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2 | <!DOCTYPE Archive SYSTEM "http://greenstone.org/dtd/Archive/1.0/Archive.dtd">
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3 | <Archive>
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4 | <Section>
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5 | <Description>
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6 | <Metadata name="gsdlsourcefilename">import/englishhistory.net/tudor/ab-percy.html</Metadata>
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10 | <Metadata name="Source">ab-percy.html</Metadata>
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11 | <Metadata name="SourceFile">ab-percy.html</Metadata>
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12 | <Metadata name="Language">en</Metadata>
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13 | <Metadata name="Encoding">windows_1252</Metadata>
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14 | <Metadata name="Title">Primary Sources: The romance between Anne Boleyn and Henry Percy, 1523</Metadata>
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15 | <Metadata name="FileFormat">HTML</Metadata>
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16 | <Metadata name="URL">http://englishhistory.net/tudor/ab-percy.html</Metadata>
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19 | <Metadata name="lastmodified">1522032934</Metadata>
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20 | <Metadata name="lastmodifieddate">20180326</Metadata>
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21 | <Metadata name="oailastmodified">1522033091</Metadata>
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22 | <Metadata name="oailastmodifieddate">20180326</Metadata>
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26 | </Description>
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27 | <Content>
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28 |
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29 | <div align="center">
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30 | <center>
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31 | <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="4" width="94%">
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32 | <tr>
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33 | <td valign="bottom" colspan="3">
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34 | <p align="center">&nbsp;<br>
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35 | <p align="center">
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36 | <img border="0" src="_httpdocimg_/1523.gif" alt="Primary Sources: 1523: The romance between Anne Boleyn &amp; Henry Percy" width="417" height="101"><p align="center">&nbsp;</td>
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37 | </tr>
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38 | <tr>
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39 | <td></td>
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40 | <td></td>
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41 | <td></td>
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42 | </tr>
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43 | <tr>
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44 | <td valign="top" width="48%" bgcolor="#FFFFE8"><font size="2">The account
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45 | at right </font><font size="-1">was written by George Cavendish, Cardinal Wolsey's gentleman-usher.</font><p>
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46 | <img SRC="_httpdocimg_/anne2.jpg" ALT="portrait of Anne Boleyn" BORDER=0 height=194 width=139 align=LEFT></p>
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47 | <p><font size="2">Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII.&nbsp;
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48 | The year of her birth is unknown; it was possibly 1501 or 1507.&nbsp; She
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49 | spent her adolescence at the French court but returned home to England in
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50 | 1522.&nbsp; As the daughter of an ambitious courtier and niece of the duke
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51 | of Norfolk, she was invited to serve at court as lady-in-waiting to
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52 | Katharine of Aragon.&nbsp; It was here that she caught the attention of
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53 | King Henry.&nbsp; Anne, however, had fallen in love with Lord Henry Percy,
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54 | heir to the earl of Northumberland.&nbsp; They were secretly engaged and
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55 | planned to marry.&nbsp; As Cavendish's account makes plain, Henry ordered
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56 | Cardinal Wolsey to end the engagement.&nbsp; The Cardinal did so, thus
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57 | earning Anne's lasting enmity.</font></p>
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58 | <p><font size="2">Henry's 'secret love' for Anne was highly controversial,
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59 | and not merely because he was already married.&nbsp; Kings did, after all,
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60 | have mistresses.&nbsp; But he had already had an open affair (and possibly
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61 | a son) with her sister, Mary.&nbsp; His relationship with Anne, however,
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62 | was far more serious.&nbsp; In love and desperate for a legitimate male
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63 | heir, Henry planned to annul his marriage to Katharine of Aragon and marry
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64 | Anne.&nbsp; The pope's refusal to help eventually led Henry to break with
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65 | the church of Rome and declare himself supreme head of a new English
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66 | church.</font></p>
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67 | <p><font size="2">It was all for naught.&nbsp; Anne did not give Henry a
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68 | surviving son and she was executed on 19 May 1536.</font></p>
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69 | <p>&nbsp;</td>
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70 | <td width="4%"></td>
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71 | <td valign="top" width="48%">
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72 |
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73 | <p> I will tell you as best I can how the king's love came about and what
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74 | followed thereafter.&nbsp; When this lady, Mistress Anne Boleyn, was very
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75 | young she was sent to France to be a lady-in-waiting to the French queen.&nbsp;
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76 | When the queen died she was sent back to her father who arranged for her to
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77 | become a lady-in-waiting to queen Catherine, wife of Henry.&nbsp; Such was
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78 | her success in this post, shown both by her exemplary behavior and excellent
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79 | deportment that she quickly outshone all the others.&nbsp; To such an
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80 | extent, in fact, that the flames of desire began to burn secretly in the
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81 | king's breast, unknown to all, least of all to Anne herself. </p>
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82 |
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83 | <p>At this time Lord Percy, the son and heir of the earl of Northumberland,
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84 |
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85 | was aide and secretary to Wolsey, the lord cardinal, and whenever the lord
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86 |
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87 | cardinal happened to be at court Lord Percy would pass the time in the
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88 |
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89 | queen's quarters where he would dally with the ladies-in-waiting.&nbsp;
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90 |
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91 | Of these, he was most familiar with mistress Anne Boleyn, to such an extent
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92 |
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93 | that a secret love grew up between them and they pledged that, in time,
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94 |
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95 | they intended to wed.&nbsp; When knowledge of this reached the king's ears
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96 |
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97 | he was greatly distraught.&nbsp; Realizing that he could no longer hide
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98 |
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99 | his secret love, he revealed all to the lord cardinal and discussed with
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100 |
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101 | him ways of sundering the couple's engagement to each other.
