Latest / Henry VIIIs Wives Their Impact on History / 24 - Henry VIIIs Wives Their Impact on History by Martin A. S. Hume
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Section twenty three of the Wives of Henry the Eighth
- 0:04Speaker 1: and the parts they played in History by Martin Hume.
- 0:09Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Fifteen forty
- 0:14Speaker 1: through fifteen forty two. The King's Good Sister and the
- 0:19Speaker 1: King's Bad Wife the Lutherans and English Catholics, Part one.
- 0:27Speaker 1: During her few months of incomplete wedlock with the King,
- 0:31Speaker 1: and had felt uneasily the strange anomaly of her position.
- 0:37Speaker 1: She accompanied Henry in his daily life at bed and board,
- 0:41Speaker 1: and shared with him the various festivities held in celebration
- 0:45Speaker 1: of the marriage, the last of which was a splendid
- 0:49Speaker 1: tournament given by the bachelor courtiers at Dorham House on
- 0:54Speaker 1: May Day. She had studied English diligently and tried to
- 0:59Speaker 1: plead her husband in a hundred well meant but ungainly ways.
- 1:05Speaker 1: She had, by her jovial manner and real kindness of heart,
- 1:09Speaker 1: become very popular with those around her. But yet she
- 1:14Speaker 1: got no nearer to the glum, bloated man by her side.
- 1:19Speaker 1: In truth, she was no fit companion for him, either
- 1:24Speaker 1: physically or mentally. Her lack of the softer feminine charms,
- 1:29Speaker 1: her homely manners, her lack of learning and of musical
- 1:33Speaker 1: talent on which Henry set so much store, were not
- 1:38Speaker 1: counterbalanced by strong will or commanding ability, which might have
- 1:44Speaker 1: enabled her to dominate him, or by feminine craft by
- 1:48Speaker 1: which he might have been captivated. She was a woman, however,
- 1:54Speaker 1: and could not fail to know that her repudiation in
- 1:57Speaker 1: some form was in the air. It was one of
- 2:01Speaker 1: the accusations against Cromwell that he had divulged to her
- 2:05Speaker 1: what the King had said about the marriage, but so
- 2:09Speaker 1: far from doing so, he had steadily avoided compliance with
- 2:14Speaker 1: her oft repeated requests for an interview with him. Shortly
- 2:19Speaker 1: before Cromwell's fall, Henry had complained to him that Anne's
- 2:24Speaker 1: temper was becoming taut, and then Cromwell thought well to
- 2:29Speaker 1: warn her, through her chamberlain, that she should try to
- 2:32Speaker 1: please the King Moore. The poor woman, desirous of doing right,
- 2:38Speaker 1: tactlessly flew to the other extreme, and her cloying fondness
- 2:43Speaker 1: aroused Henry's suspicion that Cromwell had informed her of his
- 2:47Speaker 1: intention to get rid of her. Anne's Lutheranism, moreover, had
- 2:53Speaker 1: begun too great upon the tender conscience of her husband.
- 2:57Speaker 1: Under the prompting of the Catholic party, although she scrupulously
- 3:01Speaker 1: followed the English ritual and later became a professed Catholic.
- 3:07Speaker 1: And to all these reasons, which now made Henry doubly
- 3:11Speaker 1: anxious for prompt release, was added another more powerful than
- 3:16Speaker 1: any one of Anne's maids of honor, was a very
- 3:20Speaker 1: beautiful girl of about eighteen, Katherine, the orphaned daughter of
- 3:26Speaker 1: Lord Edmund Howard, brother of the Duke of Norfolk, and
- 3:30Speaker 1: consequently first cousin of Anne Boleyn. During the first months
- 3:35Speaker 1: of his unsatisfying union with Anne, Henry's eyes must have
- 3:40Speaker 1: been cast covetously upon Catherine, for in April fifteen forty
- 3:45Speaker 1: she received a grant from him of a certain felon's property,
- 3:50Speaker 1: and in the following month twenty three quilts of quilted
- 3:54Speaker 1: sarsenet were given to her out of the Royal wardrobe.
