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    <Metadata name="Content">Secondary Sources: The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, by JA Froude: Chapter One</Metadata>
    <Metadata name="Page_topic">Secondary Sources: The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, by JA Froude: Chapter One</Metadata>
    <Metadata name="Author">Marilee Mongello</Metadata>
    <Metadata name="Title">Secondary Sources: The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, by JA Froude: Chapter Two</Metadata>
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    &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
    &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;
    &lt;font size=&quot;5&quot;&gt;by 
    JA Froude, 1891&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
    &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;
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&lt;blockquote&gt;
  &lt;blockquote&gt;
    &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
    &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
    &lt;div align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;
      &lt;b&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;CHAPTER TWO&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;blockquote&gt;
      &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;Mission of Wolsey to Paris -- 
      Visits Bishop Fisher on the way -- Anxieties of the Emperor -- Letter of 
      the Emperor to Henry VIII. -Large offers to Wolsey -- Address of the 
      French Cardinals to the Pope -- Anne Boleyn chosen by Henry to succeed 
      Catherine -- Surprise and displeasure of Wolsey -- Fresh attempts of the 
      Emperor to bribe him -- Wolsey forced to continue to advocate the divorce 
      -Mission of Dr. Knight to Rome -- The Pope at Orvieto -- The King applies 
      for a dispensation to make a second marriage -- Language of the 
      dispensation demanded -- Inferences drawn from it -- Alleged intrigue 
      between the King and Mary Boleyn. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;/blockquote&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;IT was believed at the time -- 
    and it was the tradition afterwards -- that Wolsey, in his mission to Paris, 
    intended to replace Catherine by a French princess, the more surely to 
    commit Francis to the support of Henry in the divorce, and to strengthen the 
    new alliance. Nothing can be inherently more likely. The ostensible reason, 
    however, was to do away with any difficulties which might have been 
    suggested by the objection of the Bishop of Tarbes to the legitimacy of the 
    Princess Mary. If illegitimate, she would be no fitting bride for the Duke 
    of Orleans. But she had been born &lt;i&gt;bonâ fide parentum.&lt;/i&gt; There was no 
    intention of infringing her prospective rights or of altering her present 
    position. Her rank and title were to be secured to her in amplest measure.
    &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Cardinal went upon his 
    journey with the splendour attaching to his office and befitting a churchman 
    who was aspiring to be the spiritual president of the two kingdoms. On his 
    way to the coast he visited two prelates whose support to his policy was 
    important. Archbishop Warham had been cold about the divorce, if not openly 
    hostile. Wolsey found him &amp;quot;not much changed from his first fashion,&amp;quot; but 
    admitting that, although it might be unpleasant to the Queen, truth and 
    justice must prevail. Bishop Fisher was a more difficult subject. He had 
    spoken in the Legate's court in Catherine's favour. It was from him, as the 
    King supposed, that Catherine herself had learnt what was impending over 
    her. Wolsey called at his palace as he passed through Rochester. He asked 
    the Bishop plainly if he had been in communication with the Queen. The 
    Bishop, after some hesitation, confessed that the Queen had sought his 
    advice, and said that he had declined to give an opinion without the King's 
    command. Before Wolsey left London, at a last interview at York Place, the 
    King had directed him to explain &amp;quot;the whole matter&amp;quot; to the Bishop. He went 
    through the entire history, mentioned the words of the Bishop of Tarbes, and 
    discussed the question which had risen upon it, on account of which he had 
    been sent into France. Finally, he described the extreme violence with which 
    Catherine had received the intelligence. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Bishop greatly blamed the 
    conduct of the Queen, and said he thought that if he might speak to her he 
    might bring her to submission. He agreed, or seemed to agree, that the 
    marriage had been irregular, though he did not himself think that it could 
    now be broken. Others of the bishops, he thought, agreed with him; but he 
    was satisfied that the King meant nothing against the laws of God, and would 
    be fully justified in submitting his misgivings to the Pope.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Mendoza's and the Queen's 
    letters had meanwhile been despatched to Spain, to add to the anxieties 
    which were overwhelming the Emperor. Nothing could have been less welcome at 
    such a juncture than a family quarrel with his uncle of England, whose 
    friendship he was still hoping to retain. The bird that he had caged at Rome 
    was no convenient prisoner. The capture of Rome had not been ordered by 
    himself, though politically he was obliged to maintain it. The time did not 
    suit for the ambitious Church reforms of Lope de Soria. Peace would have to 
    be made with the Pope on some moderate conditions. His own Spain was hardly 
