History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume V Part 56

[Sidenote: A HOT DAY.]

On the contrary, he began to find out that Wolsey proceeded too slowly, and the idea sometimes crossed his mind that he was betrayed by this minister. One fine summer's morning, Henry as soon as he rose summoned the cardinal to him at Bridewell. Wolsey hastened thither, and remained closeted with the king from eleven till twelve. The latter gave way to all the fury of his pa.s.sion and the violence of his despotism. "We must finish this matter promptly," he said, "we must positively." Wolsey retired very uneasy, and returned by the Thames to Westminster. The sun darted his bright rays on the water. The bishop of Carlisle, who sat by the cardinal's side, remarked, as he wiped his forehead: "A very warm day, my lord."--"Yes," replied the unhappy Wolsey, "if you had been _chafed_ for an hour as I have been, you would say it was a _hot_ day." When he reached his palace, the cardinal lay down on his bed to seek repose; he was not quiet long.

Catherine had grown in Henry's eyes, as well as in those of the nation. The king shrank from a judgment; he even began to doubt of his success. He wished that the queen would consent to a separation. This idea occurred to his mind after Wolsey's departure, and the cardinal had hardly closed his eyes before the Earl of Wiltshire (Anne Boleyn's father) was announced to him with a message from the king. "It is his majesty's pleasure," said Wiltshire, "that you represent to the queen the shame that will accrue to her from a judicial condemnation, and persuade her to confide in his wisdom." Wolsey, commissioned to execute a task he knew to be impossible, exclaimed: "Why do you put such fancies in the king's head?" and then he spoke so reproachfully that Wiltshire, with tears in his eyes, fell on his knees beside the cardinal's bed.[997] Boleyn, desirous of seeing his daughter queen of England, feared perhaps that he had taken a wrong course. "It is well," said the cardinal, recollecting that the message came from Henry VIII, "I am ready to do every thing to please his majesty." He rose, went to Bath-Place to fetch Campeggio, and together they waited on the queen.

[997] Cavendish, p. 226.

[Sidenote: THE LEGATES VISIT THE QUEEN.]

The two legates found Catherine quietly at work with her maids of honour. Wolsey addressed the queen in Latin: "Nay, my lord," she said, "speak to me in English; I wish all the world could hear you."--"We desire, madam, to communicate to _you alone_ our counsel and opinion."--"My lord," said the queen, "you are come to speak of things beyond my capacity;" and then, with n.o.ble simplicity, showing a skein of red silk hanging about her neck, she continued: "These are my occupations, and all that I am capable of. I am a poor woman, without friends in this foreign country, and lacking wit to answer persons of wisdom as ye be; and yet, my lords, to please you, let us go to my withdrawing room."

At these words the queen rose, and Wolsey gave her his hand. Catherine earnestly maintained her rights as a woman and a queen. "We who were in the outer chamber," says Cavendish, "from time to time could hear the queen speaking very loud, but could not understand what she said."

Catherine, instead of justifying herself, boldly accused her judge. "I know, Sir Cardinal," she said with n.o.ble candour, "I know who has given the king the advice he is following: it is you. I have not ministered to your pride--I have blamed your conduct--I have complained of your tyranny, and my nephew the emperor has not made you pope.... Hence all my misfortunes. To revenge yourself you have kindled a war in Europe, and have stirred up against me this most wicked matter. G.o.d will be my judge.... and yours!" Wolsey would have replied, but Catherine haughtily refused to hear him, and while treating Campeggio with great civility, declared that she would not acknowledge either of them as her judge. The cardinals withdrew, Wolsey full of vexation, and Campeggio beaming with joy, for the business was getting more complicated. Every hope of accommodation was lost: nothing remained now but to proceed judicially.

CHAPTER IX.