- 3:59Speaker 1: When Cromwell still awaiting his fate in the tower and
- 4:02Speaker 1: whispers were rife of what was intended against the Queen, Marillac,
- 4:07Speaker 1: the observant French ambassador wrote in cipher to his master,
- 4:12Speaker 1: telling him that there was another lady in the case,
- 4:16Speaker 1: and a week afterwards, sixth July, he amplified his hints
- 4:22Speaker 1: by saying that either for that reason or some other,
- 4:26Speaker 1: Anne had been sent to Richmond on the false pretense
- 4:30Speaker 1: that plague had appeared in London, and that Henry, very
- 4:34Speaker 1: far from joining her there as he had promised, had
- 4:38Speaker 1: not left London and was about to make a progress
- 4:41Speaker 1: in another direction. Merrilac rightly says that quote, if there
- 4:46Speaker 1: had been any suspicion of plague, the King would not
- 4:50Speaker 1: stay for any affair, however great as he is the
- 4:54Speaker 1: most timid person that could be in such a case,
- 4:58Speaker 1: end quote. The true reason why Anne was sent away
- 5:03Speaker 1: was Henry's invariable cowardice that made him afraid to face
- 5:07Speaker 1: a person whom he was wronging. Gardiner had promptly done
- 5:12Speaker 1: what Cromwell had been ruined for not doing, and had
- 5:16Speaker 1: submitted to the King within a few days of the
- 5:19Speaker 1: arrest of his rival, a complete plan by which Anne
- 5:23Speaker 1: might be repudiated. First, certain ecclesiastics under oath of secrecy
- 5:29Speaker 1: were to be asked for their opinion as to the
- 5:32Speaker 1: best way to proceed, and the Council was thereupon to
- 5:36Speaker 1: discuss and settle the procedure in accordance the question of
- 5:41Speaker 1: the previous contract and its repudiation was to be examined,
- 5:46Speaker 1: The manner in which the Queen herself was to be
- 5:49Speaker 1: approached was to be arranged, and evidence from everyone to
- 5:54Speaker 1: whom the King had spoken at the time as to
- 5:56Speaker 1: his lack of consent and consummation was to be collected.
- 6:01Speaker 1: All this had to be done by the seventh July,
- 6:05Speaker 1: when the clergy met at Westminster, summoned by writ under
- 6:09Speaker 1: the Great Seal dated the sixth, to decide whether the
- 6:13Speaker 1: King's marriage was valid or not. In the circumstances detailed,
- 6:19Speaker 1: the obedient Parliament, sitting with closed doors a few days previously,
- 6:24Speaker 1: had by Norfolk's orders, petitioned the King to solve certain
- 6:30Speaker 1: doubts that had been raised about the marriage, and Henry,
- 6:34Speaker 1: ever desirous of pleasing his faithful lieges and to set
- 6:39Speaker 1: at rest conscientious scruples, referred the question to his prelates,
- 6:44Speaker 1: incented for decision, and two days before this summoned to Richmond,
- 6:51Speaker 1: the ambassador of her brother, who came to her at
- 6:54Speaker 1: four o'clock in the morning, and she then sent for
- 6:57Speaker 1: the Earl of Rutland, the chief of her household, to
- 7:01Speaker 1: be present at the interview. The King, she said, had
- 7:05Speaker 1: sent her a message and asked for a reply. The
- 7:09Speaker 1: effect of the message was to express doubts as to
- 7:13Speaker 1: the validity of their marriage, and to ask her if
- 7:17Speaker 1: she was content to leave the decision of it to
- 7:20Speaker 1: the English clergy. The poor woman, much perturbed, had refused
- 7:26Speaker 1: to send an answer without consideration, and she had then
- 7:30Speaker 1: desired that her brother's envoy should give or at all
- 7:34Speaker 1: events carry the answer to the king. But this he
- 7:39Speaker 1: refused to do, and she, in her trouble, could only
- 7:43Speaker 1: appeal to Rutland for advice. He prayed about the graciousness
- 7:48Speaker 1: and virtue of the King, and assured her that he
- 7:51Speaker 1: would quote do nothing but that should stand by the
- 7:55Speaker 1: law of God and for the discharge of his conscience
- 7:59Speaker 1: and hers, and the quietness of the realm, and at
- 8:03Speaker 1: the suit of all his lords and commons. The King
- 8:08Speaker 1: was content to refer the question to the learned and
- 8:11Speaker 1: virtuous bishops, so that she had cause to be glad
- 8:15Speaker 1: rather than sorry. Anne was confused and doubtful, for she
- 8:21Speaker 1: did not know what was intended towards her, But considering
- 8:25Speaker 1: the helplessness of her position and the danger of resistance,
- 8:30Speaker 1: she met the deputation of the council that came to
- 8:33Speaker 1: her next day, sixth July, in a spirit of complete surrender.