    quieted after the revolt of the &lt;i&gt;Comunidades.&lt;/i&gt; Half Germany was in 
    avowed apostasy from the Church of Rome. The Turks were overrunning Hungary, 
    and sweeping the Mediterranean with their pirate fleets, and the passionate 
    and restless Francis was watching his opportunity to revenge Pavia and 
    attack his captor in the Low Countries and in Italy. The great Emperor was 
    moderate, cautious, prudent to a fault. In a calmer season he might have 
    been tempted to take the Church in hand; and none understood better the 
    condition into which it had fallen. But he was wise enough to know that if a 
    reform of the Papacy was undertaken at all it must be undertaken with the 
    joint consent of the other Christian princes, and all his present efforts 
    were directed to peace. He was Catherine's natural guardian. Her position in 
    England had been hitherto a political security for Henry's friendship. It 
    was his duty and his interest to defend her, and he meant to do it; not, 
    however, by sending roving expeditions to land in Cornwall and raise a civil 
    war; all means were to be tried before that; to attempt such a thing, he 
    well knew, would throw Europe into a blaze. The letters found him at 
    Valladolid. He replied, of course, that he was shocked at a proceeding so 
    unlooked for and so scandalous, but he charged Mendoza to be moderate and to 
    confine himself to remonstrance. He wrote himself to Henry -- 
    confidentially, as from friend to friend, and ciphering his letter with his 
    own hand. He was unable to believe, he said, that Henry could contemplate 
    seriously bringing his domestic discomforts before the world. Even supposing 
    the marriage illegitimate -- even supposing that the Pope had no power to 
    dispense in such cases -- &amp;quot;it would be better and more honourable to keep 
    the matter secret, and to work out a remedy.&amp;quot; He bade Mendoza remind the 
    King that to question the dispensing power affected the position of other 
    princes besides his own; that to touch the legitimacy of his daughter would 
    increase the difficulties with the succession, and not remove them. He 
    implored the King &amp;quot;to keep the matter secret, as he would do himself.&amp;quot; 
    Meanwhile, he told Mendoza, for Catherine's comfort, that he had written to 
    demand a mild brief from the Pope to stop the scandal. He had requested him, 
    as Catherine had suggested, to revoke Wolsey's powers, or at least to 
    command that neither he nor any English Court should try the case. If heard 
    at all it must be heard before his Holiness and the Sacred College. But he 
    could not part with the hope that he might still bring Wolsey to his own and 
    the Queen's side. A council of Cardinals was to meet at Avignon to consider 
    the Pope's captivity. The Cardinal of England was expected to attend. 
    Charles himself might go to Perpignan. Wolsey might meet him there, discuss 
    the state of Europe, and settle the King's secret affair at the same time.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;/font&gt;
    &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
    &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 
    this be impossible, he charged Mendoza once more to leave no stone unturned 
    to recover Wolsey's friendship. &amp;quot;In our name,&amp;quot; he said, &amp;quot;you will make him 
    the following offers: -- &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &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 
    payment of all arrears on his several pensions, amounting to 9,000 ducats 
    annually. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &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 
    thousand additional ducats annually until such a time as a bishoprick or 
    other ecclesiastical endowment of the same revenue becomes vacant in our 
    kingdom. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &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 
    Duke, who is to have Milan, to give him a Marquisate in that Duchy, with an 
    annual rent of 12,000 ducats, or 15,000 if the smaller sum be not enough; 
    the said Marquisate to be held by the Cardinal during his life, and to pass 
    after him to any heir whom he shall appoint.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;As if this was not sufficient, 
    the Emperor' paid a yet further tribute to the supposed all-powerful 
    Cardinal. He wrote himself to him as to his &amp;quot;good friend.&amp;quot; He said that if 
    there was anything in his dominions which the Cardinal wished to possess he 
    had only to name it, as he considered Wolsey the best friend that he had in 
    the world.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;For the ministers of great 
    countries deliberately to sell themselves to foreign princes was the custom 
    of the age. The measure of public virtue which such a custom indicates was 
    not exalted; and among the changes introduced by the Reformation the 
    abolition or suspension of it was not the least beneficial. Thomas Cromwell, 
    when he came to power, set the example of refusal, and corruption of public 
    men on a scale so scandalously enormous was no more heard of. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;/font&gt;
    &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
    &lt;p&gt;Gold, however, had flowed in upon Wolsey in such enormous streams and 
    from so many sources that the Emperor's munificence and attention failed to 
    tempt him. On reaching Paris he found Francis bent upon war, and willing to 
    promise anything for Henry's assistance. The belief at the French Court was 
