HENRY VIII (iii), 1527-29--THE FALL OF WOLSEY
[Sidenote: "The King's affair"]
The whole prolonged episode concerned with the "Divorce" of Queen Katharine
is singularly unattractive; the character of almost every leading person
associated with it is damaged in the course of it--save that of the unhappy
Queen. Unfortunately it is an episode which demands close attention and
examination, because its vicissitudes exercised a supreme influence on the
course of the Reformation initiated by the King, besides bringing into
powerful relief the nature of that strange historical phenomenon, the
Conscience of Henry VIII. Moreover it has received from the pen of a
particularly brilliant writer a colouring which is so misleading and so
plausible that the evidence as to facts requires to be presented with
exceptional care.
[Sidenote 1: Story of the marriage]
[Sidenote 2: Anne Boleyn]
It is not till 1527 that the project of a Divorce emerges definitely, so to
speak, into the open; but the evolution of the project had its origin at a
considerably earlier date. We have to begin with a review of the conjugal
relations between the King and the Queen. Arthur, Prince of Wales had
celebrated his marriage with Katharine, daughter of Ferdinand of Spain and
aunt of the infant who was to become Charles V. A few months later he died.
The young widow was thereafter betrothed to Henry; a dispensation being
obtained in 1504 from the Pope, Julius II, since marriage with a brother's
widow is forbidden by the laws of the Church. Henry VII. however, who never
liked to make any pledges without providing himself with some pretext by
which they might be evaded, instructed his son to make a sort of protest at
the time. The second marriage was not carried out till Henry VIII. was on
the throne: the bride being robed in the manner customary for maidens, not
for widows, on such occasions. She was older than her husband, and not
particularly attractive; but they lived together with apparent affection.
It is uncertain how many children were actually born; but none lived long
after birth until Mary (1516), when the King showed himself conspicuously
fond of his infant daughter. Henry does not in fact seem to have displayed
that extreme licentiousness which characterised most of the monarchs of the
time, though one illegitimate son was born to him, three years after Mary,
by Mistress Elizabeth Blount--"mistress" being the courtesy title of
unmarried ladies. The Court however was undoubtedly licentious, and many of
his favourite companions were notoriously profligate. In 1522 Anne Boleyn,
then an attractive girl of sixteen, the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, came
to Court. At what time Henry became seriously enamoured of her is
uncertain; but from 1522 her father became the recipient of numerous
favours; and in 1525 was made a peer. It was a symptom of alienation
between Henry and his wife that the six-year-old son of Elizabeth Blount
was at the same time created Duke of Richmond and Lord High Admiral, with
much pomp. [Footnote: Brewer, ii., 102. _L.& P._ iv., 639.]
[Sidenote: 1527 The King prepares]
Apart from expressions in letters of 1526 which can only be reasonably
interpreted as having reference to a contemplated divorce, letters of
Wolsey's and the King's in the early months of 1527 prove incontestably
that Henry had at that time determined that he would marry Anne, and that
Wolsey [Footnote: Brewer, ii., 182, 184; _S. P. Henry VIII._, i, 194.
_L. & P._, iv., 1467.] was elaborating a case, for presentation to the
Pope, against the validity of the dispensation under which the marriage
with Katharine had been contracted.
What, then, was the King's attitude? In April 1527, he had made up his mind
to break with Charles, Katharine's nephew, and concluded a treaty with
France; but under this the French King's second son, the Duke of Orleans,
was to marry the Princess Mary. It is difficult to believe that when this
was done, the King was actually intending at a later stage to have Mary
declared illegitimate. He would hardly have proposed to alienate Charles
and Francis simultaneously. Possibly he anticipated no difficulty in
legitimating Mary while annulling her mother's marriage--as was ultimately
done. It may be noted that it is absolutely impossible to maintain that
_both_ Mary and Elizabeth were born in lawful wedlock; yet the country
accepted both as legitimate without demur. But this French treaty darkens
rather than illuminates the problem.
The only fact definitely apparent in the papers of 1527 is that Henry had
determined to make Anne his wife. There is no hint of the conscientious
scruples or the patriotic motives afterwards alleged, though that of course
does not preclude their having been present. Those two alleged motives
require to be examined merely as _a priori_ hypotheses.