- 8:39Speaker 1: She was, she said in German, always content to obey
- 8:44Speaker 1: the King and would abide by the decision of the prelates.
- 8:48Speaker 1: And with this answer Gardiner posted back to London that
- 8:52Speaker 1: night to appear at the Synod the next morning. Neither
- 8:57Speaker 1: Anne nor anyone for her appeared. The whole evidence, which
- 9:03Speaker 1: was that already mentioned, was to show the existence of
- 9:07Speaker 1: a prior contract of the annolling, of which no sufficient
- 9:12Speaker 1: proofs had been produced, the avowals of the King and
- 9:16Speaker 1: the Queen to their confidants that the marriage had never
- 9:20Speaker 1: been consummated and never would be. And lastly, the absence
- 9:26Speaker 1: of quote inner consent end quote on the part of
- 9:30Speaker 1: the King from the first. Under the pressure of Gardener,
- 9:34Speaker 1: for Cranmer, overshadowed by a cloud, and in hourly fear
- 9:39Speaker 1: of Cromwell's fate, was ready to sign anything, the union
- 9:44Speaker 1: was declared to be invalid and both parties were pronounced
- 9:49Speaker 1: capable of remarriage. A bill was then hurriedly rushed through
- 9:54Speaker 1: Parliament confirming the decision of convocation, and Cranmer, for the
- 10:00Speaker 1: third time, as Primate, annulled his Master's marriage. Anne was
- 10:07Speaker 1: still profoundly disturbed at the fate that might be in
- 10:10Speaker 1: store for her, and when Suffolk, Southampton and Ryothlesley went
- 10:16Speaker 1: to Richmond on the tenth July to obtain her acceptance
- 10:19Speaker 1: of the decision, she fainted at the sight of them.
- 10:24Speaker 1: They did their best to reassure her, giving her from
- 10:28Speaker 1: the King a large present of money and a specially
- 10:31Speaker 1: affectionate letter. She was assured that if she would acquiesce
- 10:37Speaker 1: and remain in the realm, she should be the King's
- 10:40Speaker 1: adopted sister, with precedents before all other ladies but the
- 10:45Speaker 1: King's wife and daughters. A large appennage should be secured
- 10:49Speaker 1: to her, and jewels, furniture, and the household of a
- 10:54Speaker 1: royal princess provided for her. She was still doubtful and
- 10:59Speaker 1: some persuasion had to be used before she would consent
- 11:02Speaker 1: to sign the letter dictated to her as the King's sister,
- 11:07Speaker 1: But at last she did so and was made to
- 11:11Speaker 1: say that quote though the case was hard and sorrowful,
- 11:15Speaker 1: for the great love she bears to his noble person,
- 11:19Speaker 1: yet having more regard for God and his truth than
- 11:23Speaker 1: for any worldly affection, she accepts the judgment praying that
- 11:28Speaker 1: the King will take her as one of his most
- 11:30Speaker 1: humble servants, and so determine of her that she may
- 11:34Speaker 1: sometimes enjoy his presence. End quote. This seemed almost too
- 11:41Speaker 1: good to be true when Henry read it, and he
- 11:44Speaker 1: insisted upon its being written and signed again in German,
- 11:48Speaker 1: that Anne might not subsequently profess ignorance of its wording.