    that the Emperor, hearing that the Churches of England and France meant to 
    decline from their obedience to the Roman Communion, would carry the Pope to 
    Spain; that Clement would probably be poisoned there, and the Apostolic See 
    would be established permanently in the Peninsula. Wolsey himself wrote 
    this, and believed it, or desired Henry to believe it, proving the extreme 
    uncertainty among the best-informed of contemporary politicians as to the 
    probable issue of the capture of Rome. The French Cardinals drew and sent an 
    address to the Pope, intimating that as long as he was in confinement they 
    could accept no act of his as lawful, and would not obey it. Wolsey signed 
    at the head of them. The Cardinals Salviati, Bourbon, Lorraine, and the 
    Chancellor Cardinal of Sens, signed after him. The first stroke in the game 
    had been won by Wolsey. Had the Pope recalled his powers as legate, an 
    immediate schism might have followed. But a more fatal blow had been 
    prepared for him by his master in England. Trusting to the Cardinal's 
    promises that the Pope would make no difficulty about the divorce, Henry had 
    considered himself at liberty to choose a successor to Catherine. He had 
    suffered once in having allowed politics to select a wife for him. This time 
    he intended to be guided by his own inclination. When Elizabeth afterwards 
    wished to marry Leicester, Lord Sussex said she had better fix after her own 
    liking; there would be the better chance of the heir that her realm was 
    looking for. Her father fixed also after his liking in selecting Elizabeth's 
    mother. &lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;/font&gt;
    &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
    &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Anne Boleyn was the second 
    daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, a Norfolk knight of ancient blood, and 
    himself a person of some distinction in the public service. Lady Boleyn was 
    a Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. Anne was born in 1507, and by 
    birth and connection was early introduced into the court. When a girl she 
    was taken to Paris to be educated. In 1522 she was brought back to England, 
    became a lady-in-waiting, and, being a witty, brilliant young woman, 
    attracted and encouraged the attentions of the fashionable cavaliers of the 
    day. Wyatt, the poet, was among her adorers, and the young Percy, afterwards 
    Earl of Northumberland. It was alleged afterwards that between her and Percy 
    there had been a secret marriage which had been actually consummated. That 
    she had been involved in some dangerous intrigue or other she herself 
    subsequently confessed. But she was attractive, she was witty; she drew 
    Henry's fancy, and the fancy became an ardent passion. Now, for the first 
    time, in Wolsey's absence, the Lady Anne's name appears in connection with 
    the divorce. On the 16th of August Mendoza informed Charles, as a matter of 
    general belief, that if the suit for the divorce was successful the King 
    would marry a daughter of Master Boleyn, whom the Emperor would remember as 
    once ambassador at the Imperial court. There is no direct evidence that 
    before Wolsey had left England the King had seriously thought of Anne at 
    all. Catherine could have had no suspicion of it, or her jealous indignation 
    would have made itself heard. The Spanish Ambassador spoke of it as a new 
    feature in the case. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Boleyns were Wolsey's 
    enemies, and belonged to the growing faction most hostile to the Church. The 
    news as it came upon him was utterly distasteful. (1) Anne in turn hated 
    Wolsey, as he probably knew that she would, and she compelled him to stoop 
    to the disgrace of suing for her favour. The inference is reasonable, 
    therefore, that the King took the step which in the event was to produce 
    such momentous consequences when the Cardinal was not at hand to dissuade 
    him. He was not encouraged even by her own family. Her father, as will be 
    seen hereafter, was from the first opposed to his daughter's advancement. He 
    probably knew her character too well. But Henry, when he had taken an idea 
    into his head, was not to be moved from it. The lady was not beautiful: she 
    was rather short than tall, her complexion was dark, her neck long, her 
    mouth broad, her figure not particularly good. The fascinating features were 
    her long flowing brown hair, a pair of effective dark eyes, and a boldness 
    of character which might have put him on his guard, and did not. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The immediate effect was to 
    cool Wolsey's ardour for the divorce. His mission in France, which opened so 
    splendidly, eventuated in little. The French cardinals held no meeting at 
    Avignon. They had signed the address to Clement, but they had not made the 
    Cardinal of York into their patriarch. Rouen was not added to his other 
    preferments. Could he but have proposed a marriage for his sovereign with 
    the Princess of Alencon, all might have been different, but it had fared 
    with him as it fared with the Earl of Warwick, whom Henry's grandfather had 
    sent to France to woo a bride for him, and in his absence married Elizabeth 
    Grey. He perhaps regretted the munificent offers of the Emperor which he had 
    hastily rejected, and he returned to England in the autumn to feel the 
    consequences of the change in his situation. Mr. Brewer labours in vain to 
    prove that Wolsey was unfavourable to the divorce from the beginning. 
