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CHAPTER IV.

THE DIVORCE CASE AND THE FALL OF WOLSEY.

1527-1533.

§ 23.

§ 1. The divorce history fully investigated. § 2. Points that have been established. § 3. Wolsey early employed in furthering it. § 4. Henry declares his intention to the Queen. § 5. Wolsey's visits to Warham and Fisher. § 6. An agent sent to Rome independently of Wolsey, but fails. § 7. Wolsey's negotiations fail. § 8. The mission of Gardener and Fox. § 9. They obtain partial success. § 10. Great issues at stake. § 11. Campeggio, on arriving, does not proceed with the case. § 12. Proceedings in the interval. § 13. The King's speech. § 14. Proceedings of the Court at Blackfriars. § 15. Campeggio adjourns it-the cause revoked. § 16. Fall of Wolsey. § 17. He is pardoned, and restored to York. § 18. Goes to his diocese. § 19. Arrested for high treason. § 20. His death and character. § 21. A new phase of the divorce case-T. Cranmer. § 22. Foreign universities consulted. The divorce case at Cambridge. § 24. At Oxford. § 25. Parliament calls on the pope to decide. § 26. Opinions of universities brought before Parliament. § 27. Convocation consulted. § 28. The King's book. § 29. Cranmer made Archbishop. § 30. Convocation consulted a second time. § 31. King married to Anne Boleyn. § 32. Cranmer's proceedings at Dunstable. § 33. Catherine receives the news of the sentence. § 34. Cranmer confirms Henry's marriage with Anne-crowns Anne. § 1. THE obscure and intricate history of the divorce of Henry VIII. from his Queen Catherine of Arragon has now been so fully investigated, and so carefully elucidated, that a narrative of the various phases of its history becomes comparatively easy.1

§ 2. It may be assumed as almost demonstrated that the first movements of the king in this matter did not proceed from religious scruples, nor from fears about the succession, nor from annoyance at any objection to Mary's legitimacy made by the French ambassadors, but from his distaste for his faded wife, quickened by the love which he had conceived for Anne Boleyn. It may also be assumed as proved, that the first idea of a divorce did not originate in 1527, as has been generally supposed, but several years before.2 It appears also certain that in the negotiations of the Bishop of

1 Mr. Brewer in his Introduction to vol. iv. of the Calendars of State Papers of Henry VIII., and Mr. Pocock in his Memorials of the Reformation, have probably done all that can be done for the elucidation of this matter. The former will be quoted in the references simply as "Brewer."

2 There is an allusion to the king's "great matter" in a letter of Arch bishop Warham to Wolsey in 1525, and a very distinct mention of it by Clark, the English ambassador at Rome in 1526. (Brewer, pp. 83, 123.)

Tarbes and the other French ambassadors for the hand of the Princess Mary, early in 1527, not one word was mentioned in disparagement of her legitimacy. This story was concocted between the king and cardinal as a pretext for proceeding in the divorce matter. It was not the occasion of it. Once more it may now be considered as in the highest degree probable that the first suggestions as to a possible divorce did not come from Wolsey, and that when he first became aware of the king's project it was opposed by him.2

§ 3. Very early, however, in the proceedings, the cardinal was certainly employed in actively furthering them. In May 1527, with the consent of the pope, a collusive suit was instituted before him, in which it was intended to try the question, and to pronounce the divorce without the queen having any intimation of the proceedings.3 The discovery of this plot by the queen, her demand for counsel, and the captivity of the pope, which forced him to change his policy, caused this design to miscarry. It was by way of furthering this that the cardinal made his journey into France; and it was with a view of propping it up that he made those visits to Archbishop Warham and Bishop Fisher in the summer of 1527, of which we have such ample details in the State Papers.