[Sidenote: Theoretical excuses]
There was one possible plea, then, for urging that a divorce was necessary:
namely that political considerations made it imperative for the good of the
nation that the King should take to himself a wife who might bear him a
male heir to the throne. And there was one possible plea for demanding a
formal enquiry into the validity of the dispensation: namely a
conscientious doubt on the part of the King or Queen whether the union with
a brother's widow was contrary to the Moral Law. No doubt existed as to the
Pope's power of abrogating a law, made by the Church for the public good,
in a specific case; but it was not claimed that he could abrogate the Law
of God in like manner. If this was a case in which the Pope possessed the
dispensing power, the dispensation held; if it was not, the marriage was no
marriage however innocently the parties entered upon it. One or other of
these pleas must be made the pretext of any public action.
[Sidenote: The need of an heir]
The plea that Henry must have a male heir is so absolutely conclusive in
the judgment of Henry's great apologist that he feels it necessary to offer
excuses for the womanly weakness which blinded Katharine to her obvious
duty. It may also have appealed with considerable force to a statesman who
regarded all pledges and bonds as being in the last resort dissoluble on
grounds of national expediency. England had suffered enough from disputed
successions; and while it is not probable that a title so incontrovertible
as Mary's would have been directly challenged, it is evident that
disastrous complications might have been involved by her union with any
possible husband, or by her death. It may have been that it was Henry's own
wish to act directly on this view, and to declare his marriage null,
arbitrarily, on the ground of public expediency. But whatever were Wolsey's
views on expediency, and on the desirability of nullifying the marriage,
such a course would have been too flagrant a violation of the universally
accepted belief in the sanctity of the marriage tie to meet with his
support. Moreover the offspring of a new marriage contracted under such
conditions could hardly escape having his legitimacy challenged when
opportunity offered. The security of the succession could not therefore be
obtained by this method. Yet the burden of discovering some way to enable
Henry to marry again was laid upon the Cardinal's shoulders.
[Sidenote: The plea of invalidity]
A pretext was forthcoming, whether devised by the Cardinal or another. The
marriage with Katharine might be held invalid on the ground that the
dispensation under which it was contracted was invalid, as being _ultra
vires_. [Footnote: _Cf._ however Wolsey's letter, Brewer, ii., 180.
Katharine argued that since she had remained a maiden, no actual affinity
had been contracted, therefore the re-marriage was not contrary to God's
Law. Wolsey was prepared to reply that in that case, the dispensation was
invalid; since it specified only the impediment of "affinity" but not that
of "public honesty" created by a contract not consummated, and so failed to
cover the admitted circumstances. It appears from the complete context that
this plea was hit upon only as a rejoinder to this particular plea of
Katharine's. But see Taunton, _Thomas Wolsey_, chap, x., where a
different view is taken; the whole context, however, is not there cited.]
This was the line that Wolsey advised, and to which the King committed
himself. It should be clear that it finally precluded the other line of
arbitrary dissolution, since it rested on the inviolability of a marriage
once validly contracted. If the Pope could not set aside the bar to
re-marriage with a dead husband's brother, the King could hardly set aside
his own marriage, if it had been itself lawful. Stated conversely; if the
King could, so to speak cancel a living wife on the ground of public
expediency, the Pope had surely been entitled to cancel a dead husband on
the same ground.
[Sidenote: Conjunction of incentives]
When Wolsey had propounded the theory that the validity of the dispensation
was doubtful, it is easy enough to see how Henry might have persuaded
himself that his conscience must be set at ease. What if the death of all
his male children had been a Divine Judgment on an unlawful union? The wish
is father to the thought. From this point, it was a short step to a
conviction that, whatever any one might say, the union was unlawful. Thus
Henry could with comparative equanimity adopt the role of one who merely
felt that his doubts must be set at rest, while he would be only overjoyed
to be finally certified that they were groundless. It is not till this
professed hope is in danger of being realised that the mask is dropped and
the King's determination to have a divorce by hook or by crook is avowed.
