CHAPTER XXX.

HENRY VIII

{1527.} Notwithstanding the submissive deference paid to papal

authority before the reformation, the marriage of Henry with Catharine

of Arragon, his brother’s widow, had not passed without much scruple and

difficulty. The prejudices of the people were in general bent against a

conjugal union between such near relations; and the late king, though he

had betrothed his son when that prince was but twelve years of age, gave

evident proofs of his intention to take afterwards a proper opportunity

of annulling the contract.[*] He ordered the young prince, as soon as

he came of age, to enter a protestation against the marriage;[**] and on

his death-bed he charged him, as his last injunction, not to finish an

alliance so unusual, and exposed to such insuperable objections. After

the king’s accession, some members of the privy council, particularly

Warham, the primate, openly declared against the resolution of

completing the marriage; and though Henry’s youth and dissipation kept

him, during some time, from entertaining any scruples with regard to the

measure which he had embraced, there happened incidents sufficient

to rouse his attention, and to inform him of the sentiments generally

entertained on that subject. The states of Castile had opposed the

emperor Charles’s espousals with Mary, Henry’s daughter; and among

other objections, had insisted on the illegitimate birth of the young

princess.[***] And when the negotiations were afterwards opened with

France, and mention was made of betrothing her to Francis or the duke

of Orleans, the bishop of Tarbe, the French ambassador, revived the same

objection.[****] But though these events naturally raised some doubts

in Henry’s mind, there concurred other causes, which tended much to

increase his remorse, and render his conscience more scrupulous.

* Morison’s Apomaxis, p. 13.

** Morison’s Apomaxis, p. 13. Heylin’s Queen Mary, p. 2.

*** Lord Herbert, Fiddes’s Life of Wolsey.

**** Rymer vol. xiv. p. 192, 203. Heylin, p. 3.

The queen was older than the king by no less than six years; and the

decay of her beauty, together with particular infirmities and diseases,

had contributed, notwithstanding her blameless character and deportment,

to render her person unacceptable to him. Though she had born him

several children, they all died in early infancy, except one daughter,

and he was the more struck with this misfortune, because the curse of

being childless is the very threatening contained in the Mosaical law

against those who espouse their brother’s widow. The succession, too, of

the crown was a consideration that occurred to every one, whenever

the lawfulness of Henry’s marriage was called in question; and it was

apprehended, that if doubts of Mary’s legitimacy concurred with the

weakness of her sex, the king of Scots, the next heir, would advance his

pretensions, and might throw the kingdom into confusion. The evils, as

yet recent, of civil wars and convulsions arising from a disputed title,

made great impression on the minds of men, and rendered the people

universally desirous of any event which might obviate so irreparable a

calamity. And the king was thus impelled, both by his private passions

and by motives of public interest, to seek the dissolution of his

inauspicious, and, as it was esteemed, unlawful marriage with Catharine.

Henry afterwards affirmed that his scruples arose entirely from private

reflection; and that on consulting his confessor, the bishop of Lincoln,

he found the prelate possessed with the same doubts and difficulties.

The king himself, being so great a casuist and divine, next proceeded to

examine the question more carefully by his own learning and study;

and having had recourse to Thomas of Aquine, he observed that this

celebrated doctor, whose authority was great in the church, and absolute

with him, had treated of that very case, and had expressly declared

against the lawfulness of such marriages.[*]

* Burnet. Fiddes.

The prohibitions, said Thomas, contained in Leviticus, and among the

rest that of marrying a brother’s widow, are moral, eternal, and founded

on a divine sanction; and though the pope may dispense with the rules

of the church, the laws of God cannot be set aside by any authority

less than that which enacted them. The archbishop of Canterbury was

then applied to; and he was required to consult his brethren: all the

prelates of England, except Fisher, bishop of Rochester unanimously

declared, under their hand and seal, that they deemed the king’s

marriage unlawful.[*] Wolsey also fortified the king’s scruples;[**]

partly with a view of promoting a total breach with the emperor,

Catharine’s nephew; partly desirous of connecting the king more closely

with Francis, by marrying him to the duchess of Alençon, sister to that

monarch; and perhaps, too, somewhat disgusted with the queen herself,

who had reproved him for certain freedoms, unbefitting his character and

station,[***] But Henry was carried forward, though perhaps not at first

excited, by a motive more forcible than even the suggestions of that

powerful favorite.

Anne Boleyn, who lately appeared at court, had been appointed maid of

honor to the queen; and having had frequent opportunities of being

seen by Henry, and of conversing with him, she had acquired an entire

ascendant over his affections. This young lady, whose grandeur and

misfortunes have rendered her so celebrated, was daughter of Sir Thomas

Boleyn, who had been employed by the king in several embassies, and

who was allied to all the principal nobility in the kingdom. His wife,

mother to Anne, was daughter of the duke of Norfolk; his own mother was

daughter of the earl of Ormond; his grandfather, Sir Geoffrey Boleyn,

who had been mayor of London, had espoused one of the daughters and

coheirs of Lord Hastings.[****]

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 38. Stowe, p. 548.

** Le Grand, vol. iii. p. 48, 166, 168. Saunders. Heylin, p.

4.

***Burnet, vol. i. p. 38. Strype, vol. i. p. 88.

**** Camden’s Preface to the Life of Elizabeth. Burnet, vol.

i p. 44.

Anne herself, though then in very early youth, had been carried over

to Paris by the king’s sister, when the princess espoused Lewis XII.

of France; and upon the demise of that monarch, and the return of his

dowager into England, this damsel, whose accomplishments even in her

tender years were always much admired, was retained in the service of

Claude, queen of France, spouse to Francis; and after the death of that

princess, she passed into the family of the duchess of Alençon, a woman

of singular merit. The exact time when she returned to England is not

certainly known; but it was after the king had entertained doubts with

regard to the lawfulness of his marriage with Catharine, if the account

is to be credited which he himself afterwards gave of that transaction.

Henry’s scruples had made him break off all conjugal commerce with

the queen; but as he still supported an intercourse of civility and

friendship with her, he had occasion, in the frequent visits which he

paid her, to observe the beauty, the youth, the charms of Anne Boleyn.

Finding the accomplishments of her mind nowise inferior to her exterior

graces, he even entertained the design of raising her to the throne; and

was the more confirmed in this resolution, when he found that her virtue

and modesty prevented all hopes of gratifying his passion in any other

manner. As every motive, therefore, of inclination and policy seemed

thus to concur in making the king desirous of a divorce from Catharine,

and as his prospect of success was inviting, he resolved to make

application to Clement; and he sent Knight, his secretary, to Rome for

that purpose.

That he might not shock the haughty claims of the pontiff, he resolved

not to found the application on any general doubts concerning the papal

power to permit marriage in the nearer degrees of consanguinity; but

only to insist on particular grounds of nullity in the bull which Julius

had granted for the marriage of Henry and Catharine. It was a maxim in

the court of Rome, that if the pope be surprised into any concession, or

grant any indulgence upon false suggestions, the bull may afterwards be

annulled; and this pretence had usually been employed wherever one pope

had recalled any deed executed by any of his predecessors. But Julius’s

bull, when examined, afforded abundant matter of this kind; and any

tribunal favorable to Henry needed not want a specious color for

gratifying him in his applications for a divorce. It was said in the

preamble, that the bull had been granted upon his solicitation; though

it was known that, at that time, he was under twelve years of age; it

was also affirmed, as another motive for the bull, that the marriage was

requisite, in order to preserve peace between the two crowns; though it

is certain that there was not then any ground or appearance of quarrel

between them. These false premises in Julius’s bull seemed to afford

Clement a sufficient reason or pretence for annulling it, and granting

Henry a dispensation for a second marriage.[*]

* Collier, Eccles. Hist. vol. ii p. 25, from the Cott. Lib.

Vitel. p. 9

But though the pretext for this indulgence had been less plausible,

the pope was in such a situation that he had the strongest motives to

embrace every opportunity of gratifying the English monarch. He was then

a prisoner in the hands of the emperor; and had no hopes of recovering

his liberty on any reasonable terms, except by the efforts of the league

which Henry had formed with Francis and the Italian powers, in order to

oppose the ambition of Charles. When the English secretary, therefore,

solicited him in private, he received a very favorable answer: and a

dispensation was forthwith promised to be granted to his master.[*]

Soon after, the march of a French army into Italy, under the command of

Lautrec, obliged the imperialists to restore Clement to his liberty; and

he retired to Orvietto, where the secretary, with Sir Gregory Cassali,

the king’s resident at Rome, renewed their applications to him. They

still found him full of high professions of friendship, gratitude, and

attachment to the king; but not so prompt in granting his request

as they expected. The emperor, who had got intelligence of Henry’s

application to Rome, had exacted a promise from the pope, to take

no steps in the affair before he communicated them to the imperial

ministers; and Clement, embarrassed by this promise, and still more

overawed by the emperor’s forces in Italy, seemed willing to postpone

those concessions desired of him by Henry. Importuned, however, by

the English ministers, he at last put into their hands a commission to

Wolsey, as legate, in conjunction with the archbishop of Canterbury,

or any other English prelate, to examine the validity of the king’s

marriage, and of Julius’s dispensation:[**] he also granted them a

provisional dispensation for the king’s marriage with any other person;

and promised to issue a decretal bull, annulling the marriage with

Catharine. But he represented to them the dangerous consequences which

must ensue to him, if these concessions should come to the emperor’s

knowledge; and he conjured them not to publish those papers, or make

any further use of them, till his affairs were in such a situation as to

secure his liberty and independence. And his secret advice was, whenever

they should find the proper time for opening the scene, that they should

prevent all opposition, by proceeding immediately to a conclusion, by

declaring the marriage with Catharine invalid, and by Henry’s instantly

espousing some other person. Nor would it be so difficult, he said

for himself to confirm these proceedings, after they were passed, as

previously to render them valid by his consent and authority.[***]

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 47.