    Catherine believed that he was the instigator of it. Mendoza was of the same 
    opinion. Unquestionably he promoted it with all his power, and made it a 
    part of a great policy. To maintain that he was acting thus against his 
    conscience and to please the King is more dishonouring to him than to 
    suppose that he was either the originator or the willing instrument. All, 
    however, was altered when Anne Boleyn came upon the stage, and she made 
    haste to make him feel the change. &amp;quot;The Legate has returned from France,&amp;quot; 
    wrote Mendoza on the 26th of October. He went to visit the King at Richmond, 
    and sent to ask where he could see him. The King was in his chamber. It 
    happened that the lady, who seemed to entertain no great affection for the 
    Cardinal, was in the room with the King, and before the latter could answer 
    the message she said for him, &amp;quot;Where else is the Cardinal to come? Tell him 
    he may come here where the King is.&amp;quot; The Legate felt that such treatment 
    boded no good to him, but concealed his resentment. &amp;quot;The cause,&amp;quot; said 
    Mendoza, &amp;quot;is supposed to be that the said lady bears the Legate a grudge, 
    for other reasons, and because she has discovered that during his visit to 
    France the Legate proposed to have an alliance for the King found in that 
    country.&amp;quot; Wolsey persuaded Mendoza that the French marriage had been a 
    fiction, but at once he began to endeavour to undo his work, and prevent the 
    dissolution of the marriage with Catherine. He tried to procure an 
    unfavourable opinion from the English Bishops before legal proceedings were 
    commenced. Mendoza, however, doubted his stability if the King persisted in 
    his purpose, and advised that a papal decision on the case should be 
    procured and forwarded as soon as possible.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Pope's captivity, however, 
    would destroy the value of any judgment which he might give while he 
    continued in durance. The Emperor, encouraged by the intimation that Wolsey 
    was wavering, reverted to his previous hope. In a special memorandum of 
    measures to be taken, the most important, notwithstanding the refusal of the 
    previous offers, was still thought to be to &amp;quot;bribe the Cardinal.&amp;quot; He must 
    instantly be paid the arrears of his pensions out of the revenues of the 
    sees of Palencia and Badajoz. If there was not money enough in the treasury, 
    a further and larger pension of twelve or fourteen thousand crowns was to be 
    given to him out of some rich bishopric in Castile. The Emperor admitted 
    that he had promised the Cortes to appoint no more foreigners to Spanish 
    sees, but such a promise could not be held binding, being in violation of 
    the liberties of the Church. Every one would see that it was for the good of 
    the kingdom. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The renewed offer was doubtless 
    conveyed to Wolsey, but he probably found that he had gone too deep to 
    retire. If he made such an effort as Mendoza relates, he must have speedily 
    discovered that it would be useless. He had encouraged the King in a belief 
    that the divorce would be granted by the Pope as a matter of course, and the 
    King, having made up his own mind, was not to be moved from it. If Wolsey 
    now drew back, the certain inference would be that he had accepted an 
    imperial bribe. There was no resource, therefore, but to go on. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;While Wolsey had been 
    hesitating, the King had, unknown to him, sent his secretary, Dr. Knight, to 
    Rome with directions to obtain access if possible to the Pope, and procure 
    the dispensation which had been already applied for to enable him to marry a 
    second time without the formalities of a judgment. Such an expedient would 
    be convenient in many ways. It would leave Catherine's position unaffected 
    and the legitimacy of the Princess Mary unimpugned. Knight went. He found 
    that without a passport he could not even enter the city, still less be 
    allowed an interview. &amp;quot;With ten thousand crowns he could not bribe his way 
    into St. Angelo.&amp;quot; He contrived, however, to have a letter introduced, which 
    the Pope answered by telling Knight to wait in some quiet place. He (the 
    Pope) would &amp;quot;there send him all the King's requests in as ample a form as 
    they were desired.&amp;quot; Knight trusted in a short time &amp;quot;to have in his custody 