On this view of the policy pursued, passion and patriotism may have
combined--in uncertain proportions--to make the King desire a new marriage;
obedience and patriotism may have likewise combined to produce the same
desire in the Cardinal. But it is extremely difficult to doubt that the
King's conscientious scruples were an after-thought, since they had not
overtly troubled him for eighteen years of married life; while the
Cardinal's position was painfully complicated by an intense aversion to the
particular marriage in contemplation. The Boleyns were closely associated
with the group of courtiers who were most antagonistic to Wolsey; while on
the other hand, Katharine had for long regarded him as her husband's evil
genius.
[Sidenote: The Orleans betrothal]
There is a single feature of the situation in the spring of 1527 which
might be taken as pointing to a belief on the King's part that the validity
of the marriage would be confirmed: namely the betrothal of his daughter to
Orleans. This however would completely negative the activity of that
patriotic motive by which Mr. Froude set so much store. Moreover, it is
flatly contradicted by the letter to Anne [Footnote: _L. & P._, iv.,
1467.] in which Henry unmistakably declares his determination to marry her:
and by Wolsey's [Footnote: _S. P._, i., 194. Brewer, ii., 193 ff.]
letter to him, stating the case for the divorce.
[Sidenote: Conclusion]
The only possible conclusion is that the one motive which really actuated
the King was the desire to gratify an illicit passion. Other subsidiary
motives he may have called in to justify himself to himself, on which he
dwelt till he really persuaded himself that they were genuine. For it was
his unfailing practice to do or get done whatsoever served his personal
interest, and to parade some high moral cause as his unimpeachable
motive--or if this proved quite impossible, to condemn a minister as the
responsible person. Yet however difficult it is to reconcile such avowed
motives with the known facts, the avowal always has about it a tone of
conviction which can only have been the outcome of successful
self-deception.
[Sidenote: The first plan (May)]
It was the Cardinal's task then to procure by some means a formal and
authoritative pronouncement that the Papal Dispensation was invalid. The
first scheme was that he should hold a Legatine Court before which the King
should be cited for living in an unlawful union with his brother's widow.
Since the Legate was also the King's subject, the royal assent had to be
formally given. This was duly arranged in May, the affair being conducted
with the utmost secrecy; but after the first beginnings [Footnote: _L. &
P._, iv., 1426.] these proceedings were dropped: presumably because, if
they had been carried through, Katharine might have appealed to the Pope
and Wolsey would have had no voice in the ultimate decision. [Footnote: The
Pope in that case must either have decided the case himself, or have given
full powers to a Legatine Court to act without appeal. In the latter event,
Wolsey could not have been appointed, since Katharine's appeal would have
been an appeal against his previous decision.]
In the same month the world learnt with amazement that the troops of
Bourbon and the Lutheran Frundsberg had stormed and sacked Rome; and that
the Imperial troops held Clement himself a prisoner in the castle of
St. Angelo. The Pope was thus completely in the Emperor's power: the
Emperor was Katharine's nephew and would most certainly veto the divorce.
Moreover, Katharine had now an inkling that steps to obtain a divorce were
being projected; and, unknown to Henry, Mendoza the Spanish ambassador had
already warned the Emperor.
[Sidenote: The second plan (June)]
Thus the difficulties of Wolsey's task were increased; since the next move
must be to get a Papal Commission appointed which should be under Wolsey's
control. To that end, the ecclesiastical support of the English Bishops and
the political support of Francis were requisite. Wolsey played upon the
guilelessness of Fisher of Rochester, till he persuaded the saintly bishop
that the confirmation of the marriage was the one thing desired--that the
Queen's opposition was due to an unfortunate misconception, and entirely
opposed to her own interests. The same course was pursued with Warham of
Canterbury. [Footnote: Brewer, ii., pp. 193 ff.] The necessity for the
enquiry was fathered upon the Bishop of Tarbes, a member of the French
embassy which had settled the betrothal of Orleans and Mary, who was said
[Footnote: There is some reason to suppose that this story of the Bishop of
Tarbes was merely concocted by Wolsey and Henry. It appears to have been
referred to only in Wolsey's communications with Warham and Fisher.--
Brewer, _Henry VIII._, ii., 216. But _cf._ Pollard, _Henry
VIII., sub loc._] to have questioned the validity of the dispensation,
and by consequence the certainty of the princess's legitimacy.