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102 |
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103 | <p>When the lord cardinal had left the court and returned to Westminster,
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104 |
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105 | he remembered Henry's request and summoned Lord Percy to his presence,
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106 |
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107 | saying in front of us, his servants: 'I am amazed at your foolishness in
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108 |
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109 | getting entangled, even engaged, to this silly girl at court - I mean Anne
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110 |
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111 | Boleyn.&nbsp; Have you not considered your position?&nbsp; After the death
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112 |
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113 | of your noble father you stand to inherit one of the greatest earldoms
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114 |
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115 | in the country.&nbsp; It would thus have been more proper if you had sought
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116 |
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117 | the consent of your father in this affair and to have made his highness
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118 |
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119 | the king privy to it, requesting his royal blessing.&nbsp; Had you done
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120 |
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121 | so, he was not only have welcomed your request but would, I can assure
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122 |
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123 | you, have promoted you to a position more suited to your noble estate.&nbsp;
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124 |
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125 | And thence you might have gained the king's favor by your conduct and wise
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126 |
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127 | council and and thus risen further still in his estimation.
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128 |
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129 | <p>'But now look what you have done by your thoughtlessness.&nbsp; You
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130 |
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131 | have not only offended your own father but also your sovereign and pledged
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132 |
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133 | yourself to someone whom neither would agree to be suitable.&nbsp; And
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134 |
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135 | do not doubt that I shall send for your father and when he comes he will
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136 |
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137 | break off this engagement or disinherit you forever.&nbsp; The king himself
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138 |
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139 | will make a complaint to your father and demand no less an action than
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140 |
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141 | I have suggested.&nbsp; Indeed, I happen to know that the king has already
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142 |
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143 | promised this lady to someone else and that though she is not yet aware
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144 |
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145 | of it, the arrangements are already far advanced.&nbsp; The king however,
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146 |
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147 | being a man of great prudence and diplomacy, is confident that, once she
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148 |
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149 | is aware of the situation, she will agree to the union gladly.'
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150 |
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151 | <p>'Sir,' said Lord Percy, weeping, 'I knew nothing of the king's involvement
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152 |
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153 | in all this, and I am sorry to have incurred his displeasure.&nbsp; I considered
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154 |
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155 | myself to be of sufficient age and in a good enough situation to be able
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156 |
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157 | to take a wife of my own choosing and never doubted that my father would
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158 |
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159 | have accepted my decision.&nbsp; And though she is just a simple maid and
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160 |
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161 | her father is only a knight, yet she is of very noble descent.&nbsp; On
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162 |
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163 | her mother's side she has Norfolk blood and on her father's side she is
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164 |
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165 | a direct descendant of the earl of Ormond.&nbsp; Why then, sir, should
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166 |
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167 | I query the suitability of the match when her pedigree is of equal worth
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168 |
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169 | to mine?&nbsp; Thus I humbly beg your favor in this matter and ask you
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170 |
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171 | to beg the king to be benevolent concerning this issue of my engagement,
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172 |
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173 | which I cannot deny, still less break it off?'
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174 |
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175 | <p>'See, gentlemen,' said the lord cardinal to us, 'what nonsense there
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176 |
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177 | is in this willful boy's head!&nbsp; I though that when you heard me explain
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178 |
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179 | the king's involvement in this business you would have relented in your
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180 |
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181 | suit and have submitted yourself to the king's will, allowing his highness
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182 |
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183 | to decide on the matter as he thinks fit.'
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184 |
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185 | <p>'Sir, and so I would,' said Lord Percy, 'but in this matter I have gone
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186 |
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187 | so far that I am no longer able to renounce my commitment in full conscience.'
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188 |
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189 | <p>'What?' said the cardinal, 'Do you think that the king and I do not
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190 |
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191 | know what to do in such a serious matter as this?&nbsp; One thing's for
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192 |
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193 | sure, I can see no point in your making any further pleas in this case.'
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194 |
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195 | <p>'Very well,' said Lord Percy, 'if it please you, I will submit myself
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196 |
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197 | completely to the king's will in this matter and will release my conscience
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198 |
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199 | from the heavy burden of the engagement.'
