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23 - Henry VIIIs Wives Their Impact on History by Martin A. S. Hume · Henry VIIIs Wives Their Impact on History

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty two of the Wives of Henry the Eighth
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  Speaker 1: and the Parts they played in History by Martin Hume.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Fifteen thirty
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  Speaker 1: six through fifteen forty Plot and counterplot Jane Seymour and
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  Speaker 1: Anne of Cleves, Part four. What Anne thought of the
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  Speaker 1: situation is not on record. She had seen little of
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  Speaker 1: the world outside the coarse, boorishness of a petty, low
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  Speaker 1: German court. She was neither educated nor naturally refined, and
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  Speaker 1: she probably looked upon the lumpishness of her lover as
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  Speaker 1: an ordinary thing. In any case, she bated none of
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  Speaker 1: her state and apparent contentment as she rode gorgeously bedight
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  Speaker 1: with her great train towards Greenwich. At the foot of
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  Speaker 1: Shooters Hill, there had been erected an imposing pavilion of
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  Speaker 1: cloth of gold and diverse other tents, warmed with fires
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  Speaker 1: of perfumed wood, and here a company of ladies awaited
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  Speaker 1: the coming of the Queen. On Saturday third January fifteen
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  Speaker 1: forty a broadway was cleared from the pavilion across Woolwich
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  Speaker 1: Common and Blackheath for over two miles to the gates
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  Speaker 1: of Greenwich Park. And the merchants and Corporation of London,
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  Speaker 1: joined with the King's retinue in lining each side of
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  Speaker 1: this long lane. Cromwell had recently gained the goodwill of
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  Speaker 1: foreigners settled in London by granting them exemption from special
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  Speaker 1: taxation for a term of years, and he had claimed
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  Speaker 1: as some return that they should make the most of
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  Speaker 1: this day of triumph. Accordingly, the German merchants of the Steeliard,
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  Speaker 1: the Venetians, the Spaniards, the French, and the rest of
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  Speaker 1: them donned new velvet coats and jaunty crimson caps with
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  Speaker 1: white feathers, each master with a smartly clad servant behind him,
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  Speaker 1: and so stood each side of the way to do
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  Speaker 1: honor to the bride. At the Greenwich end of the route.
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  Speaker 1: Then came the English merchants, the Corporation of London, the
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  Speaker 1: knights and gentlemen who had been bidden from the country
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  Speaker 1: to do honor to their new queen. The gentlemen, pensioners,
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  Speaker 1: the halberdiers, and around the tent the nobler courtiers and
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  Speaker 1: queen's household, all brave in velvet and gold chains. Behind
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  Speaker 1: the ranks of gentlemen and servitors there was ample room
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  Speaker 1: and verge enough upon the wide heath for the multitudes
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  Speaker 1: who came to gape and cheer King Harry's new wife.
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  Speaker 1: More than a little perplexed in many cases as to
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  Speaker 1: the minimum amount of enthusiasm which would be accepted as
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  Speaker 1: seemly Cromwell himself marshaled the ranks on either side, quote,
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  Speaker 1: running up and down with a staff in his hand
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  Speaker 1: for all the world as if he had been running
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  Speaker 1: postman end quote. As an eye witness tells us, it
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  Speaker 1: was midday before the queen's procession rode down Shooters Hill
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  Speaker 1: to the tents, where she was met by her official
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  Speaker 1: household and greeted with a long Latin oration which she
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  Speaker 1: did not understand, whilst she sat in her chariot, then
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  Speaker 1: heartily kissing the great lady sent to welcome her, She
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  Speaker 1: alighted and entered the tent to rest and warm herself
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  Speaker 1: over the perfumed fires and to dawn. Even more magnificent
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  Speaker 1: raiment than that she wore when she was ready for
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  Speaker 1: her bridegroom's coming. She must have been a blaze of magnificence.
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  Speaker 1: She wore a wide skirt of cloth of gold with
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  Speaker 1: a raised patter and bullion, and no train, and her
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  Speaker 1: head was covered first with a close cap, and then
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  Speaker 1: a round cap covered with pearls and fronted with black velvet,
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  Speaker 1: whilst her bodice was one glittering mass of precious stones.
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  Speaker 1: When swift messengers brought news that the king was coming,
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  Speaker 1: and mounted at the door of the tent a beautiful
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  Speaker 1: white palfrey, and surrounded by her servitors, each bearing upon
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  Speaker 1: his golden coat the black Lion of cleaves, and followed
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  Speaker 1: by her train, she set forth to meet her husband. Henry,
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  Speaker 1: unwieldy and lame as he was, with a running ulcer
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  Speaker 1: in his leg, was as vain and fond of pomp
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  Speaker 1: as ever, and outdid his bride in splendor. His coat
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  Speaker 1: was of purple velvet, cut like a frock, embroidered all
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  Speaker 1: over with a flat gold pattern, interlined with narrow gold braid,
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  Speaker 1: and with gold lace laid crosswise over it. All a
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  Speaker 1: velvet overcoat surmounted the gorgeous garment, lined also with gold tissue,
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  Speaker 1: the sleeves and breast held together with great buttons of diamonds,
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  Speaker 1: rubies and pearls. His sword and belts were covered with emeralds,
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  Speaker 1: and his bonnet and undercap were quote so rich in
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  Speaker 1: jewels that few men could value them end quote, Whilst
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  Speaker 1: across his shoulders he wore a baldric composed of precious
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  Speaker 1: stones and pearls that was the wonder of all beholders.