** Rymer, vol. xiv. p. 237.

*** Collier, from Cott. Lib. Vitel. b. 10.

{1528.} When Henry received the commission and dispensation from his

ambassadors, and was informed of the pope’s advice, he laid the

whole before his ministers, and asked their opinion in so delicate a

situation. The English counsellors considered the danger of proceeding

in the manner pointed out to them. Should the pope refuse to ratify a

deed which he might justly call precipitate and irregular, and should

he disavow the advice which he gave in so clandestine a manner, the king

would find his second marriage totally invalidated; the children

which it might bring him declared illegitimate; and his marriage with

Catharine more firmly riveted than ever.[*] And Henry’s apprehensions

of the possibility, or even probability, of such an event, were much

confirmed when he reflected on the character and situation of the

sovereign pontiff.

Clement was a prince of excellent judgment, whenever his timidity, to

which he was extremely subject, allowed him to make full use of

those talents and that penetration with which he was endowed.[**] The

captivity and other misfortunes which he had undergone by entering into

a league against Charles, had so affected his imagination, that he never

afterwards exerted himself with vigor in any public measure; especially

if the interest or inclinations of that potentate stood in opposition to

him. The imperial forces were at that time powerful in Italy, and might

return to the attack of Rome, which was still defenceless, and exposed

to the same calamities with which it had already been overwhelmed. And

besides these dangers, Clement fancied himself exposed to perils which

threatened still more immediately his person and his dignity.

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 51.

** Father Paul, lib. i. Guicciard.

Charles, apprised of the timid disposition of the holy father, threw out

perpetual menaces of summoning a general council; which he represented

as necessary to reform the church, and correct those enormous abuses

which the ambition and avarice of the court of Rome had introduced

into every branch of ecclesiastical administration. The power of the

sovereign pontiff himself, he said, required limitation; his conduct

called aloud for amendment; and even his title to the throne which he

filled might justly be called in question. That pope had always passed

for the natural son of Julian of Medicis, who was of the sovereign

family of Florence; and though Leo X., his kinsman, had declared him

legitimate, upon a pretended promise of marriage between his father and

mother, few believed that declaration to be founded on any just reason

or authority.[*] The canon law, indeed, had been entirely silent with

regard to the promotion of bastards to the papal throne; but, what was

still dangerous, the people had entertained a violent prepossession,

that this stain in the birth of any person was incompatible with so holy

an office. And in another point the canon law was express and positive,

that no man guilty of simony could attain that dignity. A severe bull

of Julius II. had added new sanctions to this law, by declaring that

a simoniacal election could not be rendered valid, even by a posterior

consent of the cardinals. But unfortunately Clement had given to

Cardinal Colonna a billet, containing promises of advancing that

cardinal, in case he himself should attain the papal dignity by his

concurrence; and this billet Colonna, who was in entire dependence on

the emperor, threatened every moment to expose to public view.[**]

While Charles terrified the pope with these menaces, he also allured him

by hopes, which were no less prevalent over his affections. At the time

when the emperor’s forces sacked Rome, and reduced Clement to captivity,

the Florentines, passionate for their ancient liberty, had taken

advantage of his distresses, and revolting against the family of

Medicis, had entirely abolished their authority in Florence, and

reëstablished the democracy. The better to protect themselves in their

freedom, they had entered into the alliance with France, England, and

Venice, against the emperor; and Clement found that by this interest,

the hands of his confederates were tied from assisting him in the

restoration of his family; the event which, of all others, he most

passionately desired. The emperor alone, he knew, was able to effect

this purpose; and therefore, whatever professions he made of fidelity

to his allies, he was always, on the least glimpse of hope, ready

to embrace every proposal of a cordial reconciliation with that

monarch.[***]

* Father Paul lib. i.

** Father Paul, lib. i.

*** Father Paul.

These views and interests of the pope were well known in England; and as

the opposition of the emperor to Henry’s divorce was foreseen, both

on account of the honor and interests of Catharine, his aunt, and the

obvious motive of distressing an enemy, it was esteemed dangerous

to take any measure of consequence, in expectation of the subsequent

concurrence of a man of Clement’s character, whose behavior always

contained so much duplicity, and who was at present so little at his own

disposal. The safest measure seemed to consist in previously engaging

him so far, that he could not afterwards recede, and in making use of

his present ambiguity and uncertainty, to extort the most important

concessions from him. For this purpose, Stephen Gardiner, the cardinal’s

secretary, and Edward Fox, the king’s almoner, were despatched to Rome,

and were ordered to solicit a commission from the pope, of such a

nature as would oblige him to confirm the sentence of the commissioners,

whatever it should be, and disable him on any account to recall the

commission, or evoke the cause to Rome.[*]

But the same reasons which made the king so desirous of obtaining this

concession, confirmed the pope in the resolution of refusing it: he

was still determined to keep the door open for an agreement with the

emperor; and he made no scruple of sacrificing all other considerations

to a point, which he deemed the most essential and important to his own

security, and to the greatness of his family. He granted, therefore, a

new commission, in which Cardinal Campeggio was joined to Wolsey, for

the trial of the king’s marriage; but he could not be prevailed on to

insert the clause desired of him. And though he put into Gardiner’s hand

a letter, promising not to recall the present commission, this promise

was found, on examination, to be couched in such ambiguous terms, as

left him still the power, whenever he pleased, of departing from it.[**]

* Lord Herbert. Burnet, vol. i. p. 29, in the Collect. Le

Grand, vol iii. p. 28. Strype, vol. i. p. 93, with App. No.

23-24, etc.

** Lord Herbert, p. 221 Burnet, p. 59.

Campeggio lay under some obligations to the king; but his dependence on

the pope was so much greater, that he conformed himself entirely to the

views of the latter; and though he received his commission in April,

he delayed his departure under so many pretences, that it was October

before he arrived in England. The first step which he took was to exhort

the king to desist from the prosecution of his divorce; and finding

that this counsel gave offence, he said, that his intention was also to

exhort the queen to take the vows in a convent, and that he thought

it his duty previously to attempt an amicable composure of all

differences.[* ]The more to pacify the king, he showed to him, as also

to the cardinal the decretal bull, annulling the former marriage with

Catharine; but no entreaties could prevail on him to make any other of

the king’s council privy to the secret.[**] In order to atone in some

degree for this obstinacy, he expressed to the king and the cardinal the

pope’s great desire of satisfying them in every reasonable demand; and

in particular, he showed that their request for suppressing some more

monasteries, and converting them into cathedrals and episcopal sees, had

obtained the consent of his holiness.[***]

These ambiguous circumstances in the behavior of the pope and the

legate, kept the court of England in suspense, and determined the king

to wait with patience the issue of such uncertain councils.

{1529.} Fortune, meanwhile, seemed to promise him a more sure and

expeditious way of extricating himself from his present difficulties.

Clement was seized with a dangerous illness; and the intrigues, for

electing his successor, began already to take place among the cardinals.

Wolsey, in particular, supported by the interest of England and of

France, entertained hopes of mounting the throne of St. Peter;[****] and

it appears, that if a vacancy had then happened, there was a probability

of his reaching that summit of his ambition. But the pope recovered,

though after several relapses; and he returned to the same train of

false and deceitful politics, by which he had hitherto amused the court

of England. Be still flattered Henry with professions of the most

cordial attachment, and promised him a sudden and favorable issue to his

process: he still continued his secret negotiations with Charles, and

persevered in the resolution of sacrificing all his promises, and all

the interests of the Romish religion, to the elevation of his family.

Campeggio, who was perfectly acquainted with his views and intentions,

protracted the decision by the most artful delays; and gave Clement full

leisure to adjust all the terms of his treaty with the emperor.

* Herbert, p 225.

** Burnet, p. 58.

*** Rymer, vol xiv. p. 270. Strype, vol.i. p. 110, 111. App.

No 28

**** Burnet, vol. i. p. 63.

The emperor, acquainted with the king’s extreme earnestness in this

affair, was determined that he should obtain success by no other

means than by an application to him and by deserting his alliance with

Francis, which had hitherto supported, against the superior force

of Spain, the tottering state of the French monarchy. He willingly

hearkened, therefore, to the applications of Catharine, his aunt; and

promising her his utmost protection, exhorted her never to yield to the

malice and persecutions of her enemies. The queen herself was naturally

of a firm and resolute temper; and was engaged by every motive to

persevere in protesting against the injustice to which she thought

herself exposed. The imputation of incest, which was thrown upon her

marriage with Henry, struck her with the highest indignation: the

illegitimacy of her daughter, which seemed a necessary consequence, gave

her the most just concern: the reluctance of yielding to a rival, who,

she believed, had supplanted her in the king’s affections, was a very

natural motive. Actuated by all these considerations, she never

ceased soliciting her nephew’s assistance, and earnestly entreating

an evocation of the cause to Rome, where alone, she thought, she could

expect justice. And the emperor, in all his negotiations with the pope,

made the recall of the commission which Campeggio and Wolsey exercised

in England a fundamental article.[*]

* Herbert, p. 225. Burnet, vol i. p. 69.