- 11:53Speaker 1: When Anne, however, was asked to write to her brother
- 11:57Speaker 1: saying that she was fully satisfied, she at first refused.
- 12:02Speaker 1: Why should she write to him before he wrote to her.
- 12:05Speaker 1: She asked, if he sent a complaint, she would answer
- 12:09Speaker 1: it as the King wished. But after a few days
- 12:12Speaker 1: she gave way on this point when further pressed. So
- 12:17Speaker 1: delighted was Henry at so much submission to his will
- 12:21Speaker 1: that he was kindness and generosity itself. On the fourteenth July,
- 12:27Speaker 1: he sent the councilors again to Richmond with another handsome
- 12:31Speaker 1: present and a letter to his right dear and write
- 12:35Speaker 1: entirely beloved sister, thanking her gratefully for her wise and
- 12:41Speaker 1: honorable proceedings. Quote, as it is done in respect of
- 12:47Speaker 1: God and his truth, and continuing your conformity, you shall
- 12:52Speaker 1: find us a perfect friend content to repute you as
- 12:56Speaker 1: our dearest sister end quote. He promised her four thousand
- 13:01Speaker 1: pounds a year with the two royal residences of Richmond
- 13:05Speaker 1: and Bletchingly, and a welcome at court when she pleased
- 13:09Speaker 1: to come. In return, she sent him another amiable letter
- 13:15Speaker 1: and the wedding ring, expressing herself fully satisfied. She certainly
- 13:22Speaker 1: carried out her parts of the arrangement to perfection, whether
- 13:26Speaker 1: from fear or complaisance, assuring the envoys of her brother,
- 13:31Speaker 1: the Duke, that she was well treated, as in a
- 13:34Speaker 1: material sense indeed she was, and thenceforward made the best
- 13:39Speaker 1: of her life in England. Her brother and the German
- 13:44Speaker 1: Protestants were, of course furiously indignant, but as the injured
- 13:51Speaker 1: lady expressed herself not only satisfied but delighted with her position,
- 13:57Speaker 1: no ground could be found for open quarrel. She was
- 14:01Speaker 1: probably a person of little refinement of feeling, and highly
- 14:05Speaker 1: appreciated the luxury and abundance with which she thenceforward was surrounded,
- 14:10Speaker 1: enjoying as she always did, recreation and fine dress, in
- 14:15Speaker 1: which she was distinguished above any of Henry's wives. On
- 14:20Speaker 1: the day after the Senate had met in Westminster, to
- 14:23Speaker 1: decide the invalidity of the marriage. Seventh July, Pate, the
- 14:29Speaker 1: English ambassador, saw the Emperor at Bruges with a message
- 14:34Speaker 1: from Henry which foreshadowed an entire change in the foreign
- 14:38Speaker 1: policy of England. Charles received Pate at midnight and was
- 14:44Speaker 1: agreeably surprised to learn that conscientious scruples had made Henry
- 14:50Speaker 1: doubt the validity of his union with Anne. The Emperor's
- 14:53Speaker 1: stiff demeanor changed at once, and as the news came
- 14:58Speaker 1: day by day of the the progress of the separation
- 15:01Speaker 1: of Henry from his Protestant wife, the cordiality of the
- 15:06Speaker 1: Emperor grew towards him. Whilst England itself was in full
- 15:11Speaker 1: Catholic reaction, the fall of Cromwell had, as it was
- 15:17Speaker 1: intended to do, provided Henry with a scapegoat. This spoliation
- 15:23Speaker 1: and destruction of the religious houses by which the King
- 15:27Speaker 1: and many of the Catholic nobles had profited enormously, was
- 15:31Speaker 1: laid to the dead man's door. The policy of plundering
- 15:36Speaker 1: the Church of Union with Lutherans and the favoring of
- 15:39Speaker 1: heresy had been the work of the wicked minister, and
- 15:44Speaker 1: not of the good King. That ill served an ungratefully
- 15:48Speaker 1: used king, who was always innocent and never in the wrong,
- 15:53Speaker 1: who simply differed from other good Catholics in his independence
- 15:57Speaker 1: of the Bishop of Rome, merely a domestic disagreement with
- 16:03Speaker 1: such suave hypocrisy as this, difficulties were soon smoothed over,
- 16:10Speaker 1: and to prove the perfect sincerity with which Henry proceeded.