In July Wolsey proceeded to France, ostensibly for the settlement of
details in connexion with the recent treaty: actually, that Francis might
be induced to bring pressure to bear on Charles for the release of the
Pope--in the somewhat desperate hope that Clement in his gratitude would
thereupon grant Henry's wishes. Should the Pope's release be refused,
Wolsey had the idea (soon to be abandoned) that the Cardinals might be
summoned to meet in France, on the ground that the Pope was being forcibly
deprived of the power of action. [Footnote: _S. P_., i., 230, 270.
Brewer, ii., 209, 219.]
[Sidenote: Knight's mission (Autumn)]
The treaty of Amiens, cementing the union between Francis and Henry, was
signed late in August without reference to divorce. Now however Henry began
to conduct operations independently of Wolsey, sending his own secretary
Knight to Rome with private instructions, the object of which was to evade
the ultimate submission of the question to Wolsey's jurisdiction. Under the
influence of the Boleyn clique, and knowing Wolsey's aversion to the Boleyn
marriage, the King may have suspected that his minister would play him
false if he lost all hope of averting that conclusion to the divorce. Or he
may merely have resolved that it was time to check any development of his
minister's authority. On Wolsey's return to England, instead of being
received in privacy according to precedent, he was summoned on his arrival
at Richmond Palace to meet his master in the presence of Anne Boleyn.
[Sidenote: Its failure (Dec)]
Knight's mission was a failure. In December, Clement escaped in disguise
from his Imperial guards: Knight found him at Orvieto. It was evident that
the secret plan of getting the Pope's permission to marry again without
upsetting the existing marriage [Footnote: Brewer, ii., 224, 234-239. Both
the Conscience of the King and the need of an heir, are dwelt on in the
instructions.] was out of the question. So the Secretary presented a form
for a dispensation, and for a Commission which was to give Wolsey power to
decide summarily against the validity of the dispensation granted by Pope
Julius, without appeal; and power to declare Mary legitimate at the same
time. The dispensation was to enable Henry to marry thereafter in despite
of difficulties which might be raised on certain specified
grounds--intelligible only if those difficulties applied in Anne Boleyn's
case: and implying the truth of allegations subsequently made as to
relations between Henry and Anne's mother and sister. Knight was outwitted
by a Cardinal, Lorenzo Pucci, who redrafted the documents so as to make
them useless for Henry's purpose. The deluded envoy returned to England
under the impression that he had achieved a diplomatic triumph. But the
King saw that he must leave the management of such delicate matters to
Wolsey.
[Sidenote: The Pope and the Cardinal]
It is evident that the Pope's one desire was to evade all responsibility in
the matter; as it was Wolsey's, on the contrary part, to fix the ultimate
responsibility on him. Clement wanted the support of England and France;
but, though now no longer actually the Emperor's prisoner, he was
distinctly in greater danger from him than from the other Powers. Moreover
for one Pope to be invited to nullify the proceedings of another was a
somewhat dangerous precedent: as implying that a papal decision was not
necessarily unimpeachable. The Cardinal however required the Pope's
authority. The divorce was not popular in England, where the general
inclination was towards the Imperial alliance. Besides, Katharine was
firmly convinced that Wolsey was the moving spirit; so was the general
public. If the divorce were carried through by any method which seemed to
bear out that theory--if it could be looked upon as a political job of the
Cardinal's--Henry too would come in for a share of the odium, and might be
trusted to visit that misfortune on his minister. So Wolsey would have
nothing to say to the suggestion that the King should act on his own
account without the Pope, and take his chance of an appeal.
[Sidenote: 1528 Gardiner's mission]
Early in 1528, the negotiations were again on foot. This time they were in
the hands of Wolsey's own men--Steven Gardiner and Foxe, the King's
almoner. Their instructions were to obtain a commission with absolute
authority, in which a legate--Campeggio for choice--should be associated
with Wolsey; failing that, a legate without Wolsey but one on whom Wolsey
could depend; finally, as least desirable, the commission was to consist of
Wolsey and Warham. If the Pope continued recalcitrant, he was to be given
to understand that the results for him might be very awkward. Gardiner in
fact did not hesitate to indulge in threats which were more than
hints. England's goodwill was at stake. If Clement had so little faith in
his own authority that he dared not exercise it in a manifestly righteous
cause, Henry might repudiate papal authority altogether. Nevertheless, in
spite of all Gardiner's skill and vigour--and he showed himself deficient
in neither--the result was unsatisfactory. A commission was obtained for
Wolsey with Campeggio; but it was not absolute. The decision they might
arrive at could not take effect till referred to Rome for confirmation.