The two legates, meanwhile, opened their court at London, and cited the

king and queen to appear before it. They both presented themselves; and

the king answered to his name, when called: but the queen, instead of

answering to hers rose from her seat, and throwing herself at the king’s

feet, made a very pathetic harangue, which her virtue, her dignity, and

her misfortunes rendered the more affecting. She told him, that she

was a stranger in his dominions, without protection, without council,

without assistance; exposed to all the injustice which her enemies were

pleased to impose upon her: that she had quitted her native country

without other resource than her connections with him and his family, and

had expected that, instead of suffering thence any violence or iniquity,

she was assured in them of a safeguard against every misfortune: that

she had been his wife during twenty years, and would here appeal to

himself, whether her affectionate submission to his will had not merited

better treatment, than to be thus, after so long a time, thrown from

him with so much indignity: that she was conscious--he himself was

assured--that her virgin honor was yet unstained when he received her

into his bed and that her connections with his brother had been carried

no further than the ceremony of marriage: that their parents, the kings

of England and Spain, were esteemed the wisest princes of their time,

and had undoubtedly acted by the best advice, when they formed the

agreement for that marriage, which was now represented as so criminal

and unnatural: and that she acquiesced in their judgment, and would not

submit her cause to be tried by a court, whose dependence on her enemies

was too visible, ever to allow her any hopes of obtaining from them an

equitable or impartial decision.[*] Having spoken these words, she rose,

and making the king a low reverence, she departed from the court, and

never would again appear in it.

After her departure, the king did her the justice to acknowledge, that

she had ever been a dutiful and affectionate wife, and that the whole

tenor of her behavior had been conformable to the strictest rules of

probity and honor. He only insisted on his own scruples with regard

to the lawfulness of their marriage; and he explained the origin, the

progress, and the foundation of those doubts, by which he had been so

long and so violently agitated. He acquitted Cardinal Wolsey from having

any hand in encouraging his scruples; and he craved a sentence of the

court agreeable to the justice of his cause.

The legates, after citing the queen anew, declared her contumacious,

notwithstanding her appeal to Rome; and then proceeded to the

examination of the cause. The first point which came before them

was, the proof of Prince Arthur’s consummation of his marriage with

Catharine; and it must be confessed, that no stronger arguments could

reasonably be expected of such a fact after so long an interval. The age

of the prince, who had passed his fifteenth year, the good state of his

health, the long time that he had cohabited with his consort, many of

his expressions to that very purpose; all these circumstances form a

violent presumption in favor of the king’s assertion.[**] Henry himself,

after his brother’s death was not allowed for some time to bear the

title of prince of Wales, in expectation of her pregnancy: the Spanish

ambassador, in order the better to insure possession of her jointure,

had sent over to Spain proofs of the consummation of her marriage:[***]

Julius’s bull itself was founded on the supposition that Arthur had

perhaps had knowledge of the princess: in the very treaty, fixing

Henry’s marriage, the consummation of the former marriage with Prince

Arthur is acknowledged on both sides.[****]

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 73. Hall. Stowe, p. 543.

** Herbert.

*** Burnet, vol. ii. p. 85.

**** Rymer, vol. xiii. p. 81.

These particulars were all laid before the court; accompanied with many

reasonings concerning the extent of the pope’s authority, and against

his power of granting a dispensation to marry within the prohibited

degrees. Campeggio heard these doctrines with great impatience; and

notwithstanding his resolution to protract the cause, he was often

tempted to interrupt and silence the king’s counsel, when they

insisted on such disagreeable topics. The trial was spun out till the

twenty-third of July; and Campeggio chiefly took on him the part of

conducting it. Wolsey, though the elder cardinal, permitted him to act

as president of the court; because it was thought, that a trial managed

by an Italian cardinal would carry the appearance of greater candor and

impartiality, than if the king’s own minister and favorite had presided

in it. The business now seemed to be drawing near to a period; and the

king was every day in expectation of a sentence in his favor; when, to

his great surprise, Campeggio, on a sudden, without any warning, and

upon very frivolous pretences,[*] prorogued the court till the first of

October. The evocation, which came a few days after from Rome, put

an end to all the hopes of success which the king had so long and so

anxiously cherished.[**]

During the time that the trial was carried on before the legates at

London, the emperor had by his ministers earnestly solicited Clement to

evoke the cause; and had employed every topic of hope or terror which

could operate either on the ambition or timidity of the pontiff. The

English ambassadors, on the other hand, in conjunction with the French,

had been no less earnest in their applications, that the legates should

be allowed to finish the trial; but though they employed the same

engines of promises and menaces, the motives which they could set before

the pope were not so urgent or immediate as those which were held up to

him by the emperor.[***] The dread of losing England, and of fortifying

the Lutherans by so considerable an accession, made small impression on

Clement’s mind, in comparison of the anxiety for his personal safety,

and the fond desire of restoring the Medici to their dominion in

Florence. As soon, therefore, as he had adjusted all terms with the

emperor he laid hold of the pretence of justice, which required him,

as he asserted, to pay regard to the queen’s appeal; and suspending the

commission of the legates, he adjourned the cause to his own personal

judgment at Rome. Campeggio had beforehand received private orders,

delivered by Campana, to burn the decretal bull with which he was

intrusted.

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 76, 77.

** Herbert, p. 254.

**** Burnet, vol. i. p. 75.

Wolsey had long foreseen this measure as the sure forerunner of his

ruin. Though he had at first desired that the king should rather marry

a French princess than Anne Boleyn, he had employed himself with the

utmost assiduity and earnestness to bring the affair to a happy issue:

[*] he was not, therefore, to be blamed for the unprosperous event which

Clement’s partiality had produced. But he had sufficient experience of

the extreme ardor and impatience of Henry’s temper, who could bear no

contradiction, and was wont, without examination or distinction, to

make his ministers answerable for the success of those transactions

with which they were intrusted. Anne Boleyn also, who was prepossessed

against him, had imputed to him the failure of her hopes; and as she was

newly returned to court, whence she had been removed, from a regard to

decency, during the trial before the legates, she had naturally acquired

an additional influence on Henry, and she served much to fortify his

prejudices against the cardinal.[**] Even the queen and her partisans,

judging of Wolsey by the part which he had openly acted, had expressed

great animosity against him; and the most opposite factions seemed

now to combine in the ruin of this haughty minister. The high opinion

itself, which Henry had entertained of the cardinal’s capacity, tended

to hasten his downfall; while he imputed the bad success of that

minister’s undertakings, not to ill fortune or to mistake, but to the

malignity or infidelity of his intentions. The blow, however, fell not

instantly on his head. The king, who probably could not justify by any

good reason his alienation from his ancient favorite, seems to have

remained some time in suspense; and he received him, if not with all his

former kindness, at least with the appearance of trust and regard.

* Collier, vol. ii. p. 45. Burnet, vol, i. p. 53.

** Cavendish, p. 40.

But constant experience evinces how rarely a high confidence and

affection receives the least diminution, without sinking into absolute

indifference, or even running into the opposite extreme. The king now

determined to bring on the ruin of the cardinal with a motion almost as

precipitate as he had formerly employed in his elevation. The dukes of

Norfolk and Suffolk were sent to require the great seal from him; and

on his scrupling to deliver it[*] without a more express warrant, Henry

wrote him a letter, upon which it was surrendered; and it was delivered

by the king to Sir Thomas More, a man who, besides the ornaments of

an elegant literature, possessed the highest virtue, integrity, and

capacity.

Wolsey was ordered to depart from York Place, a palace which he had

built in London, and which, though it really belonged to the see of

York, was seized by Henry, and became afterwards the residence of the

kings of England, by the title of Whitehall. All his furniture and plate

were also seized: their riches and splendor befitted rather a royal than

a private fortune. The walls of his palace were covered with cloth of

gold or cloth of silver: he had a cupboard of plate of massy gold: there

were found a thousand pieces of fine holland belonging to him. The rest

of his riches and furniture was in proportion; and his opulence was

probably no small inducement to this violent persecution against him.

The cardinal was ordered to retire to Asher, a country seat which he

possessed near Hampton Court. The world, that had paid him such abject

court during his prosperity, now entirely deserted him on this fatal

reverse of all his fortunes. He himself was much dejected with the

change; and from the same turn of mind which had made him be so vainly

elated with his grandeur, he felt the stroke of adversity with double

rigor.[**] The smallest appearance of his return to favor threw him into

transports of joy unbecoming a man. The king had seemed willing, during

some time, to intermit the blows which overwhelmed him. He granted

him his protection, and left him in possession of the sees of York and

Winchester. He even sent him a gracious message, accompanied with a

ring, as a testimony of his affection. Wolsey, who was on horseback when

the messenger met him, immediately alighted; and, throwing himself on

his knees in the mire, received in that humble attitude these marks of

his majesty’s gracious disposition towards him.

* Cavendish, p. 41.