- 16:14Speaker 1: Protestants like Barnes, Gerrard and Jerome were burnt impartially side
- 16:20Speaker 1: by side with Catholics who did not accept the spiritual
- 16:24Speaker 1: supremacy of Henry over the Church in England, such as
- 16:27Speaker 1: Abel Powell, Featherstone and Cook. The Catholic and Aristocratic party
- 16:33Speaker 1: in England had thus triumphed all along the line by
- 16:38Speaker 1: the aid of anti Protestant churchmen like Gardiner and Tunstall.
- 16:42Speaker 1: Their heavy handed enemy Cromwell had gone bearing the whole
- 16:48Speaker 1: responsibility for the past. The King had been flattered by
- 16:53Speaker 1: exoneration from blame and pleased by the release of his wife,
- 16:58Speaker 1: so deftly and pleasantly effected. No one but Cromwell was
- 17:03Speaker 1: to blame for anything. They were all good Catholics, whom
- 17:07Speaker 1: the other Catholic powers surely could not attack for a
- 17:11Speaker 1: paltry quarrel with the Pope, and best of all, the
- 17:16Speaker 1: ecclesiastical spoil was secured to them and their heirs forever,
- 17:22Speaker 1: for they all maintained the supremacy of the King in England.
- 17:26Speaker 1: Good Catholics though they were, but withal they knew that
- 17:31Speaker 1: Henry must have someone close to him to keep him
- 17:34Speaker 1: in the straight way. The nobles were not afraid of Cranmer,
- 17:38Speaker 1: for he kept in the background and was a man
- 17:41Speaker 1: of poor spirit. And moreover, for the moment the danger
- 17:46Speaker 1: was hardly from the reformers. The nobles had triumphed by
- 17:50Speaker 1: the aid of Gardiner, and Gardiner was now the strong
- 17:54Speaker 1: spirit near the king. But the aims of the nobles
- 17:58Speaker 1: were somewhat different from those of churchmen, and a Catholic
- 18:02Speaker 1: bishop as the sole director of the national policy, might
- 18:07Speaker 1: carry them farther than they wished to go. Henry's concupiscence
- 18:12Speaker 1: must therefore once more be utilized, and the woman upon
- 18:16Speaker 1: whom he cast his eyes, if possible, made into a
- 18:21Speaker 1: political instrument to forward the faction that favored her. Gardiner
- 18:27Speaker 1: was nothing loth, for he was sure of himself. But
- 18:32Speaker 1: how eager Norfolk and his party were to take advantage
- 18:36Speaker 1: of Henry's fancy for Catherine Howard to effect her lodgment
- 18:40Speaker 1: by his side as queen is seen by the almost
- 18:45Speaker 1: indecent haste with which they began to spread the news
- 18:49Speaker 1: of her rise, even before the final decision was given
- 18:53Speaker 1: as to the validity of the marriage with Anne. On
- 18:56Speaker 1: the twelfth July, a humble dependent of them hows Mistress
- 19:01Speaker 1: Joan Balmour, of whom more will be heard, wrote to Catherine,
- 19:06Speaker 1: congratulating her upon her coming greatness and begging for an
- 19:11Speaker 1: office about her person quote for I trust the Queen
- 19:14Speaker 1: of Britain will not forget her secretary end quote. Less
- 19:20Speaker 1: than a fortnight later, twenty first July, the French ambassador
- 19:25Speaker 1: gives as a peace of gossip that Katherine Howard was
- 19:28Speaker 1: already pregnant by the King, and that the marriage was
- 19:32Speaker 1: therefore being hurried on. Exactly when or where the wedding
- 19:37Speaker 1: took place is not known, but it was a private one,
- 19:41Speaker 1: and by the eleventh August Katherine was called queen and
- 19:45Speaker 1: acknowledged as such by all the court. On the fifteenth