    as much, perfect, sped, and under lead, as his Highness had long time 
    desired.&amp;quot;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Knight was too sanguine. The 
    Emperor, finding the Pope's detention as a prisoner embarrassing, allowed 
    him, on the 9th of December, to escape to Orvieto, where he was apparently 
    at liberty; but he was only in a larger cage, all his territories being 
    occupied by Imperial troops, and he himself watched by the General of the 
    Observants, and warned at his peril to grant nothing to Catherine's 
    prejudice. Henry's Secretary followed him, saw him, and obtained something 
    which on examination proved to be worthless. The negotiations were left 
    again in Wolsey's hands, and were pressed with all the eagerness of a 
    desperate man. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &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 
    free agent. He did not look to the rights of the case. He would gladly have 
    pleased Henry could he have pleased him without displeasing Charles. The 
    case itself was peculiar, and opinions differed on the rights and wrongs of 
    it. The reader must be from time to time reminded that, as the law of 
    England has stood ever since, a marriage with a brother's widow was not a 
    marriage. As the law of the Church then stood, it was not a marriage unless 
    permitted by the Pope; and according to the same law of England the Pope 
    neither has, nor ever had, any authority to dispense with the law. Therefore 
    Henry, on the abstract contention, was in the right. He had married 
    Catherine under an error. The problem was to untie the knot with as little 
    suffering to either as the nature of the case permitted. That the 
    negotiations were full of inconsistencies, evasions, and contradictions, was 
    natural and inevitable. To cut the knot without untying it was the only 
    direct course, but that all means were exhausted before the application of 
    so violent a remedy was rather a credit than a reproach. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The first inconsistency was in 
    the King. He did not regard his marriage as valid; therefore he thought 
    himself at liberty to marry again; but he did not wish to illegitimatise his 
    daughter or degrade Catherine. He disputed the validity of the dispensation 
    of Julius II.; yet he required a dispensation from Clement which was equally 
    questionable to enable him to take a second wife. The management of the case 
    having reverted to Wolsey, fresh instructions were sent to Sir Gregory 
    Casalis, the regular English agent at the Papal court, to wait on Clement. 
    Casalis was &amp;quot;bid consider how much the affair concerned the relief of the 
    King's conscience, the safety of his soul, the preservation of his life, the 
    continuation of his succession, the welfare and repose of all his subjects 
    now and hereafter.&amp;quot; The Pope at Orvieto was personally accessible. Casalis 
    was to represent to him the many difficulties which had arisen in connection 
    with the marriage, and the certainty of civil war in England should the King 
    die leaving the succession no better provided for. He was, therefore, to 
    request the Pope to grant a commission to Wolsey to hear the case and to 
    decide it, and (perhaps as an alternative) to sign a dispensation, a draft 
    of which Wolsey enclosed. The language of the dispensation was peculiar. 
    Wolsey explained it by saying that &amp;quot;the King, remembering by the example of 
    past times what false claims [to the crown] had been put forward, to avoid 
    all colour or pretext of the same, desired this of the Pope as absolutely 
    necessary.&amp;quot; If these two requests were conceded, Henry undertook on his part 
    to require the Emperor to set the Pope at liberty, or to declare war against 
    him if he refused. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;A dispensation, which was to 
    evade the real point at issue, yet to convey to the King a power to take 
    another wife, was a novelty in itself and likely to be carefully worded. It 
    has given occasion among modern historians to important inferences 
    disgraceful to everyone concerned. The sinister meaning supposed to be 
    obvious to modern critics could not have been concealed from the Pope 
    himself. Here, therefore, follow the words which have been fastened on as 
    for ever fatal to the intelligence and character of Henry and his Ministers.