** Strype, vol. i. p. 114, 115. App. No. 31, etc.

*** Stowe, p. 547.

But his enemies, who dreaded his return to court, never ceased plying

the king with accounts of his several offences; and Anne Boleyn, in

particular, contributed her endeavors, in conjunction with her uncle,

the duke of Norfolk, to exclude him from all hopes of ever being

reinstated in his former authority. He dismissed, therefore, his

numerous retinue and as he was a kind and beneficent master, the

separation passed not without a plentiful effusion of tears on both

sides. [*] The king’s heart, notwithstanding some gleams of kindness,

seemed now totally hardened against his old favorite. He ordered him

to be indicted in the star chamber, where a sentence was passed against

him. And, not content with this severity, he abandoned him to all the

rigor of the parliament, which now after a long interval, was again

assembled. The house of lords voted a long charge against Wolsey,

consisting of forty-four articles; and accompanied it with an

application to the king for his punishment, and his removal from all

authority. Little opposition was made to this charge in the upper house:

no evidence of any part of it was so much as called for; and as it

chiefly consists of general accusations, it was scarcely susceptible of

any.[**] [6] The articles were sent down to the house of commons; where

Thomas Cromwell, formerly a servant of the cardinal’s, and who had been

raised by him from a very low station, defended his unfortunate patron

with such spirit, generosity, and courage, as acquired him great honor,

and laid the foundation of that favor which he afterwards enjoyed with

the king.

* Cavendish. Stowe, p. 549.

** See note F, at the end of the volume.

Wolsey’s enemies, finding that either his innocence or his caution

prevented them from having any just ground of accusing him, had recourse

to a very extraordinary expedient. An indictment was laid against him,

that, contrary to a statute of Richard II., commonly called the

statute of provisors, he had procured bulls from Rome, particularly one

investing him with the legatine power, which he had exercised with very

extensive authority. He confessed the indictment, pleaded ignorance

of the statute, and threw himself on the king’s mercy. He was perhaps

within reach of the law but besides that this statute had fallen into

disuse, nothing could be more rigorous and severe than to impute to

him as a crime what he had openly, during the course of so many years,

practised with the consent and approbation of the and the acquiescence

of the parliament and kingdom. Not to mention what he always

asserted,[*] and what we can scarcely doubt of, that he had obtained

the royal license in the most formal manner, which, had he not been

apprehensive of the dangers attending any opposition to Henry’s lawless

will, he might have pleaded in his own defence before the judges.

Sentence, however, was pronounced against him, “That he was out of the

king’s protection; his lands and goods forfeited; and that his person

might be committed to custody.” But this prosecution of Wolsey was

carried no further. Henry even granted him a pardon for all offences;

restored him part of his plate and furniture; and still continued, from

time to time, to drop expressions of favor and compassion towards him.

The complaints against the usurpations of the ecclesiastics had been

very ancient in England, as well as in most other European kingdoms; and

as this topic was now become popular every where, it had paved the way

for the Lutheran tenets, and reconciled the people, in some measure, to

the frightful idea of heresy and innovation. The commons, finding the

occasion favorable, passed several bills restraining the impositions of

the clergy; one for the regulating of mortuaries; another against the

exactions for the probates of wills; [**] a third against non-residence

and pluralities, and against church-men’s being farmers of land. But

what appeared chiefly dangerous to the ecclesiastical order, were the

severe invectives thrown out, almost without opposition, in the house,

against the dissolute lives of the priests, their ambition, their

avarice, and their endless encroachments on the laity. Lord Herbert

[***] has even preserved the speech of a gentleman of Gray’s Inn, which

is of a singular nature, and contains such topics as we should little

expect to meet with during that period. The member insists upon the vast

variety of theological opinions which prevailed in different nations and

ages; the endless inextricable controversies maintained by the several

sects; the impossibility that any man, much less the people, could ever

know, much less examine, the tenets and principles of every sect; the

necessity of ignorance and a suspense of judgment with regard to all

those objects of dispute: and, upon the whole, he infers, that the only

religion obligatory on mankind is the belief of one Supreme Being, the

author of nature; and the necessity of good morals, in order to

obtain his favor and protection. Such sentiments would be deemed

latitudinarian, even in our time; and would not be advanced, without

some precaution, in a public assembly.

* Cavendish, p. 72.

** These exactions were quite arbitrary, and had risen to a

great height. A member said in the house, that a thousand

marks had been exacted from him on that account. Hall, fol.

188 Strype, vol. i. p. 73.

*** Page 293.

But though the first broaching of religious controversy might encourage

the sceptical turn in a few persons of a studious disposition, the zeal

with which men soon after attached themselves to their several parties,

served effectually to banish for a long time all such obnoxious

liberties.

The bills for regulating the clergy met with some opposition in the

house of lords. Bishop Fisher, in particular, imputed these measures of

the commons to their want of faith; and to a formed design, derived

from heretical and Lutheran principles, of robbing the church of her

patrimony, and over-turning the national religion. The duke of Norfolk

reproved the prelate in severe, and even somewhat indecent terms. He

told him, that the greatest clerks were not always the wisest men. But

Fisher replied, that he did not remember any fools in his time who had

proved great clerks. The exceptions taken at the bishop of Rochester’s

speech stopped not there. The commons, by the mouth of Sir Thomas

Audley, their speaker, made complaints to the king of the reflections

thrown upon them; and the bishop was obliged to put a more favorable

construction on his words.[*]

Henry was not displeased that the court of Rome and the clergy should

be sensible that they were entirely dependent on him, and that his

parliament, if he were willing to second their inclinations, was

sufficiently disposed to reduce the power and privileges of the

ecclesiastics. The commons gratified the king in another particular of

moment: they granted him a discharge of all those debts which he had

contracted since the beginning of his reign,[**] and they grounded this

bill, which occasioned many complaints, on a pretence of the king’s

great care of the nation, and of his regularly employing all the money

which he had borrowed in the public service.

* Parl. Hist. vol. iii. p. 59.

**Burnet, vol. ii. p. 82.

Most of the king’s creditors consisted of friends to the cardinal who

had been engaged by their patron to contribute to the supply of Henry’s

necessities; and the present courtiers were well pleased to take the

opportunity of mulcting them.[*] Several also approved of an expedient

which, they hoped, would ever after discredit a method of supply so

irregular and so unparliamentary.

* Burnet, vol. ii. p. 83.

The domestic transactions of England were at present so interesting

to the king, that they chiefly engaged his attention; and he regarded

foreign affairs only in subordination to them. He had declared war

against the emperor; but the mutual advantages reaped by the commerce

between England and the Netherlands, had engaged him to stipulate a

neutrality with those provinces; and, except by money contributed to the

Italian wars, he had in effect exercised no hostility against any of

the imperial dominions. A general peace was this summer established

in Europe. Margaret of Austria and Louisa of Savoy met at Cambray,

and settled the terms of pacification between the French king and the

emperor. Charles accepted of two millions of crowns in lieu of Burgundy;

and he delivered up the two princes of France, whom he had retained as

hostages. Henry was, on this occasion, so generous to his friend and

ally Francis, that he sent him an acquittal of near six hundred thousand

crowns, which that prince owed him. Francis’s Italian confederates were

not so well satisfied as the king with the peace of Cambray: they were

almost wholly abandoned to the will of the emperor, and seemed to have

no means of security left but his equity and moderation. Florence,

after a brave resistance, was subdued by the imperial arms, and finally

delivered over to the dominion of the family of Medici. The Venetians

were better treated: they were only obliged to relinquish some

acquisitions which they had made on the coast of Naples. Even Francis

Sforza obtained the investiture of Milan, and was pardoned for all past

offences. The emperor in person passed into Italy with a magnificent

train, and received the imperial crown from the hands of the pope at

Bologna. He was but twenty-nine years of age; and having already, by

his vigor and capacity, succeeded in every enterprise, and reduced to

captivity the two greatest potentates in Europe, the one spiritual,

the other temporal, he attracted the eyes of all men; and many

prognostications were formed of his growing empire.

But though Charles seemed to be prosperous on every side, and though the

conquest of Mexico and Peru now began to prevent that scarcity of money

under which he had hitherto labored, he found himself threatened with

difficulties in Germany; and his desire of surmounting them was the

chief cause of his granting such moderate conditions to the Italian

powers. Sultan Solyman, the greatest and most accomplished prince that

ever sat on the Ottoman throne, had almost entirely subdued Hungary,

had besieged Vienna, and, though repulsed, still menaced the hereditary

dominions of the house of Austria with conquest and subjection. The

Lutheran princes of the empire, finding that liberty of conscience

was denied them, had combined in a league for their own defence at

Smalcalde, and because they protested against the votes passed in

the imperial diet, they thenceforth received the appellation, of

“protestants.” Charles had undertaken to reduce them to obedience; and

on pretence of securing the purity of religion, he had laid a scheme for

aggrandizing his own family, by extending its dominion over all Germany.