- 19:50Speaker 1: Merrilac wrote that her name had been added to the
- 19:53Speaker 1: prayers in the church service, and that the king had
- 19:56Speaker 1: gone on a hunting expedition, presumably accompanied by his new wife,
- 20:01Speaker 1: whilst quote Madame de Cleves, so far from claiming to
- 20:06Speaker 1: be married, is more joyous than ever, and wears new
- 20:09Speaker 1: dresses every day end quote. Everybody thus was well satisfied
- 20:16Speaker 1: except the Protestants. Henry indeed was delighted with his tiny,
- 20:22Speaker 1: sparkling girl wife, and did his best to be a
- 20:26Speaker 1: gallant bridegroom to her, though there was none of the
- 20:29Speaker 1: pomp and splendor that accompanied his previous nuptials. The autumn
- 20:35Speaker 1: of fifteen forty was passed in a leisurely progress through
- 20:39Speaker 1: the Shires to Grafton, where most of the honeymoon was spent.
- 20:43Speaker 1: The rose crowned was chosen by Henry as his bride's
- 20:47Speaker 1: personal cognizance, and the most was made of her royal
- 20:51Speaker 1: descent and connections by the enamored king. The King is
- 20:56Speaker 1: so amorous of her, wrote merrill Ac in September, that
- 21:00Speaker 1: he cannot treat her well enough, and caresses her more
- 21:03Speaker 1: than he did the others. Even thus early, however, whispers
- 21:09Speaker 1: were heard of the king's fickleness. Once it was said
- 21:12Speaker 1: that Anne of Cleaves was pregnant by him, and he
- 21:16Speaker 1: would cast aside Catherine in her favor, and shortly afterwards
- 21:21Speaker 1: he refrained from seeing his new wife for ten days
- 21:25Speaker 1: together because of something she had done to offend him.
- 21:30Speaker 1: The moral deterioration of Henry's character, which had progressed in
- 21:35Speaker 1: proportion with the growing conviction of his own infallibility and immunity,
- 21:40Speaker 1: had now reached its lowest depth. He was rapidly becoming
- 21:46Speaker 1: more and more bulky, and his temper, never angelic, was
- 21:51Speaker 1: now irascible in the extreme. His health was bad, and
- 21:56Speaker 1: increasing age had made him more than ever impatient of
- 22:01Speaker 1: contradiction or restraint, and no consideration but that of his
- 22:06Speaker 1: own interest and safety influenced him. The policy which he
- 22:11Speaker 1: adopted under the guidance of Gardiner and Norfolk, was one
- 22:14Speaker 1: of rigorous enforcement of the Six Articles, and at the
- 22:19Speaker 1: same time of his own spiritual supremacy in England. All
- 22:24Speaker 1: chance of a coalition of Henry with the Lutherans was
- 22:28Speaker 1: now out of the question. Squire Henry means to be
- 22:31Speaker 1: God and to do as pleases himself, said Luther at
- 22:35Speaker 1: the time, and the Emperor freed from that danger, and
- 22:40Speaker 1: faced with the greater peril of a coalition of the
- 22:43Speaker 1: French and Turks industriously endeavored to come to some maudus
- 22:49Speaker 1: fevendi with his German electors. The rift between Charles and
- 22:54Speaker 1: Francis was daily widening, and Henry himself was aiding the
- 22:59Speaker 1: process to his full ability, for he knew that whilst
- 23:03Speaker 1: they were disunited he was safe. But for the first
- 23:08Speaker 1: time in his reign, except when he defied the Pope,
- 23:12Speaker 1: he adopted a policy, probably his own and not that
- 23:16Speaker 1: of his ministers, calculated to offend both the Catholic powers,
- 23:22Speaker 1: whilst he was alienated from the reforming element on the continent.