    &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The Pope, after reviewing the 
    later history of England, the distractions caused by rival claimants of the 
    crown, after admitting the necessity of guarding against the designs of the 
    ambitious, and empowering Henry to marry again, was made to address the King 
    in these words: -- &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &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 
    occasion from evil doers, we do in the plenitude of our power hereby suspend
    &lt;i&gt;hâc vice&lt;/i&gt; all canons forbidding marriage in the fourth degree, also 
    all canons &lt;i&gt;de impedimento publicœ honestatis&lt;/i&gt; preventing marriage in 
    consequence of clandestine espousals, further all canons relating to 
    precontracts clandestinely made but not consummated, also all canons 
    affecting impediments created by affinity rising &lt;i&gt;ex illicito coitu,&lt;/i&gt; 
    in any degree even in the first, so far as the marriage to be contracted by 
    you, the petitioner, can be objected to or in any wise be impugned by the 
    same. Further, to avoid canonical objections on the side of the woman by 
    reason of former contract clandestinely made, or impediment of public 
    honesty or justice arising from such clandestine contract, or of any 
    affinity contracted in any degree even the first, &lt;i&gt;ex illicito coitu:&lt;/i&gt; 
    and in the event that it has proceeded beyond the second or third degrees of 
    consanguinity, whereby otherwise you, the petitioner, would not be allowed 
    by the canons to contract marriage, we hereby license you to take such woman 
    for wife, and suffer you and the woman to marry free from all ecclesiastical 
    objections and censures.&amp;quot; &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The explanation given by Wolsey 
    of the wording of this document is that it was intended to preclude any 
    objections which might be raised to the prejudice of the offspring of a 
    marriage in itself irregular. It was therefore made as comprehensive as 
    possible. Dr. Lingard, followed by Mr. Brewer, and other writers see in it a 
    transparent personal application to the situation in which Henry intended to 
    place himself in making a wife of Anne Boleyn. Two years subsequent to the 
    period when this dispensation was asked for, when the question of the 
    divorce had developed into a battle between England and the Papacy, and the 
    passions of Catholics and Reformers were boiling over in recrimination and 
    invective, the King's plea that he was parting from Catherine out of 
    conscience was met by stories set floating in society that the King himself 
    had previously intrigued with the mother and sister of the lady whom he 
    intended to marry; precisely the same obstacle existed, therefore, to his 
    marriage with Anne, being further aggravated by incest. No attempt was ever 
    made to prove these charges; no particulars were given of time or place. No 
    witnesses were produced, nor other evidence, though to prove them would have 
    been of infinite importance. Queen Catherine, who if any one must have known 
    it if the accusation was true, never alludes to Mary Boleyn in the fiercest 
    of her denunciations. It was heard of only in the conversation of 
    disaffected priests or secret visitors to the Spanish Ambassador, and was 
    made public only in the manifesto of Reginald Pole, which accompanied Paul 
    III.'s Bull for Henry's deposition. Even this authority, which was not much 
    in itself, is made less by the fact that in the first draft of &amp;quot;Pole's 
    Book,&amp;quot; sent to England to be examined in 1535, the story is not mentioned. 
    Evidently, therefore, Pole had not then heard of it or did not believe it. 
    The guilt with the mother is now abandoned as too monstrous. The guilt with 
    the sister is peremptorily insisted on, and the words of the dispensation 
    are appealed to as no longer leaving room for doubt. To what else, it is 
    asked, can such extraordinary expressions refer unless to some disgraceful 
    personal &lt;i&gt;liaison?&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The uninstructed who draw 
    inferences of fact from the verbiage of legal documents will discover often 
    what are called &amp;quot;mare's nests.&amp;quot; I will request the reader to consider what 
    this supposition involves. The dispensation would have to be copied into the 
    Roman registers, subject to the inspection of the acutest canon lawyers in 
    the world. If the meaning is so clear to us, it must have been clear to 
    them. We are, therefore, to believe that Henry, when demanding to be 
    separated from Catherine, as an escape from mortal sin, for the relief of 
    his conscience and the surety of his succession, was gratuitously putting 
    the Pope in possession of a secret which had only to be published to 
    extinguish him and his plea in an outburst of scorn and laughter. &lt;/font&gt;
    &lt;/p&gt;
    &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 
    acknowledgment, for the intrigue could not be proved. It could not be 
    required for the legitimation of the children that were to be born; for a 
    man of Wolsey's ability must have known that no dispensation would be held 
    valid that was granted after so preposterous a confidence. It was as if a 
    man putting in a claim for some great property, before the case came on for 
    trial privately informed both judge and jury that it was based on forgery.