The Trial resumed--Catherine Summoned--Twelve Articles--The Witnesses' Evidence--Arthur and Catherine really married--Campeggio opposes the Argument of Divine Right--Other Arguments--The legates required to deliver judgment--Their Tergiversations--Change in men's minds--Final Session--General Expectation--Adjournment during Harvest--Campeggio Excuses this impertinence--The King's indignation--Suffolk's violence--Wolsey's Reply--He is ruined--General Accusations--The Cardinal turns to an Episcopal Life.

[Sidenote: THE TRIAL RESUMED.]

The trial was resumed. The bishop of Bath and Wells waited upon the queen at Greenwich, and peremptorily summoned her to appear in the parliament-chamber.[998] On the day appointed Catherine limited herself to sending an appeal to the pope. She was declared contumacious, and the legates proceeded with the cause.

[998] In quadam superiori camera: _the queen'a dining-chamber_, nuncupata, 26 die mensis junii Rymer. Acta. p. 119.

Twelve articles were prepared, which were to serve for the examination of the witnesses, and the summary of which was, that the marriage of Henry with Catherine, being forbidden both by the law of G.o.d and of the church, was null and void.[999]

[999] Divino, ecclesiastico jure....nullo omnino et invalidum.

Herbert, p. 163.

The hearing of the witnesses began, and Dr. Taylor, archdeacon of Buckingham, conducted the examination. Their evidence, which would now be taken only with closed doors, may be found in Lord Herbert of Cherbury's History of Henry VIII. The duke of Norfolk, high-treasurer of England, the duke of Suffolk, Maurice St. John, gentleman-carver to Prince Arthur, the Viscount Fitzwalter and Anthony Willoughby, his cup-bearers, testified to their being present on the morrow of the wedding at the breakfast of the prince, then in sound health, and reported the conversation that took place.[1000] The old d.u.c.h.ess of Norfolk, the earl of Shrewsbury, and the marquis of Dorset, confirmed these declarations, which proved that Arthur and Catherine were really married. It was also called to mind that, at the time of Arthur's death, Henry was not permitted to take the t.i.tle of prince of Wales, because Catherine hoped to give an heir to the crown of England.[1001]

[1000] Quod Arthurus mane postridie potum flagitaret, idquo ut alebant, quoniam diceret se ilia nocte in calida Hispaniarum regione peregrinatum fuisse, Sanders, p. 43.

[1001] Foxe, v, p. 51.

[Sidenote: SECONDARY ARGUMENTS.]

"If Arthur and Catherine were really married," said the king's counsellors after these extraordinary depositions, "the marriage of this princess with Henry, Arthur's brother, was forbidden by the divine law, by an express command of G.o.d contained in Leviticus, and no dispensation could permit what G.o.d had forbidden." Campeggio would never concede this argument, which limited the right of the popes; it was necessary therefore to abandon the _divine right_ (which was in reality to lose the cause), and to seek in the bull of Julius II and in his famous brief for flaws that would invalidate them both;[1002]

and this the king's counsel did, although they did not conceal the weakness of their position. "The motive alleged in the dispensation,"

they said, "is the necessity of preserving a cordial relation between Spain and England; now, there was nothing that threatened their harmony. Moreover, it is said in this doc.u.ment that the pope grants it at the prayer of Henry, prince of Wales. Now as this prince was only thirteen years old, he was not of age to make such a request. As for the brief, it is found neither in England nor in Rome; we cannot therefore admit its authenticity." It was not difficult for Catherine's friends to invalidate these objections. "Besides," they added, "a union that has lasted twenty years, sufficiently establishes its own lawfulness. And will you declare the Princess Mary illegitimate, to the great injury of this realm?"

[1002] Herbert gives them at length, pp. 264-267.

The king's advocates then changed their course. Was not the Roman legate provided with a decretal p.r.o.nouncing the divorce, in case it should be proved that Arthur's marriage had been really consummated?

Now, this fact had been proved by the depositions. "This is the moment for delivering judgment," said Henry and his counsellors to Campeggio.