- 23:27Speaker 1: By an act of Parliament, the ancient penal laws against
- 23:31Speaker 1: foreign denizens were re enacted, and all foreigners but established
- 23:37Speaker 1: merchants were to be expelled the country, whilst alien merchants
- 23:42Speaker 1: resident were to pay double taxation. The taxation of Englishmen,
- 23:49Speaker 1: enormous under Cromwell, was now recklessly increased, with the set
- 23:54Speaker 1: purpose of keeping the lieges poor, just as the atrocious
- 23:59Speaker 1: religious executeations were mainly to keep them submissive and incapable
- 24:04Speaker 1: of questioning the despot's will. But though Englishmen might be
- 24:10Speaker 1: stricken dumb by persecution, the expulsion or oppression of foreigners
- 24:15Speaker 1: led to much acrimony and reprisals on the part both
- 24:20Speaker 1: of the Emperor and Francis. An entirely gratuitous policy of
- 24:25Speaker 1: irritation towards France on the frontier of Calais and elsewhere
- 24:29Speaker 1: was also adopted, apparently to impress the Emperor and for
- 24:34Speaker 1: the satisfaction of Henry's arrogance when he thought it might
- 24:38Speaker 1: be safe to exercise it. The general drift of English
- 24:42Speaker 1: policy at the time was undoubtedly to draw closer to
- 24:46Speaker 1: the Emperor, not entirely to the satisfaction of the Duke
- 24:50Speaker 1: of Norfolk, who was usually pro French, but even here
- 24:54Speaker 1: the oppressive act against foreigners by which Henry hoped to
- 24:58Speaker 1: show Charles that his friends ship was worth buying, made
- 25:02Speaker 1: cordiality in the interim extremely difficult. When Chapoos in the
- 25:08Speaker 1: Emperor's name remonstrated with the Council about the new decree
- 25:13Speaker 1: forbidding the export of goods from England except in English bottoms,
- 25:17Speaker 1: the English ministers rudely said that the King could pass
- 25:21Speaker 1: what laws he liked in his own country, just as
- 25:24Speaker 1: the Emperor could in his. Charles and his sister, the
- 25:29Speaker 1: Regent of the Netherlands, took the hint and utterly astounded
- 25:34Speaker 1: Henry by forbidding goods being shipped in the Netherlands in
- 25:38Speaker 1: English vessels. The danger was understood at once. Not only
- 25:44Speaker 1: did this strike a heavy blow at English trade, but
- 25:48Speaker 1: it upset the laboriously constructed pretense of close communion with
- 25:53Speaker 1: the Emperor which had been used to hoodwink the French.
