
477 the Pope's pointed attention to it? My credulity does not extend so far. We
478 cannot prove a negative; we cannot prove that Henry had not intrigued with
479 Mary Boleyn, or with all the ladies of his court. But the language of the
480 dispensation cannot be adduced as an evidence of it, unless King, Pope, and
481 all the interested world had parted with their senses. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
482 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;As to the story itself, there
483 is no ground for distinguishing between the mother and the daughter. When it
484 was first set circulating both were named together. The mother only has been
485 dropped, lest the improbability should seem too violent for belief. That
486 Mary Boleyn had been the King's mistress before or after her own marriage is
487 now asserted as an ascertained fact by respectable historians -- a fact
488 sufficient, can it be proved, to cover with infamy for ever the English
489 separation from Rome, King, Ministers, Parliaments, Bishops, and every one
490 concerned with it. The effectiveness of the weapon commends it to Catholic
491 controversialists. I have only to repeat that the evidence for the charge is
492 nothing but the floating gossip of Catholic society, never heard of, never
493 whispered, till the second stage of the quarrel, when it had developed into
494 a passionate contest; never even then alleged in a form in which it could be
495 met and answered. It could not have been hid from Queen Catherine if it was
496 known to Reginald Pole. We have many letters of Catherine, eloquent on the
497 story of her wrongs; letters to the Emperor, letters to the Pope; yet no
498 word of Mary Boleyn. What reason can be given save that it was a legend
499 which grew out of the temper of the time? Nothing could be more plausible
500 than to meet the King's plea of conscience with an allegation which made it
501 ridiculous. But in the public pleadings of a cause which was discussed in
502 every capital in Europe by the keenest lawyers and diplomatists of the age,
503 an accusation which, if maintained, would have been absolutely decisive, is
504 never alluded to in any public document till the question had passed beyond
505 the stage of discussion. The silence of all responsible persons is
506 sufficient proof of its nature. It was a mere floating calumny, born of wind
507 and malice. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
508 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Mr. Brewer does indeed imagine
509 that he has discovered what he describes as a tacit confession on Henry's
510 part. When the Act of Appeals was before the House of Commons which ended
511 the papal jurisdiction in England, a small knot of Opposition members used
512 to meet privately to deliberate how to oppose it. Among these one of the
513 most active was Sir George Throgmorton, a man who afterwards, with his
514 brother Michael, made himself useful to Cromwell and played with both
515 parties, but was then against the divorce and against all the measures which
516 grew out of it. Throgmorton, according to his own account, had been admitted
517 to an interview with the King and Cromwell. In 1537, after the Pilgrimage of
518 Grace, while the ashes of the rebellion were still smouldering, after
519 Michael Throgmorton had betrayed Cromwell's confidence and gone over to
520 Reginald Pole, Sir George was reported to have used certain expressions to
521 Sir Thomas Dyngley and to two other gentlemen, which he was called on by the
522 Council to explain. The letter to the King in which he replied is still
523 extant. He said that he had been sent for by the King after a speech on the
524 Act of Appeals, &amp;quot;and that he saw his Grace's conscience was troubled about
525 having married his brother's wife.&amp;quot; He professed to have said to Dyngley
526 that he had told the King that if he did marry Queen Anne his conscience
527 would be more troubled at length, for it was thought he had meddled both
528 with the mother and the sister; that his Grace said: &amp;quot;Never with the
529 mother,&amp;quot; and my Lord Privy Seal (Cromwell), standing by, said, &amp;quot;nor with the
530 sister neither, so put that out of your mind.&amp;quot; Mr. Brewer construes this
531 into an admission of the King that Mary Boleyn had been his mistress, and
532 omits, of course, by inadvertence, that Throgmorton, being asked why he had
533 told this story to Dyngley, answered that &amp;quot;he spake it only out of
534 vainglory, to show he was one that durst speak for the Commonwealth.&amp;quot;
535 Nothing is more common than for &amp;quot;vainglorious&amp;quot; men, when admitted to
536 conversations with kings, to make the most of what they said themselves, and
537 to report not very accurately what was said to them. Had the conversation
538 been authentic, Throgmorton would naturally have appealed to Cromwell's
539 recollection. But Mr. Brewer accepts the version of a confessed boaster as
540 if it was a complete and trustworthy account of what had actually passed. He