"Publish the pope's decretal." But the pope feared the sword of Charles V, then hanging over his head; and accordingly, whenever the king advanced one step, the Romish prelate took several in an opposite direction. "I will deliver judgment in _five_ days," said he; and when the five days were expired, he bound himself to deliver it in six.

"Restore peace to my troubled conscience," exclaimed Henry. The legate replied in courtly phrase; he had gained a few days' delay, and that was all he desired.

[Sidenote: DIFFERENT OPINIONS.]

Such conduct on the part of the Roman legate produced an unfavourable effect in England, and a change took place in the public mind. The first movement had been for Catherine; the second was for Henry.

Clement's endless delays and Campeggio's stratagems exasperated the nation. The king's argument was simple and popular: "The pope cannot dispense with the laws of G.o.d;" while the queen, by appealing to the authority of the Roman pontiff, displeased both high and low. "No precedent," said the lawyers, "can justify the king's marriage with his brother's widow."

There were, however, some evangelical Christians who thought Henry was "troubled" more by his pa.s.sions than by his conscience; and they asked how it happened that a prince, who represented himself to be so disturbed by the possible transgression of a law of doubtful interpretation, could desire, after twenty years, to violate the indisputable law which forbade the divorce?... On the 21st of July, the day fixed _ad concludendum_, the cause was adjourned until the Friday following, and no one doubted that the matter would then be terminated.

All prepared for this important day. The king ordered the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk to be present at the sitting of the court; and being himself impatient to hear the so much coveted judgment, he stole into a gallery of the parliament-chamber facing the judges.

[Sidenote: THE LEGATE'S REASONS.]

The legates of the holy see having taken their seats, the attorney-general signified to them, "that every thing necessary for the information of their conscience having been judicially laid before them, that day had been fixed for the conclusion of the trial." There was a pause; everyone feeling the importance of this judgment, waited for it with impatience. "Either the papacy p.r.o.nounces my divorce from Catherine," the king had said, "or I shall divorce myself from the papacy." That was the way Henry put the question. All eyes, and particularly the king's, were turned on the judges; Campeggio could not retreat; he must now say _yes_ or _no_. For some time he was silent. He knew for certain that the queen's appeal had been admitted by Clement VII and that the latter had concluded an alliance with the emperor. It was no longer in his power to grant the king's request.

Clearly foreseeing that a _no_ would perhaps forfeit the power of Rome in England, while a _yes_ might put an end to the plans of religious emanc.i.p.ation which alarmed him so much, he could not make up his mind to say either _yes_ or _no_.

At last the nuncio rose slowly from his chair, and all the a.s.sembly listened with emotion to the oracular decision which for so many years the powerful king of England had sought from the Roman pontiff. "The general vacation of the harvest and vintage," he said, "being observed every year by the court of Rome, dating from to-morrow the 24th of July, the beginning of the dog-days, we adjourn, to some future period, the conclusion of these pleadings."[1003]

[1003] Feriae generales messium et vindemiarum. (Herbert, p. 278; Cavendish, p. 229) The general vacation of harvest and vintage.

The auditors were thunderstruck. "What! because the _malaria_ renders the air of Rome dangerous at the end of July; and compels the Romans to close their courts, must a trial be broken off on the banks of the Thames, when its conclusion is looked for so impatiently?" The people hoped for a judicial sentence, and they were answered with a jest; it was thus Rome made sport of Christendom. Campeggio, to disarm Henry's wrath, gave utterance to some n.o.ble sentiments; but his whole line of conduct raises legitimate doubts as to his sincerity. "The queen," he said, "denies the competency of the court; I must therefore make my report to the pope, who is the source of life and honour, and wait his sovereign orders. I have not come so far to please any man, be he king or subject. I am an old man, feeble and sickly, and fear none but the Supreme Judge, before whom I must soon appear. I therefore adjourn this court until the 1st of October."