The friendship of Henry was one material circumstance yet wanting to

Charles, in order to insure success in his ambitious enterprises; and

the king was sufficiently apprised that the concurrence of that prince

would at once remove all the difficulties which lay in the way of his

divorce; that point which had long been the object of his most earnest

wishes. But besides that the interests of his kingdom seemed to require

an alliance with France, his haughty spirit could not submit to a

friendship imposed on him by constraint; and as he had ever been

accustomed to receive courtship, deference, and solicitation from the

greatest potentates, he could ill brook that dependence to which this

unhappy affair seemed to have reduced him. Amidst the anxieties with

which he was agitated, he was often tempted to break off all

connections with the court of Rome; and though he had been educated in

a superstitious reverence to papal authority, it is likely that his

personal experience of the duplicity and selfish politics of Clement

had served much to open his eyes in that particular. He found his

prerogative firmly established at home: lie observed that his people

were in general much disgusted with clerical usurpations, and disposed

to reduce the powers find privileges of the ecclesiastical order: he

knew that they had cordially taken part with him in his prosecution of

the divorce, and highly resented the unworthy treatment which after

so many services and such devoted attachment, he had received from the

court of Rome. Anne Boleyn also could not fail to use all her

efforts, and employ every insinuation, in order to make him proceed to

extremities against the pope; both as it was the readiest way to her

attaining royal dignity, and as her education in the court of the

duchess of Alençon, a princess inclined to the reformers, had already

disposed her to a belief of the new doctrines. But notwithstanding these

inducements, Henry had strong motives still to desire a good agreement

with the sovereign pontiff. He apprehended the danger of such great

innovations: he dreaded the reproach of heresy: he abhorred all

connections with the Lutherans, the chief opponents of the papal power;

and having once exerted himself with such applause, as he imagined, in

defence of the Romish communion, he was ashamed to retract his former

opinions, and betray from passion such a palpable inconsistency. While

he was agitated by these contrary motives, an expedient was proposed,

which, as it promised a solution of all difficulties, was embraced by

him with the greatest joy and satisfaction.

Dr. Thomas Cranmer, fellow of Jesus College in Cambridge, was a man

remarkable in that university for his learning, and still more for

the candor and disinterestedness of his temper. He fell one evening by

accident into company with Gardiner, now secretary of state, and Fox,

the king’s almoner; and as the business of the divorce became the

subject of conversation, he observed that the readiest way either to

quiet Henry’s conscience, or extort the pope’s consent, would be to

consult all the universities of Europe with regard to this controverted

point: if they agreed to approve of the king’s marriage with Catharine,

his remorses would naturally cease; if they condemned it, the pope would

find it difficult to resist the solicitations of so great a monarch,

seconded by the opinion of all the learned men in Christendom.[*] When

the king was informed of the proposal, he was delighted with it; and

swore, with more alacrity than delicacy that Cranmer had got the right

sow by the ear: he sent for that divine; entered into conversation with

him; conceived a high opinion of his virtue and understanding; engaged

him to write in defence of the divorce; and immediately, in prosecution

of the scheme proposed, employed his agents to collect the judgments of

all the universities in Europe.

* Fox, p. 1860 2d edit. Burnet, vol. i. p. 79. Speed, p.

769. Heylin, p. 5

Had the question of Henry’s marriage with Catharine been examined by the

principles of sound philosophy, exempt from superstition, it seemed not

liable to much difficulty. The natural reason why marriage in certain

degrees is prohibited by the civil laws, and condemned by the moral

sentiments of all nations, is derived from men’s care to preserve

purity of manners; while they reflect, that if a commerce of love

were authorized between near relations, the frequent opportunities of

intimate conversation, especially during early youth, would introduce a

universal dissoluteness and corruption. But as the customs of countries

vary considerably, and open an intercourse, more or less restrained,

between different families, or between the several members of the same

family, we find that the moral precept, varying with its cause, is

susceptible, without any inconvenience, of very different latitude in

the several ages and nations of the world. The extreme delicacy of the

Greeks permitted no communication between persons of different sexes,

except where they lived under the same roof; and even the apartments

of a step-mother and her daughters were almost as much shut up against

visits from the husband’s sons, as against those from any stranger or

more distant relation: hence, in that nation, it was lawful for a man to

marry not only his niece, but his half-sister by the father; a liberty

unknown to the Romans, and other nations, where a more open intercourse

was authorized between the sexes. Reasoning from this principle, it

would appear, that the ordinary commerce of life among great princes

is so obstructed by ceremony and numerous attendants, that no ill

consequence would result among them from marrying a brother’s widow;

especially if the dispensation of the supreme priest be previously

required, in order to justify what may in common cases be condemned, and

to hinder the precedent from becoming too common and familiar. And

as strong motives of public interest and tranquillity may frequently

require such alliances between the foreign families, there is the less

reason for extending towards them the full rigor of the rule which has

place among individuals.[*] [7]

* See note G, at the end of the volume.

But in opposition to these reasons, and many more which might be

collected, Henry had custom and precedent on his side, the principle by

which men are almost wholly governed in their actions and opinions. The

marrying of a brother’s widow was so unusual, that no other instance of

it could be found in any history or record of any Christian nation;

and though the popes were accustomed to dispense with more essential

precepts of morality, and even permitted marriages within other

prohibited degrees, such as those of uncle and niece, the imaginations

of men were not yet reconciled to this particular exercise of his

authority.

{1530.} Several universities of Europe, therefore, without hesitation,

as well as without interest or reward,[*] gave verdict in the king’s

favor; not only those of France, Paris, Orleans, Bourges, Toulouse,

Angiers, which might be supposed to lie under the influence of their

prince, ally to Henry; but also those of Italy, Venice, Ferrara, Padua;

even Bologna itself, though under the immediate jurisdiction of Clement.

Oxford alone[**] and Cambridge* made some difficulty; because these

universities, alarmed at the progress of Lutheranism, and dreading a

defection from the holy see, scrupled to give their sanction to

measures whose consequences they feared would prove fatal to the ancient

religion. Their opinion, however, conformable to that of the other

universities of Europe, was at last obtained; and the king, in order to

give more weight to all these authorities, engaged his nobility to write

a letter to the pope, recommending his cause to the holy father, and

threatening him with the most dangerous consequences in case of a denial

of justice.[***] The convocations, too, both of Canterbury and York,

pronounced the king’s marriage invalid, irregular, and contrary to the

law of God, with which no human power had authority to dispense.[****]

* Herbert. Burnet.

** Wood, Hist. and Ant. Ox. lib. i. p. 225.

*** Burnet, vol. i, p. 6.

**** Rymer, vol. xiv. p. 405. Burnet, vol. i. p. 95.

But Clement, lying still under the influence of the emperor, continued

to summon the king to appear, either by himself or proxy, before his

tribunal at Rome; and the king, who knew that he could expect no fair

trial there, refused to submit to such a condition, and would not

even admit of any citation, which he regarded as a high insult, and a

violation of his royal prerogative. The father of Anne Boleyn, created

earl of Wiltshire, carried to the pope the king’s reasons for not

appearing by proxy; and, as the first instance of disrespect from

England, refused to kiss his holiness’s foot which he very graciously

held out to him for that purpose.[*]

The extremities to which Henry was pushed, both against the pope and the

ecclesiastical order, were naturally disagreeable to Cardinal Wolsey;

and as Henry foresaw his opposition, it is the most probable reason that

can be assigned for his renewing the prosecution against his ancient

favorite. After Wolsey had remained some time at Asher, he was allowed

to remove to Richmond, a palace which he had received as a present from

Henry, in return for Hampton Court; but the courtiers, dreading still

his vicinity to the king, procured an order for him to remove to his

see of York. The cardinal knew it was in vain to resist: he took up his

residence at Cawood, in Yorkshire, where he rendered himself extremely

popular in the neighborhood by his affability and hospitality;[**] but

he was not allowed to remain long unmolested in this retreat.

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 94.

** Cavendish. Stowe, p. 551.

The earl of Northumberland received, orders, without regard to Wolsey’s

ecclesiastical character, to arrest him for high treason, and to conduct

him to London, in order to his trial. The cardinal, partly from the

fatigues of his journey, partly from the agitation of his anxious mind,

was seized with a disorder which turned into a dysentery; and he was

able, with some difficulty, to reach Leicester Abbey. When the abbot and

the monks advanced to receive him with much respect and reverence,

he told them that he was come to lay his bones among them; and he

immediately took to his bed, whence he never rose more. A little before

he expired, he addressed himself in the following words to Sir William

Kingston, constable of the Tower, who had him in custody. “I pray you

have me heartily recommended unto his royal majesty, and beseech him

on my behalf to call to his remembrance all matters that have passed

between us from the beginning, especially with regard to his business

with the queen; and then will he know in his conscience whether I have

offended him.

“He is a prince of a most royal carriage, and hath a princely heart; and

rather than he will miss or want any part of his will, he will endanger

the one half of his kingdom.

“I do assure you, that I have often kneeled before him, sometimes three

hours together, to persuade him from his will and appetite; but could

not prevail: had I but served God as diligently as I have served the

king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs. But this is the

just reward that I must receive for my indulgent pains and study, not

regarding my service to God, but only to my prince. Therefore, let me

advise you, if you be one of the privy council, as by your wisdom you

are fit, take care what you put into the king’s head; for you can never

put it out again.”[*]

* Cavendish.

[Illustration: 1-376-tower.jpg THE TOWER OF LONDON]

Thus died this famous cardinal, whose character seems to have contained

as singular a variety as the fortune to which he was exposed. The

obstinacy and violence of the king’s temper may alleviate much of the

blame which some of his favorite’s measures have undergone; and when

we consider, that the subsequent part of Henry’s reign was much more

criminal than that which had been directed by Wolsey’s counsels, we

shall be inclined to suspect those historians of partiality, who

have endeavored to load the memory of this minister with such violent

reproaches. If, in foreign politics, he sometimes employed his influence

over the king for his private purposes, rather than his master’s

service, which, he boasted, he had solely at heart, we must remember,

that he had in view the papal throne; a dignity which, had he attained

it, would have enabled him to make Henry a suitable return for all his

favors. The cardinal of Amboise, whose memory is respected in France,

always made this apology for his own conduct, which was, in some

respect, similar to Wolsey’s; and we have reason to think, that Henry

was well acquainted with the views by which his minister was influenced,

and took a pride in promoting them. He much regretted his death, when

informed of it, and always spoke favorably of his memory; a proof that

humor, more than reason, or any discovery of treachery, had occasioned

the last persecutions against him.