- 25:58Speaker 1: Henry himself bully and hectored as if he was the
- 26:02Speaker 1: first injured party, and then took Chapouse aside in a
- 26:06Speaker 1: window bay and hinted at an alliance. He said that
- 26:10Speaker 1: the French were plotting against the Emperor and trying to
- 26:13Speaker 1: gain his Henry's support, which, however, he would prefer to
- 26:19Speaker 1: give to the Emperor if he wished for it. Henry saw, indeed,
- 26:24Speaker 1: that he had drawn the bow too tight, and was
- 26:27Speaker 1: ready to shuffle out of the position into which his
- 26:30Speaker 1: own arrogance had led him. So Gardiner was sent in
- 26:35Speaker 1: the winter to see the Emperor with the king's friend Kennevet,
- 26:40Speaker 1: who was to be the new resident ambassador, the object
- 26:44Speaker 1: of the visit being partly to impress the French and
- 26:48Speaker 1: partly to persuade Charles of Henry's strict Catholicism, and so
- 26:53Speaker 1: to render more difficult any such agreement being made as
- 26:57Speaker 1: that aimed at by the meeting at Vorms between the
- 27:00Speaker 1: Lutheran princes and their suzerin. Gardiner's mission was not very successful,
- 27:07Speaker 1: for Charles understood the move perfectly, but it was not
- 27:11Speaker 1: his policy then to alienate Henry, for he was slowly
- 27:15Speaker 1: maturing his plans for crushing France utterly, and hoped whilst
- 27:21Speaker 1: Catholic influence was paramount in England to obtain the help
- 27:25Speaker 1: or at least the neutrality of Henry. The fall of
- 27:30Speaker 1: Cromwell had been hailed by Catholics in England as the
- 27:34Speaker 1: salvation of their faith and high hopes had attended the
- 27:38Speaker 1: elevation of Gardiner. But the crushing taxation, the arbitrary measures,
- 27:44Speaker 1: and above all, the cruel persecution of those who, however
- 27:49Speaker 1: slightly questioned the King's spiritual supremacy caused renewed discontent among
- 27:56Speaker 1: the extreme Catholics, who still looked yearningly towards Cardinal Pole
- 28:01Speaker 1: and his house. It is not probable that any Yorkist
- 28:06Speaker 1: conspiracy existed in England at the time. The people were
- 28:10Speaker 1: too much terrified for that. But Henry's ambassadors and agents
- 28:15Speaker 1: in Catholic countries had been forced sometimes to dally with
- 28:20Speaker 1: the foreign view of the King's supremacy, and Gardener, whose
- 28:24Speaker 1: methods were even more unscrupulous than those of Cromwell, suddenly
- 28:29Speaker 1: pounced upon those of Henry's ministers who might be supposed
- 28:34Speaker 1: to have come into contact with the friends of the
- 28:36Speaker 1: House of York. Pate, the English ambassador with the Emperor,
- 28:42Speaker 1: was suspicious and escaped to Rome, but Sir Thomas Wyatt,
- 28:47Speaker 1: who had been the ambassador in Spain, was led to
- 28:51Speaker 1: the tower handcuffed with ignominy. Doctor Mason, another ambassador, was
- 28:57Speaker 1: also lodged in the fortress at the time suggestion of Bonner,
- 29:01Speaker 1: even Sir Ralph Sadler, one of the Secretaries of State,
- 29:06Speaker 1: was imprisoned for a short time, whilst Sir John Wallop,
- 29:10Speaker 1: the ambassador in France, was recalled and consigned to a dungeon,
- 29:16Speaker 1: as was Sir Thomas Palmer, Knight Porter of Calais, and others,
- 29:21Speaker 1: though most of them were soon afterwards pardoned at the
- 29:24Speaker 1: instance of Catherine Howard. In the early spring of fifteen
- 29:28Speaker 1: forty one, an unsuccessful attempt was made into Catholic rising
- 29:33Speaker 1: in Yorkshire, where the feeling was very bitter, and though
- 29:38Speaker 1: the revolt was quickly suppressed, it was considered a good
- 29:42Speaker 1: opportunity for striking terror into those who still doubted the
- 29:46Speaker 1: spiritual supremacy of Henry and resented the plunder of the monasteries.
- 29:53Speaker 1: The atrocious crime was perpetuated of bringing out the mother
- 29:57Speaker 1: of Pohl, the aged Countess of Salisbury, last of the Plantagenets,
- 30:03Speaker 1: from her prison in the tower to the headsman's block.
- 30:08Speaker 1: Lord Leonard Gray was another blameless victim, whilst Lord Dacre
- 30:13Speaker 1: of the South was on a trumped up charge of
- 30:16Speaker 1: murder hanged like a common malefactor at Tyburn. Lord Lyell,
- 30:22Speaker 1: Henry's illegitimate uncle, was also kept in the tower till
- 30:26Speaker 1: his death. End of Section twenty three