[Sidenote: Wolsey's critical position]
Although the purpose of Gardiner and Foxe was not completely achieved, it
certainly appeared at this time that Wolsey had practically won over the
Pope; in other words, had made sure that the King should get his desire
under cover of law, and of the highest moral sanctions, without any breach
with the Church, defiance of Authority, or association with heresy. So far,
the credit was the Cardinal's, who had dissuaded his master from following
a much more arbitrary course. Nevertheless indications were not wanting
that the Boleyn influence was at work in a manner very detrimental to
Wolsey; that Henry was fully alive to his minister's unpopularity; and that
if occasion served he might take the popular side. Thus when Wolsey
appointed a suitable person to be Abbess of Wilton, instead of a very
unsuitable person who was connected with the Boleyns, the King reprimanded
him in his most elevated style--taking occasion at the same time to be
scandalised at the subscriptions to Wolsey's educational schemes provided
by monasteries which had pleaded poverty at the time of the "Amicable
Loan". It was at least tolerably evident that "the King's matter" as the
divorce was generally called would have to be brought to a speedy and
successful issue if Wolsey was to retain the royal favour.
Clement VII. however was a dexterous procrastinator. Campeggio got his
Commission in April. But he did not start from Rome till June: he did not
reach French soil till the end of July: in September he got as far as
Paris. Meantime, the French troops in Italy were not doing so well, but the
Pope was strongly suspected of Imperial leanings. The French King formed
the opinion--which he transmitted to his brother of England--that
Campeggio's object was to induce Henry to change his determination.
[Sidenote: Campeggio and Wolsey (Autumn)]
When at last Campeggio reached London, still suffering seriously from the
gout which was the ostensible cause of his dilatory journeying, Wolsey was
explicit. He warned the Legate that the business must be put through
promptly. The need of a male heir was imperative; the King was convinced
that his wedlock with Katharine was contrary to the Divine law: if he were
not quickly released, the respect hitherto shown for the Church by the
Defender of the Faith would certainly vanish; while Wolsey himself, whose
influence had hitherto kept his master loyal in the face of strong
temptation, would no longer be able to restrain him. From Campeggio's
letters, [Footnote: Brewer, ii., 296.] it is evident that the King had
mastered his own case thoroughly, and knew the legal aspects better than
any one else: also, that the intention was to declare Mary his heir unless
there should be male issue of the new marriage. The Legate let slip that in
view of the determined attitude of Henry and Wolsey, he would have to await
further instructions from Rome; whereupon he was again threatened with the
secession of England from the Roman Obedience. Next, the two Cardinals
tried to induce Katharine to accede to a divorce without a formal trial; on
the ground that thereby she would ensure that save on the single point of
the re-marriage any demand she might put forward would be granted, and much
scandal would be averted. The Queen took some days to consider her reply:
but was absolutely obdurate. She was Henry's wife; she could not and would
not profess that she was not. On every ground, she would fight to the last.
Campeggio did his best to impress the Pope with the urgency of the case:
but Clement was more than ever afraid of Charles, and persisted in the
first place that proceedings were to be postponed and prolonged by every
effort of ingenuity, and in the second that no verdict adverse to the
marriage was to be pronounced without his ratification.
[Sidenote: Henry's attitude]
Henry for his part, learning or knowing before that Ferdinand had received
from Pope Julius a confirmation of the dispensation in ampler terms, urged
upon Katharine the necessity of obtaining this document in her own
interests--hoping that there would be a chance of repudiating it as a
forgery. Also he instructed his agents at Rome to persuade the Pope to give
him a dispensation for re-marriage, without a divorce, if Katharine retired
into a nunnery; [Footnote: _L. & P._, iv., 2157, 2161. Brewer, ii.,
312, 313, and note. Such a marriage was admissible according to some of the
Lutherans.] or even for an openly bigamous union. Moreover about the same
time, Henry openly separated himself from his wife, and began to treat Anne
Boleyn publicly as his partner-elect on the throne.