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200 |
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201 | <p>'So be it, then,' said the cardinal, 'I will send for your father in
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202 |
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203 | the north, and he, the king and I will take whatever measure for the annulment
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204 |
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205 | of this hasty folly the king thinks necessary.&nbsp; And in the meantime,
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206 |
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207 | I order you - and in the king's name command you - not to see her again
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208 |
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209 | if you intend to avoid the full wrath of his majesty.'&nbsp; Having said
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210 |
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211 | this, he got up and went off to his study.
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212 |
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213 | <p>Then the earl of Northumberland was sent for, who, learning of the request
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214 |
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215 | being at the king's command, made great speed to court.&nbsp; his first
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216 |
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217 | port of call after leaving the north was to lord cardinal, by whom he was
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218 |
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219 | briefed about the cause of his hasty summons and with whom he spent a considerable
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220 |
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221 | time in secret discussions.&nbsp; After their long talk, the cardinal ordered
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222 |
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223 | some wine and after they had drunk together the meeting broke up and the
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224 |
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225 | earl left.
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226 |
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227 | <p>As he was leaving, he sat down on a bench that the servants used and
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228 |
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229 | called his son Lord Percy to him, saying, in our presence: 'Son, you have
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230 |
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231 | always been a proud, presumptuous, headstrong wastrel.&nbsp; And you have
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232 |
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233 | so proved yourself once more.&nbsp; What possible joy, comfort, pleasure
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234 |
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235 | or solace could I ever receive from you who have so misconducted yourself
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236 |
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237 | without discretion and in such secrecy.&nbsp; With no regard for your own
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238 |
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239 | father, nor for your sovereign to whom all honest and loyal subjects give
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240 |
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241 | faithful and humble obedience, nor even for your own noble estate, you
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242 |
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243 | have ill-advisedly become engaged to this girl and thereby incurred the
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244 |
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245 | king's displeasure - an action intolerable in any of his subjects!
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246 |
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247 | <p>'If it wasn't for the wisdom of the king and his benevolence towards
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248 |
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249 | your empty-headedness and willful stupidity, his wrath would have been
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250 |
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251 | sufficient to cast me and all my family for generations to come into abject
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252 |
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253 | poverty and desolation.&nbsp; But by the supreme goodness of his grace
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254 |
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255 | and the worthy lord cardinal, I have been excused your transgression -
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256 |
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257 | they have decided to pity your stupidity rather than blame it - and have
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258 |
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259 | presented me with a command concerning you and your future conduct.
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260 |
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261 | <p>'I pray to God that this may serve as sufficient warning to you to conduct
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262 |
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263 | yourself with more care hereafter, for I can assure you that, if you do
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264 |
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265 | not amend your ways, you will be the last earl of Northumberland if I have
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266 |
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267 | anything to do with it.&nbsp; You do nothing but waste and consume everything
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268 |
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269 | that all your ancestors have built up and cherished with great honor.&nbsp;
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270 |
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271 | But in the name of the good and gracious king, I intend - God willing -
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272 |
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273 | so to arrange my succession that you will benefit from it but little.&nbsp;
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274 |
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275 | For I have no intention, I can assure you, of making you my heir.&nbsp;
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276 |
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277 | I have, after all, praise be to God, a wide choice of sons who will, I
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278 |
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279 | am sure, prove themselves worthier than you and abler to conduct themselves
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280 |
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281 | as true nobles should.&nbsp; And from these I will choose the best as my
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282 |
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283 | successor.
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284 |
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285 | <p>'Now gentlemen,' he said to us servants, 'it may so happen that when
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286 |
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287 | I am dead you will see these things that I have spoken of to my son prove
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288 |
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289 | to be the case.&nbsp; Yet in the meantime, I would be grateful if you could
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290 |
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291 | be his friends and tell him when he strays from the path or is at fault.'&nbsp;
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292 |
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293 | And with that he took his leave of us and said to his son: 'Go on your
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294 |
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295 | way and serve the lord cardinal, your master, and make sure you carry out
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296 |
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297 | your duty.'&nbsp; And thus he departed and went down through the hall and
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298 |
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299 | out to his barge.
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300 |
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301 | <p>After much debate and consultation about lord Percy's case it was finally
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302 | decided that his engagement to Anne Boleyn should be dissolved and that he
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303 | should instead marry one of the earl of Shrewsbury's daughters, Mary Talbot,
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304 | which he later did.<p>&nbsp;<p align="center">
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305 | <a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=1&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2fboleyn.html">
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306 | <font size="2">to the Anne
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307 | Boleyn website</font></a></p>
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308 | <p align="center"><a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=1&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fprimary.html">
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309 | <font size="2">to Primary Sources</font></a></td>
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310 | </tr>
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311 | </table>
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312 | </center>
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313 | </div>
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314 |
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315 |
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316 |
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319 | </Content>
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320 | </Section>
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321 | </Archive>
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