{1531.} A new session of parliament was held, together with a

convocation; and the king here gave strong proofs of his extensive

authority, as well as of his intention to turn it to the depression

of the clergy. As an ancient statute, now almost obsolete, had been

employed to ruin Wolsey, and render his exercise of the legatine power

criminal, notwithstanding the king’s permission, the same law was now

turned against the ecclesiastics. It was pretended, that every one who

had submitted to the legatine court, that is, the whole church, had

violated the statute of provisors; and the attorney-general accordingly

brought an indictment against them.[*] The convocation knew, that it

would be in vain to oppose reason or equity to the king’s arbitrary

will, or plead that their ruin would have been the certain consequence

of not submitting to Wolsey’s commission, which was procured by Henry’s

consent, and supported by his authority. They chose, therefore, to throw

themselves on the mercy of their sovereign; and they agreed to pay

a hundred and eighteen thousand eight hundred and forty pounds for a

pardon.[**] A confession was likewise extorted from them, that the

king was the protector and the supreme head of the church and clergy of

England; though some of them had the dexterity to get a clause inserted,

which invalidated the whole submission, and which ran in these terms:

“in so far as is permitted by the law of Christ.”

The commons, finding that a pardon was granted the clergy, began to

be apprehensive for themselves, lest either they should afterwards be

brought into trouble on account of their submission to the legatine

court, or a supply, in like manner, be extorted from them, in return for

their pardon. They therefore petitioned the king to grant a remission to

his lay subjects; but they met with a repulse. He told them, that if he

ever chose to forgive their offence, it would be from his own goodness,

not from their application, lest he should seem to be compelled to it.

Some time after, when they despaired of obtaining this concession, he

was pleased to issue a pardon to the laity; and the commons expressed

great gratitude for that act of clemency.[***]

{1532.} By this strict execution of the statute of provisors, a great

part of the profit, and still more of the power of the court of Rome

was cut off; and the connections between the pope and the English clergy

were in some measure dissolved. The next session found both king and

parliament in the same dispositions. An act was passed against levying

the annates or first-fruits,[****] being a year’s rent of all the

bishoprics that fell vacant; a tax which was imposed by the court of Rome

for granting bulls to the new prelates, and which was found to amount to

considerable sums.

* Antiq. Brit. Eccles. p. 325. Burnet, vol. i. p. 106.

** Holingshed, p. 923.

*** Hall’s Chronicle. Holingshed, p. 923. Baker, p. 208.

**** Burnet, vol. i. Collect. No. 41. Strype, vol. i. p.

144.

Since the second of Henry VII., no less than one hundred and sixty

thousand pounds had been transmitted to Rome on account of this claim;

which the parliament, therefore, reduced to five per cent. on all the

episcopal benefices. The better to keep the pope in awe, the king was

intrusted with a power of regulating these payments, and of confirming

or infringing this act at his pleasure; and it was voted, that any

censures which should be passed by the court of Rome on account of that

law, should be entirely disregarded, and that mass should be said, and

the sacraments administered, as if no such censures had been issued.

This session, the commons preferred to the king a long complaint against

the abuses and oppressions of the ecclesiastical courts; and they were

proceeding to enact laws for remedying them, when a difference arose,

which put an end to the session before the parliament had finished all

their business. It was become a custom for men to make such settlements,

or trust deeds, of their lands by will, that they defrauded not only the

king, but all other lords, of their wards, marriages, and reliefs; and

by the same artifice the king was deprived of his premier seizin, and

the profits of the livery, which were no inconsiderable branches of his

revenue. Henry made a bill be drawn to moderate, not remedy altogether,

this abuse; he was contented, that every man should have the liberty

of disposing in this manner of the half of his land; and he told the

parliament in plain terms, “if they would not take a reasonable thing

when it was offered, he would search out the extremity of the law; and

then would not offer them so much again.” The lords came willingly into

his terms; but the commons rejected the bill; a singular instance, where

Henry might see that his power and authority, though extensive, had yet

some boundaries. The commons, however, found reason to repent of their

victory. The king made good his threats: he called together the judges

and ablest lawyers, who argued the question in chancery; and it was

decided that a man could not by law bequeath any part of his lands in

prejudice of his heir.[*]

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 116. Hall. Parl. Hist.

The parliament being again assembled after a short prorogation, the king

caused the two oaths to be read to them, that which the bishops took

to the pope, and that to the king, on their installation; and as a

contradiction might be suspected between them, while the prelates seemed

to swear allegiance to two sovereigns;[*] the parliament showed their

intention of abolishing the oath to the pope, when their proceedings

were suddenly stopped by the breaking out of the plague at Westminster,

which occasioned a prorogation. It is remarkable, that one Temse

ventured this session to move, that the house should address the king,

to take back the queen, and stop the prosecution of his divorce. This

motion made the king send for Audley, the speaker, and explain to him

the scruples with which his conscience had long been burdened; scruples,

he said, which had proceeded from no wanton appetite, which had arisen

after the fervors of youth were past, and which were confirmed by the

concurring sentiments of all the learned societies in Europe. Except in

Spain and Portugal, he added, it was never heard of, that any man had

espoused two sisters; but he himself had the misfortune, he believed,

to be the first Christian man that had ever married his brother’s

widow.[**]

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 123, 124.

** Herbert. Hall, fol. 205.

After the prorogation, Sir Thomas More, the chancellor, foreseeing that

all the measures of the king and parliament led to a breach with

the church of Rome, and to an alteration of religion, with which his

principles would not permit him to concur, desired leave to resign the

great seal; and he descended from his high station with more joy and

alacrity than he had mounted up to it. The austerity of this man’s

virtue, and the sanctity of his manners, had nowise encroached on the

gentleness of his temper, or even diminished that frolic and gayety to

which he was naturally inclined. He sported with all the varieties

of fortune into which he was thrown; and neither the pride naturally

attending a high station, nor the melancholy incident to poverty and

retreat, could ever lay hold of his serene and equal spirit. While his

family discovered symptoms of sorrow on laying down the grandeur and

magnificence to which they had been accustomed, he drew a subject of

mirth from their distresses; and made them ashamed of losing even a

moment’s cheerfulness on account of such trivial misfortunes. The

king, who had entertained a high opinion of his virtue, received his

resignation with some difficulty; and he delivered the great seal soon

after to Sir Thomas Audley.

During these transactions in England, and these invasions of the

papal and ecclesiastical authority, the court of Rome was not without

solicitude; and she entertained just apprehensions of losing entirely

her authority in England; the kingdom which, of all others, had long

been the most devoted to the holy see and which had yielded it the most

ample revenue. While the imperial cardinals pushed Clement to proceed

to extremities against the king, his more moderate and impartial

counsellors represented to him the indignity of his proceedings; that

a great monarch, who had signalized himself, both by his pen and his

sword, in the cause of the pope, should be denied a favor which he

demanded on such just grounds, and which had scarcely ever before been

refused to any person of his rank and station. Notwithstanding these

remonstrances, the queen’s appeal was received at Rome; the king was

cited to appear; and several consistories were held, to examine the

validity of their marriage. Henry was determined not to send any proxy

to plead his cause before this court: he only despatched Sir Edward

Karne and Dr. Bonner, in quality of excusators, (so they were called,)

to carry his apology, for not paying that deference to the papal

authority. The prerogatives of his crown, he said, must be sacrificed,

if he allowed appeals from his own kingdom; and as the question regarded

conscience, not power or interest, no proxy could supply his place, or

convey that satisfaction which the dictates of his own mind alone could

confer. In order to support himself in this measure, and add greater

security to his intended defection from Rome, he procured an interview

with Francis it Boulogne and Calais, where he renewed his personal

friendship as well as public alliance with that monarch, and concerted

all measures for their mutual defence. He even employed arguments, by

which he believed he had persuaded Francis to imitate his example in

withdrawing his obedience from the bishop of Rome, and administering

ecclesiastical affairs without having further recourse to that see. And

being now fully determined in his own mind, as well as resolute to stand

all consequences, he privately celebrated his marriage with Anne Boleyn,

whom he had previously created marchioness of Pembroke. Rouland Lee,

soon after raised to the bishopric of Coventry, officiated at the

marriage. The duke of Norfolk, uncle to the new queen, her father,

mother, and brother, together with Dr. Cranmer, were present at the

ceremony.[*]

* Herbert, p. 340, 341.

Anne became pregnant soon after her marriage, and this event both gave

great satisfaction to the king, and was regarded by the people as a

strong proof of the queen’s former modesty and virtue.