[Sidenote 1: 1529]
[Sidenote 2: The trial]
The Pope's one object was to evade the responsibility of any pronouncement.
The Imperialist cause in Italy was progressing: Charles was growing
steadily stronger. Clement dared not pronounce in Henry's favour; he was
only less afraid of pronouncing against him. He told the agents that the
King should act on his own responsibility on the ground of dissatisfaction
with Campeggio's conduct; whereas the King was quite resolved to act, but
also quite resolved to force the responsibility for his action on Clement.
There was a limit to the possibilities of procrastination, but it was not
till June 1529 that the Court opened proceedings, citing the King and Queen
to appear. Fisher of Rochester, appearing on behalf of the Queen, boldly
declared that the marriage was valid and could not be dissolved. Standish
supported him, less vigorously. The Queen challenged the jurisdiction of
the Court, and appealed from it to the Pope. She regarded Wolsey as the
source of her woes; Anne believed that the procrastination was due to his
machinations; the King was quite capable of crushing the Cardinal to
relieve his own feelings. Popular sentiment was entirely on the Queen's
side, but held the Cardinal to blame rather than the King: though even in
Court Henry declared, in answer to Wolsey's appeal, that the minister had
not suggested but had deterred him from the course adopted. Campeggio
prorogued the Court in July. At about the same time, Clement, acting under
Imperial pressure, formally revoked the case to Rome. Before the revocation
reached England, a desperate attempt was made to persuade Katharine to
place herself in the King's hands: it failed. A sharp public altercation
between Wolsey and Suffolk showed how the current was setting.
[Sidenote: The storm gathers]
During the following months, Wolsey's loss of the royal favour became
increasingly evident, and the opposition to him on the part of the nobility
more and more open. Steven Gardiner, who had proved his conspicuous
ability, was made the King's private secretary, and became the normal
medium of communication--the close personal intercourse hitherto prevalent
was at an end. Wolsey's European policy was thrown over by Henry, who
allowed Francis and Charles to come to terms without his claiming any voice
in the negotiation. A treaty of amity was signed at Cambrai, which
terminated all prospect of Francis being induced to assist Henry in
bringing pressure to bear either on the Emperor or the Pope, and released
Clement from serious alarms as to the results of his accepting the Imperial
policy. England had deliberately vacated the position of arbiter, because
Henry was too thoroughly engrossed with the divorce to care about anything
else. Since both Francis and Charles were for the time satisfied to
restrict their ambitions so as not to collide with each other, there was no
further demand for the Cardinal's diplomatic genius. The best to which
Wolsey could now look forward was that he might be permitted to turn his
vast talents to the reform of administration, ecclesiastical, legal, and
educational, which he had always postponed to what he regarded as the more
vital demands of international politics.
[Sidenote: The storm breaks (Oct.)]
It was not long before even these hopes were destroyed. At the beginning of
October, Campeggio departed from England. At Dover, his baggage was
ransacked by the King's authority, in the hope of discovering documents
which would enable Wolsey to deal with the divorce in his absence. The
documents were not forthcoming. Wolsey was of no more use to his master.
The day after Campeggio reached Dover a writ was demanded by the King's
attorney against the Cardinal for breach of the statute of Praemunire in
acting as Legate.
[Sidenote 1: Wolsey's fall]
[Sidenote 2: 1530]
[Sidenote 3: Wolsey's death (Nov.)]
The fatal blow had been struck. From that hour, the Cardinal's doom was
sealed. He ceased absolutely to be a political force and became merely an
object for the King, and for every enemy he had raised up against himself,
to buffet. A week later, on October 16th, the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk
demanded the seals from Wolsey as Chancellor; he was deprived of all his
benefices and retired to his house at Esher, where he abode in poverty.