541 does not ask himself whether if the King or Cromwell had given their version
542 it might not have borne another complexion. Henry was not a safe person to
543 take liberties with. Is it likely that if one of his subjects, who was
544 actively opposing him in Parliament, had taxed him with an enormous crime,
545 he would have made a confession which Throgmorton had only to repeat in the
546 House of Commons to ruin him and his cause? Mr. Brewer should have added
547 also that the authority which he gave for the story was no better than
548 Father Peto, afterwards Cardinal Peto, as bitter an enemy of the Reformation
549 as Pole himself. Most serious of all, Mr. Brewer omits to mention that
550 Throgmorton was submitted afterwards to a severe cross-examination before a
551 Committee of Council, the effect of which, if he had spoken truly, could
552 only be to establish the authenticity of a disgraceful charge.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
553 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The last evidence alleged is
554 the confession made by Anne Boleyn, after her condemnation, of some mystery
555 which had invalidated her marriage with the King and had been made the
556 ground of an Act of Parliament. The confession was not published, and
557 Catholic opinion concluded, and concludes still, that it must have been the
558 Mary Boleyn intrigue. Catholic opinion does not pause to inquire whether
559 Anne could have been said to confess an offence of the King and her sister.
560 The cross-examination of Throgmorton turns the conjecture into an absurdity.
561 When asked, in 1537, whom he ever heard say such a thing, he would have had
562 but to appeal to the proceedings in Parliament in the year immediately
563 preceding. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
564 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Is it likely finally that if
565 Throgmorton's examination proves what Mr. Brewer thinks it proves, a record
566 of it would have been preserved among the official State Papers? &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;If all the stories current
568 about Henry VIII. were to be discussed with as much detail as I have allowed
569 to this, the world would not contain the books which should be written. An
570 Irish lawyer told me in my youth to believe nothing which I heard in that
571 country which had not been sifted in a court of justice, and only half of
572 that. Legend is as the air invulnerable, and blows aimed at it, if not
573 &amp;quot;malicious mockery&amp;quot; are waste of effort. Charges of scandalous immorality
574 are precious to controversialists, for if they are disproved ever so
575 completely the stain adheres. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
576 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
577 &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Notes:&lt;/b&gt; 1.
578 &lt;/font&gt;
579 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
580 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
581 The date of Henry's resolution to marry Anne is of some consequence, since
582 the general assumption is that it was the origin of the divorce. Rumour, of
583 course, said so afterwards, but there is no evidence for it. The early
584 love-letters written by the King to her are assigned by Mr. Brewer to the
585 midsummer of 1527. But they are undated, and therefore the period assigned
586 to them is conjecture merely.&lt;/p&gt;
587 &lt;/font&gt;
588 &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;From &lt;i&gt;The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon:
589 The Story as Told by the Imperial Ambassadors Resident at the Court of Henry
590 VIII&lt;/i&gt; by J.A. Froude.&amp;nbsp; Published in New York by C. Scribner's Sons,
591 1891.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
592 &lt;/blockquote&gt;
593&lt;/blockquote&gt;
594
595&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;
596&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;
597&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;
598&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;to Secondary Sources&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
599&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
600&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
601Katharine of Aragon website&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
602 &lt;/font&gt;
603 &lt;/font&gt;
604&lt;blockquote&gt;
605 &lt;blockquote&gt;
606 &lt;font style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
607 &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
608 &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font style=&quot;FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
609 &lt;/font&gt;
610 &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
611 &lt;/font&gt;
612 &lt;/blockquote&gt;
613&lt;/blockquote&gt;
614
615
616
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619</Content>
620</Section>
621</Archive>
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