§ 4. While the cardinal was absent on these visits, Henry, having discovered that the queen was aware of what was brewing, himself solemnly informed her (June 22) that they two had been living in mortal sin up to this time; that his conscience was troubled; that such a state of things could go on no longer; that they must be separated a mensâ et thoro. The queen was greatly agitated, and then the king desired her on no account to divulge what he had told her. The object of this communication to the queen is evident. It was to prevent her seeking advice and counsel

1 Brewer, p. 197, sq. It should, however, be stated that Le Grand, the French historian of the divorce, who had the French ambassador's papers as authority, asserts the contrary. (Histoire du Divorce, i. 49.) The dates, however, seem to make it certain that this, at any rate, was not the origin of Henry's scruples. The negotiations for the marriage took place in April 1527, but in September 1526 Clark speaks of "that cursed divorce." (Brewer, p. 223.)

2 It is, however, remarkable that in addition to the many writers who have asserted that Wolsey sowed doubts in the king's mind through Longland, his confessor, another and no mean authority has come to light since Mr. Brewer wrote. This is Nicholas Harpsfield, Archdeacon of Canterbury, a man who took a prominent part in Church matters under Mary, who, in a History of the Divorce, says :-"The beginning of all this broil, as we have partly touched already, proceeded from Cardinal Wolsey, who first by himself or by John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, and the king's confessor, put this scruple and doubt into his head." (MS., Grenville Library.)

3 Brewer, p. 255, sq.

4 Mendoza's despatch: Brewer, p. 279.

in the matter, and to keep her alone and unprotected, in order that she might be the better overwhelmed.1

§ 5. While the king performed his part in the plot, which had been concocted with Wolsey, the cardinal went to play a kindred part with those who were likely to be consulted by the queen, if she consulted any one. He went first to Archbishop Warham. Of Warham there could be little doubt; he had been opposed to the marriage of Henry and Catherine from the first, and it would seem but reasonable to him that the king should have scruples in the matter. But it was necessary to make sure of him, lest he might haply side with the queen. In the letter which Wolsey wrote to the king to tell of his interview with Warham, there are indications that Henry had conceived some suspicion of the cardinal's zeal in the prosecuting the case. He writes (July 1) :-" I take God to record that there is nothing earthly that I covet so much as the advancing your secret matter. When Master Sampson showed unto me that the queen was very stiff and obstinate,2 affirming that your brother did never know her carnally, and that she desired counsel as well of your subjects as of strangers, I said this device could never come of her head, but of some that were learned, and these were the worst points that could be imagined for the empeching [hindering] of the matter, that she would resort unto the counsel of strangers. For the reverence of God, sir, and most humbly prostrate at your feet, I beseech your Grace, whatsoever report shall be made unto the same, to conceive none opinion of me but that in this matter, and in all other things which may touch your honour and surety, I shall be as constant as any living creature." Visiting the archbishop, the cardinal informed him that the . queen knew of the "secret matter," that she took it "displeasantly," but that the king had done much for the "pacification" of her. He told him that the king had "nothing intended nor done, but only for the searching and bringing out of the truth, proceeding on occasion given by the French party, and doubts moved therein by the Bishop of Tarbes." 3 "My Lord of Canterbury liked the fashion and manner very well." Wolsey then arranged with Warham

1 Before this interview had taken place, the queen had contrived to convey a secret message to the Spanish court. The Spanish ambassador in England also was acquainted with it.

2 This was doubtless on the occasion of Henry's divulging his "scruples" on June 22.

3 This was the story concocted and agreed upon by the king and cardinal. It was to be represented that the king was only moving in the matter in order to establish Mary's legitimacy. His love for Anne Boleyn was as yet a profound secret. It would seem by the following words that Warham object of putting the matter in this way.