    &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;We are called on to explain 
    further, why, when all Europe was shaken by the controversy, no hint is to 
    be found in any public document of a fact which, if true, would be decisive; 
    and yet more extraordinary, why the Pope and the Curia, when driven to bay 
    in all the exasperation of a furious controversy, left a weapon unused which 
    would have assured them an easy victory. Wolsey was not a fool. Is it 
    conceivable that he would have composed a document so fatal and have drawn 
    the Pope's pointed attention to it? My credulity does not extend so far. We 
    cannot prove a negative; we cannot prove that Henry had not intrigued with 
    Mary Boleyn, or with all the ladies of his court. But the language of the 
    dispensation cannot be adduced as an evidence of it, unless King, Pope, and 
    all the interested world had parted with their senses. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;As to the story itself, there 
    is no ground for distinguishing between the mother and the daughter. When it 
    was first set circulating both were named together. The mother only has been 
    dropped, lest the improbability should seem too violent for belief. That 
    Mary Boleyn had been the King's mistress before or after her own marriage is 
    now asserted as an ascertained fact by respectable historians -- a fact 
    sufficient, can it be proved, to cover with infamy for ever the English 
    separation from Rome, King, Ministers, Parliaments, Bishops, and every one 
    concerned with it. The effectiveness of the weapon commends it to Catholic 
    controversialists. I have only to repeat that the evidence for the charge is 
    nothing but the floating gossip of Catholic society, never heard of, never 
    whispered, till the second stage of the quarrel, when it had developed into 
    a passionate contest; never even then alleged in a form in which it could be 
    met and answered. It could not have been hid from Queen Catherine if it was 
    known to Reginald Pole. We have many letters of Catherine, eloquent on the 
    story of her wrongs; letters to the Emperor, letters to the Pope; yet no 
    word of Mary Boleyn. What reason can be given save that it was a legend 
    which grew out of the temper of the time? Nothing could be more plausible 
    than to meet the King's plea of conscience with an allegation which made it 
    ridiculous. But in the public pleadings of a cause which was discussed in 
    every capital in Europe by the keenest lawyers and diplomatists of the age, 
    an accusation which, if maintained, would have been absolutely decisive, is 
    never alluded to in any public document till the question had passed beyond 
    the stage of discussion. The silence of all responsible persons is 
    sufficient proof of its nature. It was a mere floating calumny, born of wind 
    and malice. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Mr. Brewer does indeed imagine 
    that he has discovered what he describes as a tacit confession on Henry's 
    part. When the Act of Appeals was before the House of Commons which ended 
    the papal jurisdiction in England, a small knot of Opposition members used 
    to meet privately to deliberate how to oppose it. Among these one of the 
    most active was Sir George Throgmorton, a man who afterwards, with his 
    brother Michael, made himself useful to Cromwell and played with both 
    parties, but was then against the divorce and against all the measures which 
    grew out of it. Throgmorton, according to his own account, had been admitted 
    to an interview with the King and Cromwell. In 1537, after the Pilgrimage of 
    Grace, while the ashes of the rebellion were still smouldering, after 
    Michael Throgmorton had betrayed Cromwell's confidence and gone over to 
    Reginald Pole, Sir George was reported to have used certain expressions to 
    Sir Thomas Dyngley and to two other gentlemen, which he was called on by the 
    Council to explain. The letter to the King in which he replied is still 
    extant. He said that he had been sent for by the King after a speech on the 
    Act of Appeals, &amp;quot;and that he saw his Grace's conscience was troubled about 
    having married his brother's wife.&amp;quot; He professed to have said to Dyngley 
    that he had told the King that if he did marry Queen Anne his conscience 
    would be more troubled at length, for it was thought he had meddled both 
    with the mother and the sister; that his Grace said: &amp;quot;Never with the 
    mother,&amp;quot; and my Lord Privy Seal (Cromwell), standing by, said, &amp;quot;nor with the 
    sister neither, so put that out of your mind.&amp;quot; Mr. Brewer construes this 
    into an admission of the King that Mary Boleyn had been his mistress, and 
    omits, of course, by inadvertence, that Throgmorton, being asked why he had 
    told this story to Dyngley, answered that &amp;quot;he spake it only out of 
    vainglory, to show he was one that durst speak for the Commonwealth.&amp;quot; 
    Nothing is more common than for &amp;quot;vainglorious&amp;quot; men, when admitted to 