{1533.} The parliament was again assembled; and Henry, in conjunction

with the great council of the nation, proceeded still in those gradual

and secure steps, by which they loosened their connections with the see

of Rome, and repressed the usurpations of the Roman pontiff. An act

was made against all appeals to Rome in causes of matrimony, divorces,

wills, and other suits cognizable in ecclesiastical courts; appeals

esteemed dishonorable to the kingdom, by subjecting it to a foreign

jurisdiction; and found to be very vexatious by the expense and the

delay of justice which necessarily attended them.[*] The more to show

his disregard to the pope, Henry, finding the new queen’s pregnancy to

advance, publicly owned his marriage; and in order to remove all doubts

with regard to its lawfulness, he prepared measures for declaring, by

a formal sentence, the invalidity of his marriage with Catharine;

a sentence which ought naturally to have preceded his espousing of

Anne.[**]

The king, even amidst his scruples and remorses on account of his first

marriage, had always treated Catharine with respect and distinction; and

he endeavored, by every soft and persuasive art, to engage her to depart

from her appeal to Rome, and her opposition to his divorce. Finding

her obstinate in maintaining the justice of her cause, he had totally

forborne all visits and intercourse with her; and had desired her to

make choice of any one of his palaces, in which she should please

to reside. She had fixed her abode for some time at Amphill, near

Dunstable; and it was in this latter town that Cranmer, now created

archbishop of Canterbury, on the death of Warham,[**] [8] was appointed

to open his court for examining the validity of her marriage. The near

neighborhood of the place was chosen, in order to deprive her of all

plea of ignorance; and as she made no answer to the citation, either

by herself or proxy, she was declared “contumacious;” and the primate

proceeded to the examination of the cause.

* 24 Henry VIII. c. 12.

** Collier, vol. ii. p. 31, and Records, No. 8.

*** See note H, at the end of the volume.

The evidences of Arthur’s consummation of his marriage were anew

produced; the opinions of the universities were read, together with

the judgment pronounced two years before by the convocations both

of Canterbury and York, and after these preliminary steps, Cranmer

proceeded to a sentence, and annulled the king’s marriage with Catharine

as unlawful and invalid. By a subsequent sentence, he ratified the

marriage with Anne Boleyn, who soon after was publicly crowned queen,

with all the pomp and dignity suited to that ceremony.[*] To complete

the king’s satisfaction on the conclusion of this intricate and

vexatious affair, she was safely delivered of a daughter, who received

the name of Elizabeth, and who afterwards swayed the sceptre with such

renown and felicity. Henry was so much delighted with the birth of this

child, that soon after he conferred on her the title of princess of

Wales,[**] a step somewhat irregular, as she could only be presumptive,

not apparent heir of the crown. But he had, during his former marriage,

thought proper to honor his daughter Mary with that title; and he was

determined to bestow on the offspring of his present marriage the same

mark of distinction, as well as to exclude the elder princess from all

hopes of the succession. His regard for the new queen seemed rather to

increase than diminish by his marriage; and all men expected to see the

entire ascendant of one who had mounted a throne from which her birth

had set her at so great a distance, and who, by a proper mixture of

severity and indulgence, had long managed so intractable a spirit as

that of Henry. In order to efface as much as possible all marks of his

first marriage, Lord Mountjoy was sent to the unfortunate and divorced

queen, to inform her, that she was thenceforth to be treated only as

princess dowager of Wales; and all means were employed to make her

acquiesce in that determination. But she continued obstinate in

maintaining the validity of her marriage; and she would admit no person

to her presence who did not approach her with the accustomed ceremonial.

Henry, forgetting his wonted generosity towards her, employed menaces

against such of her servants as complied with her commands in this

particular; but was never able to make her relinquish her title and

pretensions.[***]

* Heylin, p. 6.

** Burnet, vol. i, p. 134.

*** Herbert, p. 326. Burnet, vol. i. p. 132.

When intelligence was conveyed to Rome of these transactions, so

injurious to the authority and reputation of the holy see, the conclave

was in a rage, and all the cardinals of the imperial faction urged the

pope to proceed to a definitive sentence, and to dart his spiritual

thunders against Henry. But Clement proceeded no further than to declare

the nullity of Cranmer’s sentence, as well as that of Henry’s second

marriage; threatening him with excommunication, if before the first

of November ensuing he did not replace every thing in the condition in

which it formerly stood.[*] An event had happened from which the

pontiff expected a more amicable conclusion of the difference, and which

hindered him from carrying matters to extremity against the king.

The pope had claims upon the duchy of Ferrara for the sovereignty of

Reggio and Modena;[**] and having submitted his pretensions to the

arbitration of the emperor, he was surprised to find a sentence

pronounced against him. Enraged at this disappointment, he hearkened to

proposals of amity from Francis; and when that monarch made overtures of

marrying the duke of Orleans, his second son, to Catharine of Medicis,

niece of the pope, Clement gladly embraced an alliance by which his

family was so much honored. An interview was even appointed between the

pope and French king at Marseilles; and Francis, as a common friend,

there employed his good offices in mediating an accommodation between

his new ally and the king of England.

* Le Grand, vol. iii. p. 566.

** Burnet, vol. ii. p. 133. Guicciard.

Had this connection of France with the court of Rome taken place a few

years sooner, there had been little difficulty in adjusting the quarrel

with Henry. The king’s request was an ordinary one; and the same plenary

power of the pope which had granted a dispensation for his espousing of

Catharine, could easily have annulled the marriage. But, in the progress

of the quarrel, the state of affairs was much changed on both sides.

Henry had shaken off much of that reverence which he had early imbibed

for the apostolic see; and finding that his subjects of all ranks

had taken part with him, and willingly complied with his measures for

breaking off foreign dependence, he had begun to relish his spiritual

authority, and would scarcely, it was apprehended, be induced to renew

his submissions to the Roman pontiff. The pope, on the other hand, now

ran a manifest risk of infringing his authority by a compliance with

the king; and as a sentence of divorce could no longer be rested on

nullities in Julius’s bull, but would be construed as an acknowledgment

of papal usurpations, it was foreseen that the Lutherans would thence

take occasion of triumph, and would persevere more obstinately in their

present principles. But notwithstanding these obstacles, Francis did not

despair of mediating an agreement. He observed that the king had still

some remains of prejudice in favor of the Catholic church, and was

apprehensive of the consequences which might ensue from too violent

innovations. He saw the interest that Clement had in preserving the

obedience of England, which was one of the richest jewels in the papal

crown. And he hoped that these motives on both sides would facilitate a

mutual agreement, and would forward the effects of his good offices.

{1534.} Francis first prevailed on the pope to promise, that if the king

would send a proxy to Rome, and thereby submit his cause to the holy

see, he should appoint commissioners to meet at Cambray, and form the

process; and he should immediately afterwards pronounce the sentence of

divorce required of him. Bellay, bishop of Paris, was next despatched

to London, and obtained a promise from the king that he would submit his

cause to the Roman consistory, provided the cardinals of the imperial

faction were excluded from it. The prelate carried this verbal promise

to Rome; and the pope agreed that, if the king would sign a written

agreement to the same purpose, his demands should be fully complied

with. A day was appointed for the return of the messengers; and all

Europe regarded this affair, which had threatened a violent rupture

between England and the Romish church, as drawing towards an amicable

conclusion.[*] But the greatest affairs often depend on the most

frivolous incidents. The courier who carried the king’s written promise

was detained beyond the day appointed: news was brought to Rome that

a libel had been published in England against the court of Rome, and a

farce acted before the king in derision of the pope and cardinals.[**]

* Father Paul, lib. i.

** Father Paul, lib, i.

The pope and cardinals entered into the consistory inflamed with anger;

and by a precipitate sentence the marriage of Henry and Catharine was

pronounced valid, and Henry declared to be excommunicated if he refused

to adhere to it. Two days after, the courier arrived; and Clement, who

had been hurried from his usual prudence, found that though he heartily

repented of this hasty measure, it would be difficult for him to retract

it, or replace affairs on the same footing as before.

It is not probable that the pope, had he conducted himself with ever so

great moderation and temper, could hope, during the lifetime of Henry,

to have regained much authority or influence in England. That monarch

was of a temper both impetuous and obstinate; and having proceeded

so far in throwing off the papal yoke, he never could again have been

brought tamely to bend his neck to it. Even at the time when he was

negotiating a reconciliation with Rome, he either entertained so little

hopes of success, or was so indifferent about the event, that he had

assembled a parliament, and continued to enact laws totally destructive

of the papal authority. The people had been prepared by degrees for this

great innovation. Each preceding session had retrenched somewhat from

the power and profits of the pontiff. Care had been taken, during some

years, to teach the nation that a general council was much superior to

a pope. But now a bishop preached every Sunday at Paul’s Cross, in order

to inculcate the doctrine that the pope was entitled to no authority

at all beyond the bounds of his own diocese.[*] The proceedings of the

parliament showed that they had entirely adopted this opinion; and there

is reason to believe that the king, after having procured a favorable

sentence from Rome, which would have removed all doubts with regard to

his second marriage and the succession, might indeed have lived on terms

of civility with the Roman pontiff, but never would have surrendered to

him any considerable share of his assumed prerogative. The importance

of the laws passed this session, even before intelligence arrived of

the violent resolutions taken at Rome, is sufficient to justify this

opinion.

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 144.

All payments made to the apostolic chamber, all provisions, bulls,

dispensations, were abolished: monasteries were subjected to the

visitation and government of the king alone: the law for punishing

heretics was moderated: the ordinary was prohibited from imprisoning

or trying any person upon suspicion alone, without presentment by two

lawful witnesses; and it was declared, that to speak against the pope’s

authority was no heresy: bishops were to be appointed, by a congé

d’élire from the crown, or, in case of the dean and chapter’s refusal,

by letters patent; and no recourse was to be had to Rome for pails,

bulls, or provisions; Campeggio and Ghinucci, two Italians, were

deprived of the bishoprics of Salisbury and Worcester, which they had

hitherto enjoyed:[*] the law which had been formerly made against paying

annates or first-fruits, but which had been left in the king’s power to

suspend or enforce, was finally established: and a submission which was

exacted two years before from the clergy, and which had been

obtained with great difficulty, received this session the sanction

of parliament.[**] In this submission, the clergy acknowledged that

convocations ought to be assembled by the king’s authority only; they

promised to enact no new canons without his consent; and they agreed

that he should appoint thirty-two commissioners, in order to examine

the old canons, and abrogate such as should be found prejudicial to his

royal prerogative.[***] An appeal was also allowed from the bishop’s

court to the king in chancery.