This contented Henry for the time, and he sent gracious messages--but
restricted them to words. Even Thomas More, who succeeded him as
Chancellor, is said to have acted so far out of character as to speak of
him publicly in insulting terms. Parliament had been summoned for November;
a bill depriving him for ever of office was introduced in the Lords: in the
Commons, it was boldly resisted by Thomas Cromwell who won thereby great
credit for his loyalty; and it was dropped--not against the wishes of the
King, who was as yet disinclined to deprive himself of the chance of
resuscitating the great minister. In February Wolsey was restored to the
see of York, whither he departed to act in the novel capacity of a diocesan
devoted solely to his duties--duties which he so discharged as to change
bitter unpopularity into warm affection. The King kept a firm hold on his
forfeited properties, Gardiner was advanced to his see of Winchester: the
college at Ipswich was dissolved. Wolsey was rash enough to attempt to open
secret communications with Francis I., in the hope that his influence might
be exercised to restore to favour the man who had done so much for him. But
Norfolk, in power, had to cultivate Francis; and Francis, finding him a
much simpler diplomatic antagonist, had no wish to reinstate the
Cardinal. The attempted correspondence became known, and in November,
without warning, Wolsey was arrested for high treason. Sick and worn, he
started on his last journey towards London; but was stricken with mortal
illness, and could travel no further than Leicester Abbey where the end
came.
[Sidenote: Wolsey's achievement]
So died the great Cardinal who for nearly twenty years had mainly swayed
the destinies of England. Henry VII. had slowly recovered a place among the
nations for a country brought low by long years of reckless civil strife.
His son's minister again raised her to be the arbiter of Europe, holding
the scales between the two mighty princes who virtually ruled Christendom:
not by deeds of arms like Edward III. or Henry V., for no English soldier
of real distinction arose in his time; but by a diplomatic genius almost
without parallel among English statesmen. In this field, the superiority of
his abilities to those of his contemporaries made his position with his
master absolutely secure, so long as foreign relations were the primary
consideration; for though the ends the minister himself had in view were
always the same, he was ready to exert his powers to the full, even at the
expense of those objects, in carrying out any policy on which Henry himself
might determine; and as a general rule the King's wishes did not run
counter to his own.
[Sidenote: Appraisement of Wolsey]
His absorbing aim was to magnify England and the King of England in the
eyes of Europe: nor was personal ambition lacking, but it was subordinate.
That he desired the popedom is clear, and that Henry desired it for him;
but he was above the temptation of allowing that desire to dominate his
national aims, and had he achieved it, he would have regarded the alliance
of the Ecclesiastical Power with England as the real prize secured. His
personal weight in the Counsels of Europe would hardly have been increased;
and he cared more for Power than for the appearance of it, though he had a
possibly exaggerated perception of the practical value of magnificence in
securing both national and personal prestige. In part at least this was the
cause of that habitual display which, while impressing, also roused the
anger of the nobles, who regarded him as an upstart, and of the satirists
of ecclesiastical ostentation and luxury. Secure in the confidence of the
King, he never attempted to conciliate either popular sentiment or the
rivals whom he deposed.
But at all times, if he magnified his own office, it was as the King's
right hand. If the King's will, even in opposition to his own, necessitated
unpopular measures, he carried those measures out, and took the odium for
them on his own head, preserving his master's popularity at the price of
his own. He ruled the country on autocratic principles, and the increase of
his power was the increase also of the King's. And the King rewarded him
after his kind.
But for the all-absorbing interest of diplomacy, his vast abilities as an
administrator and organiser might have achieved great things. He would at
least have pruned ecclesiastical abuses; and would have forced upon the
clergy as an ecclesiastic those reforms which they were always on the verge
of introducing when they found themselves anticipated by the drastic action
of the temporal Power. Reform was the inevitable corollary of Education,
and the development of Education was of all schemes the nearest to Wolsey's
heart. Yet whether, if the Divorce question had never arisen, he would have
played an effective part in the Reformation is open to doubt, for at bottom
the Puritan movement in these islands, the Lutheran movement, and the
Counter-reformation, were all the outcome or expression of Moral ideals,
not of state-craft; and for Wolsey morals were subordinate to state-craft.
It is probable that in any case the assertion in England by the State of
its supremacy over the Church would only have been deferred; but Wolsey
might have deferred it. As it was, Henry willed otherwise. The great
statesman, failing to carry out his master's demands, was hurled from
power. The battle of the Reformation was to be fought under other captains.
NOTE.
The term "Divorce" has been employed above, because, although a misnomer,
it is universally applied. Properly a divorce is the cancellation of a
legally contracted marriage. What Henry sought was a _declaration of
nullity_--that no valid marriage had ever taken place.