    conversations with kings, to make the most of what they said themselves, and 
    to report not very accurately what was said to them. Had the conversation 
    been authentic, Throgmorton would naturally have appealed to Cromwell's 
    recollection. But Mr. Brewer accepts the version of a confessed boaster as 
    if it was a complete and trustworthy account of what had actually passed. He 
    does not ask himself whether if the King or Cromwell had given their version 
    it might not have borne another complexion. Henry was not a safe person to 
    take liberties with. Is it likely that if one of his subjects, who was 
    actively opposing him in Parliament, had taxed him with an enormous crime, 
    he would have made a confession which Throgmorton had only to repeat in the 
    House of Commons to ruin him and his cause? Mr. Brewer should have added 
    also that the authority which he gave for the story was no better than 
    Father Peto, afterwards Cardinal Peto, as bitter an enemy of the Reformation 
    as Pole himself. Most serious of all, Mr. Brewer omits to mention that 
    Throgmorton was submitted afterwards to a severe cross-examination before a 
    Committee of Council, the effect of which, if he had spoken truly, could 
    only be to establish the authenticity of a disgraceful charge.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;The last evidence alleged is 
    the confession made by Anne Boleyn, after her condemnation, of some mystery 
    which had invalidated her marriage with the King and had been made the 
    ground of an Act of Parliament. The confession was not published, and 
    Catholic opinion concluded, and concludes still, that it must have been the 
    Mary Boleyn intrigue. Catholic opinion does not pause to inquire whether 
    Anne could have been said to confess an offence of the King and her sister. 
    The cross-examination of Throgmorton turns the conjecture into an absurdity. 
    When asked, in 1537, whom he ever heard say such a thing, he would have had 
    but to appeal to the proceedings in Parliament in the year immediately 
    preceding. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Is it likely finally that if 
    Throgmorton's examination proves what Mr. Brewer thinks it proves, a record 
    of it would have been preserved among the official State Papers? &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;If all the stories current 
    about Henry VIII. were to be discussed with as much detail as I have allowed 
    to this, the world would not contain the books which should be written. An 
    Irish lawyer told me in my youth to believe nothing which I heard in that 
    country which had not been sifted in a court of justice, and only half of 
    that. Legend is as the air invulnerable, and blows aimed at it, if not 
    &amp;quot;malicious mockery&amp;quot; are waste of effort. Charges of scandalous immorality 
    are precious to controversialists, for if they are disproved ever so 
    completely the stain adheres. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;/font&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
    &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Notes:&lt;/b&gt; 1.
    &lt;/font&gt;
    &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
    &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
    The date of Henry's resolution to marry Anne is of some consequence, since 
    the general assumption is that it was the origin of the divorce. Rumour, of 
    course, said so afterwards, but there is no evidence for it. The early 
    love-letters written by the King to her are assigned by Mr. Brewer to the 
    midsummer of 1527. But they are undated, and therefore the period assigned 
    to them is conjecture merely.&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;/font&gt;
    &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;From &lt;i&gt;The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon: 
    The Story as Told by the Imperial Ambassadors Resident at the Court of Henry 
    VIII&lt;/i&gt; by J.A. Froude.&amp;nbsp; Published in New York by C. Scribner's Sons, 
    1891.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;
&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;
&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;
&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;to Secondary Sources&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
&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 
Katharine of Aragon website&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;/font&gt;
    &lt;/font&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
  &lt;blockquote&gt;
    &lt;font style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
    &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman&quot;&gt;
    &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font style=&quot;FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif&quot;&gt;
    &lt;/font&gt;
    &lt;p class=&quot;3text&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;/font&gt;
  &lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;



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