* Le Neve’s Fasti Eccles. Angl.

** 25 Henry VIII. cap, 19.

*** Collier, vol. ii. p. 69, 70.

But the most important law passed this session was that which regulated

the succession to the crown: the marriage of the king with Catharine

was declared unlawful, void, and of no effect: the primate’s sentence

annulling it was ratified: and the marriage with Queen Anne was

established and confirmed. The crown was appointed to descend to the

issue of this marriage, and failing them, to the king’s heirs forever.

An oath likewise was enjoined to be taken in favor of this order

of succession, under the penalty of imprisonment during the king’s

pleasure, and forfeiture of goods and chattels. And all slander against

the king, queen, or their issue, was subjected to the penalty of

misprision of treason. After these compliances, the parliament was

prorogued; and those acts, so contemptuous towards the pope, and so

destructive of his authority, were passed at the very time that Clement

pronounced his hasty sentence against the king. Henry’s resentment

against Queen Catharine, on account of her obstinacy, was the reason

why he excluded her daughter from all hopes of succeeding to the crown;

contrary to his first intentions, when he began the process of divorce,

and of dispensation for a second marriage.

The king found his ecclesiastical subjects as compliant as the laity.

The convocation ordered that the act against appeals to Rome, together

with the king’s appeal from the pope to a general council should be

affixed to the doors of all the churches in the kingdom: and they voted

that the bishop of Rome had, by the law of God, no more jurisdiction in

England than any other foreign bishop; and that the authority which he

and his predecessors had there exercised, was only by usurpation, and by

the sufferance of English princes. Four persons alone opposed this vote

in the lower house, and one doubted. It passed unanimously in the upper.

The bishops went so far in their complaisance, that they took out new

commissions from the crown, in which all their spiritual and episcopal

authority was expressly affirmed to be derived ultimately from the civil

magistrate, and to be entirely dependent on his good pleasure.[*]

The oath regarding the succession was generally taken throughout the

kingdom. Fisher, bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas More, were the only

persons of note that entertained scruples with regard to its legality.

Fisher was obnoxious on account of some practices into which his

credulity, rather than any bad intentions, seems to have betrayed him.

But More was the person of greatest reputation in the kingdom for virtue

and integrity; and as it was believed that his authority would have

influence on the sentiments of others, great pains were taken to

convince him of the lawfulness of the oath. He declared that he had no

scruple with regard to the succession, and thought that the parliament

had full power to settle it: he offered to draw an oath himself which

would insure his allegiance to the heir appointed; but he refused the

oath prescribed by law; because the preamble of that oath asserted the

legality of the king’s marriage with Anne, and thereby implied that his

former marriage with Catharine was unlawful and invalid. Cramner, the

primate, and Cromwell, now secretary of state, who highly loved and

esteemed More, entreated him to lay aside his scruples; and their

friendly importunity seemed to weigh more with him than all the

penalties attending his refusal.[**] He persisted, however, in a mild

though firm manner, to maintain his resolution; and the king, irritated

against him as well as Fisher, ordered both to be indicted upon the

statute, and committed prisoners to the Tower.

* Collier’s Eccles. Hist. vol. ii.

** Burnet, vol. i. p. 156.

The parliament, being again assembled, conferred on the king the title

of the only supreme “head” on earth of the church of England; as they

had already invested him with all the real power belonging to it.

In this memorable act, the parliament granted him power, or rather

acknowledged his inherent power, “to visit, and repress, redress,

reform, order, correct, restrain, or amend all errors, heresies, abuses,

offences, contempts, and enormities, which fell under any spiritual

authority or jurisdiction.”[*] They also declared it treason to attempt,

imagine, or speak evil against the king, queen, or his heirs; or to

endeavor depriving them of their dignities or titles. They gave him a

right to all the annates and tithes of benefices which had formerly been

paid to the court of Rome. They granted him a subsidy and a fifteenth.

They attainted More and Fisher for misprision of treason. And they

completed the union of England and Wales, by giving to that principality

all the benefit of the English laws.

* 26 Henry VIII. cap. 1.

Thus the authority of the popes, like all exorbitant power, was ruined

by the excess of its acquisitions, and by stretching its pretensions

beyond what it was possible for any human principles or prepossessions

to sustain. Indulgences had in former ages tended extremely to enrich

the holy see; but being openly abused, they served to excite the first

commotions and opposition in Germany. The prerogative of granting

dispensations had also contributed much to attach all the sovereign

princes and great families in Europe to the papal authority; but meeting

with an unlucky concurrence of circumstances, was now the cause why

England separated herself from the Romish communion. The acknowledgment

of the king’s supremacy introduced there a greater simplicity in

the government, by uniting the spiritual with the civil power,

and preventing disputes about limits, which never could be exactly

determined between the contending jurisdictions. A way was also prepared

for checking the exorbitances of superstition, and breaking those

shackles by which all human reason, policy, and industry had so long

been encumbered. The prince, it may be supposed, being head of the

religion, as well as of the temporal jurisdiction of the kingdom, though

he might sometimes employ the former as an engine of government, had no

interest, like the Roman pontiff, in nourishing its excessive growth;

and, except when blinded by his own ignorance or bigotry, would be sure

to retain it within tolerable limits, and prevent its abuses. And on the

whole, there followed from this revolution many beneficial consequences;

though perhaps neither foreseen nor intended by the persons who had the

chief hand in conducting it.

While Henry proceeded with so much order and tranquillity in changing

the national religion, and while his authority seemed entirely secure

in England, he was held in some inquietude by the state of affairs in

Ireland and in Scotland.

The earl of Kildare was deputy of Ireland, under the duke of Richmond,

the king’s natural son, who bore the title of lieutenant; and as

Kildare was accused of some violences against the family of Ossory, his

hereditary enemies, he was summoned to answer for his conduct. He left

his authority in the hands of his son, who, hearing that his father was

thrown into prison, and was in danger of his life, immediately took up

arms, and joining himself to Oneale, Ocarrol, and other Irish nobility,

committed many ravages, murdered Allen, archbishop of Dublin, and laid

siege to that city. Kildare meanwhile died in prison; and his son,

persevering in his revolt, made applications to the emperor, who

promised him assistance. The king was obliged to send over some forces

to Ireland, which so harassed the rebels, that this young nobleman,

finding the emperor backward in fulfilling his promises, was reduced to

the necessity of surrendering himself prisoner to Lord Leonard Gray,

the new deputy, brother to the marquis of Dorset. He was carried over to

England, together with his five uncles; and after trial and conviction,

they were all brought to public justice; though two of the uncles, in

order to save the family, had pretended to join the king’s party.

The earl of Angus had acquired the entire ascendant in Scotland; and

having gotten possession of the king’s person then in early youth, he

was able, by means of that advantage, and by employing the power of

his own family, to retain the reins of government. The queen dowager,

however, his consort, bred him great disturbance. For having separated

herself from him on account of some jealousies and disgusts, and having

procured a divorce, she had married another man of quality, of the name

of Stuart; and she joined all the discontented nobility who opposed

Angus’s authority. James himself was dissatisfied with the slavery to

which he was reduced, and by secret correspondence he incited first

Walter Scot, then the earl of Lenox, to attempt by force of arms the

freeing him from the hands of Angus. Both enterprises failed of success:

but James, impatient of restraint, found means at last of escape *ing

to Stirling, where his mother then resided; and having summoned all the

nobility to attend him, he overturned the authority of the Douglases,

and obliged Angus and his brother to fly into England, where they were

protected by Henry. The king of Scotland, being now arrived at years of

majority, took the government into his own hands; and employed him self

with great spirit and valor in repressing those feuds, ravages, and

disorders, which, though they disturbed the course of public justice,

served to support the martial spirit of the Scots, and contributed

by that means to maintain national independency. He was desirous of

renewing the ancient league with the French nation; but finding Francis

in close union with England, and on that account somewhat cold in

hearkening to his proposals, he received the more favorably the

advances of the emperor, who hoped, by means of such an ally, to breed

disturbance to England, He offered the Scottish king the choice of three

princesses, his own near relations, and all of the name of Mary; his

sister, the dowager of Hungary; his niece, a daughter of Portugal;

or his cousin, the daughter of Henry, whom he pretended to dispose of

unknown to her father. James was more inclined to the latter proposal,

had it not, upon reflection, been found impracticable; and his natural

propensity to France at last prevailed over all other considerations.

The alliance with Francis necessarily engaged James to maintain peace

with England. But though invited by his uncle Henry to confer with

him at Newcastle, and concert common measures for repressing the

ecclesiastics in both kingdoms, and shaking off the yoke of Rome, he

could not be prevailed on, by entering England, to put himself in the

king’s power. In order to have a pretext for refusing the conference, he

applied to the pope, and obtained a brief, forbidding him to engage

in any personal negotiations with an enemy of the holy see. From these

measures Henry easily concluded that he could very little depend on the

friendship of his nephew. But those events took not place till some time

after our present period.