understood at once the

what he was to do if the queen demanded him for her counsel; and from Dartford, where he had met him, went to Rochester to see Bishop Fisher. 1 He first extracted diplomatically from the bishop (who was the queen's confessor) that he had a suspicion of something being in progress, that he had had a message from the queen, saying that she should want his advice, and then, first making him swear not to divulge the matter, he told Fisher the story agreed upon as to the objections of the French ambassadors, and the king's desire to make the legitimacy of his daughter certain. He then told him that he (the cardinal) had consulted learned men upon the matter, and that their books were already growing in magna volumina; and then he came to the real point of his visit. Fisher was the queen's confessor, and much beloved by her. He was the person to whom Catherine was almost sure to apply for advice. Wolsey therefore set himself carefully to represent the queen's "stubborn and resentful temper," when she was informed of the proceedings which the king was so kindly taking to establish the validity of the marriage and the legitimacy of her daughter. He thus sought to prejudice her in the mind of the bishop, and according to his own account he succeeded. Fisher, as he represents, found much fault with her stubbornness, and said that he did not doubt he should be able to bring her to a better mind, and cause her "to repente humille, and submit herself to the king's highness." This, however, was not what Wolsey wanted. It would not have been convenient for the conspirators for the bishop to communicate with the queen. "Such an endeavour," says Mr. Brewer, "would have discovered all." The cardinal therefore persuaded the good and unsuspecting bishop to say nothing to the queen until the king should desire him to do so; and, having performed the noble and chivalrous office of "alienating from the unhappy queen the only adviser on whose sincerity and honesty she could rely," he went on his way to France. 3

§ 6. While the cardinal was in France, Henry became more than ever engrossed in his love for Anne Boleyn.4 He made her a promise that the divorce should certainly be accomplished, and she and her family continued eagerly to press him to take decisive measures. Under this influence the king was made to believe that the cardinal's measures were slow and dilatory, and that he was not fully in earnest about the matter, and was induced to send a mission to the pope independent of Wolsey. The person selected was Dr. Knight, and the purport of his mission was to obtain a 2 Brewer, p. 269.

1 State Papers of Henry VIII., i. 195, 196.

3 State Papers of Henry VIII., i. 196-204. * For particulars of early life of Anne Boleyn, see Notes and Illustrations

dispensation for the king to marry a second wife, though the first still remained undivorced.1 Knight carried with him from England a dispensation ready drawn for this effect. The pope, being in captivity and hard pressed for help, consented to ratify this dispensation, but, on escaping from captivity, he drew back from his promise, and would only grant such a dispensation and commission, as turned out when examined in England, to be worthless.3 The negotiations then again fell into Wolsey's hands.

2

§ 7. The cardinal, by means of Sir Gregory Cassali, an Italian in the service of England, induced the pope, after much difficulty, to grant a commission to himself and another cardinal to hear and try the case in England, and a dispensation for the king to marry again. These documents being skilfully manipulated by the cardinal St. Quatuor, proved also when examined in England to be insufficient.5

4

§ 8. Thus, two negotiations having failed, it was determined to try a third with different agents and in a bolder tone. Dr. Fox (afterwards Bishop of Hereford), and Dr. Stephen Gardiner (afterwards Bishop of Winchester), were now (1528) sent to the pope to obtain more ample and satisfactory powers for determining the matter in England, and with a direction that Cardinal Campeggio should be joined by name in the commission with Wolsey. Campeggio was known to the king, having been sent on a former mission to England, and he also held an English bishopric (Salisbury). Gardiner and Fox were to obtain what was called a decretal commission, that is to say, a commission giving the cardinals named the full power of determining the matter, as though they were the pope himself, and leaving no right of appeal. But there was the greatest difficulty in the way of their obtaining this. It would be equivalent on the pope's part to accepting an ex parte statement, and actually decreeing the dissolution of the marriage. His fear of the emperor was too great to allow this. At the same time he was much bound to the King of England, and it was important that he should stand well with him. Thus commenced a series of negotiations of the most perplexing and tormenting character, in which Gardiner and Fox contended as well as they could against all the resources of Roman chicanery-the English ambassadors striving to obtain a decretal commission which should 1 Brewer, 306, 308. There is great probability that Cranmer was the author of this scheme. See Mr. Brewer's note, p. 806. 3 Ib. p. 318.

2 Brewer, p. 315.

Ib. p. 328. There was a very singular proviso in this dispensation which proves almost conclusively that there had been an illicit connection between Mary Boleyn, elder sister of Anne, and Henry.

5 Ib. p. 336.

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