It was evident that this adjournment was only a formality intended to signify the definitive rejection of Henry's demand. The same custom prevails in the British legislature.

The king, who from his place of concealment had heard Campeggio's speech, could scarcely control his indignation. He wanted a regular judgment; he clung to forms; he desired that his cause should pa.s.s successfully through all the windings of ecclesiastical procedure, and yet here it is wrecked upon the vacations of the Romish court. Henry was silent, however, either from prudence, or because surprise deprived him of the power of speech, and he hastily left the gallery.

[Sidenote: SUFFOLK'S VIOLENCE.]

Norfolk, Suffolk, and the other courtiers, did not follow him. The king and his ministers, the peers and the people, and even the clergy, were almost unanimous, and yet the pope p.r.o.nounced his _veto_. He humbled the Defender of the Faith to flatter the author of the sack of Rome. This was too much. The impetuous Suffolk started from his seat, struck his hand violently on the table in front of him, cast a threatening look upon the judges and exclaimed: "By the ma.s.s, the old saying is confirmed to-day, that no cardinal has ever brought good to England."[1004]--"Sir, of all men in this realm," replied Wolsey, "you have the least cause to disparage cardinals, for if I, poor cardinal, had not been, you would not have had a head on your shoulders."[1005]

It would seem that Wolsey pacified Henry, at the time of the duke's marriage with the Princess Mary. "I cannot p.r.o.nounce sentence,"

continued Wolsey, "without knowing the good pleasure of his holiness."

The two dukes and the other n.o.blemen left the hall in anger, and hastened to the palace.[1006] The legates, remaining with their officers, looked at each other for a few moments. At last Campeggio, who alone had remained calm during this scene of violence, arose, and the audience dispersed.

[1004] Mensam quae proponebatur magno ictu concutiens: Per sacram, inquit, missam, nemo unquam legatorum aut cardinalium quicquam boni ad Angliam apportavit. Sanders, p. 49.

[1005] Cavendish, p. 233.

[1006] Duces ex judicio discedentes, ut ipsi omnibus iracundiae flammis urebantur. Sanders, p. 49.

Henry did not allow himself to be crushed by this blow. Rome, by her strange proceedings, aroused in him that suspicious and despotic spirit, of which he gave such tragic proofs in after-years. The papacy was making sport of him. Clement and Wolsey tossed his divorce from one to the other like a ball which, now at Rome and now at London, seemed fated to remain perpetually in the air. The king thought he had been long enough the plaything of his holiness and of the crafty cardinal; his patience was exhausted, and he resolved to show his adversaries that Henry VIII was more than a match for these bishops.

We shall find him seizing this favourable opportunity, and giving an unexpected solution to the matter.

[Sidenote: WOLSEY ACCUSED BY ALL.]

Wolsey sorrowfully hung his head; by taking part with the nuncio and the pope, he had signed the warrant of his own destruction. So long as Henry had a single ray of hope, he thought proper still to dissemble with Clement VII; but he might vent all his anger on Wolsey. From the period of the _Roman Vacations_ the cardinal was ruined in his master's mind. Wolsey's enemies seeing his favour decline, hastened to attack him. Suffolk and Norfolk in particular, impatient to get rid of an insolent priest who had so long chafed their pride, told Henry that Wolsey had been continually playing false; they went over all his negotiations month by month and day by day, and drew the most overwhelming conclusions from them. Sir William Kingston and Lord Manners laid before the king one of the cardinal's letters which Sir Francis Bryan had obtained from the papal archives. In it the cardinal desired Clement to spin out the divorce question, and finally to oppose it, seeing (he added) that if Henry was separated from Catherine, a friend to the reformers would become queen of England.[1007] This letter clearly expressed Wolsey's inmost thoughts: Rome at any price ... and perish England and Henry rather than the popedom! We can imagine the king's anger.

[1007] Edm. Campion _De divortio_. Herbert, p. 289.