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  Speaker 1: The fat giant, thus bedizened bestrode a great war horse
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  Speaker 1: to match and almost equally magnificent, and preceded by heralds
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  Speaker 1: and trumpeters, followed by the great officers, the royal household
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  Speaker 1: and the bishops, and accompanied by the Duke Philip of Bavaria,
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  Speaker 1: justa troth to the Princess Mary, Henry rode through the
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  Speaker 1: long lane of his velvet clad admirers to meet Anne
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  Speaker 1: hard by the Cross upon Blackheath. When she approached him,
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  Speaker 1: he doffed his jeweled wonnet and bowed low, and then
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  Speaker 1: embraced her, whilst she, with every appearance of delight and duty,
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  Speaker 1: expressed her pleasure at meeting him. Thus, together with their
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  Speaker 1: great cavalcade, united over five thousand horsemen strong, they rode
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  Speaker 1: in the waning light of a midwinter afternoon to Greenwich.
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  Speaker 1: And as one who saw it but knew not the
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  Speaker 1: tragedy that lurked behind the splendor exclaimed, quote, Oh what
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  Speaker 1: a sight was this to see so goodly a prince,
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  Speaker 1: and so noble a king, to ride with so fair,
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  Speaker 1: a lady of so goodly a stature, and so womanly,
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  Speaker 1: a countan and a special of so good qualities. I
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  Speaker 1: think no creature could see them. But his heart rejoiced.
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  Speaker 1: There was one heart at all events that did not rejoice,
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  Speaker 1: and that was Henry's. He went heavily through the ceremony
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  Speaker 1: of welcoming home his bride in the Great Hall at Greenwich,
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  Speaker 1: and then led her to her chamber. But no sooner
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  Speaker 1: had he got quit of her than retiring to his
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  Speaker 1: own room. He summoned Cromwell Well, he said, is it
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  Speaker 1: not as I told you? Say what they will? She
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  Speaker 1: is nothing like so fair as she was reported to be.
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  Speaker 1: She is well and seemly, but nothing else. Cromwell, confused,
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  Speaker 1: could only mumble something about her having a queenly manner.
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  Speaker 1: But Henry wanted to weigh out of his bargain rather
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  Speaker 1: than reconciliation to it, and he ordered Cromwell to summon
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  Speaker 1: the Council at once Norfolk, Suffolk, Cromwell, cranmer, Fitzwilliam and
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  Speaker 1: Tunstall to consider the prior engagement made between Anne and
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  Speaker 1: the Duke of Lorraine's son. The question had already been
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  Speaker 1: discussed and disposed of, and the revival of it thus
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  Speaker 1: at the eleventh hour shows how desperate Henry was. The
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  Speaker 1: council assembled immediately and summoned the German envoys who had
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  Speaker 1: negotiated the marriage and were now in attendance on ann
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  Speaker 1: The poor men were thunderstruck at the point of an
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  Speaker 1: impediment to the marriage being raised then, and begged to
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  Speaker 1: be allowed to think the matter over till the next
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  Speaker 1: morning Sunday. When they met the council again in the morning,
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  Speaker 1: they could only protest that the prior covenant had only
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  Speaker 1: been a betrothal which had never taken effect and had
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  Speaker 1: been formerly annulled if there was any question about it. However,
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  Speaker 1: they offered to remain as prisoners in England until the
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  Speaker 1: original deed of revocation was sent from Cleaves. When this
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  Speaker 1: answer was carried to Henry, he broke out angrily that
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  Speaker 1: he was not being well treated, and upbraided Cromwell for
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  Speaker 1: not finding a loophole for escape. He did not wish
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  Speaker 1: to marry the woman, he said, quote if she had
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  Speaker 1: not come so far and such great preparations made, and
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  Speaker 1: for fear of making a ruffle in the world, of
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  Speaker 1: driving her brother into the hands of the Emperor and
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  Speaker 1: the French king, he never would marry her. Cromwell was
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  Speaker 1: apparently afraid to encourage him in the idea of repudiation,
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  Speaker 1: and said nothing, And after dinner, the King again summoned
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  Speaker 1: the council to his presence. To them, he bitterly complained
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  Speaker 1: of having been deceived. Would the lady, he asked, make
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  Speaker 1: a formal protestation before notaries that she was free from
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  Speaker 1: all contracts? Of course she would. Anne did as soon
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  Speaker 1: as she was asked. But Henry's idea in demanding this
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  Speaker 1: is evident. If she had refused, it would give a
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  Speaker 1: pretext for delay. But if she did as desired, and
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  Speaker 1: by any quibble, the prior engagement was found to be valid,
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  Speaker 1: her protestation to the contrary would be good grounds for
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  Speaker 1: a divorce. But still Henry would much rather not have
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  Speaker 1: married her at all. Oh is there no other remedy?
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  Speaker 1: He asked despairingly on Monday, after Anne had made her protestation,
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  Speaker 1: Must I needs against my will put my neck into
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  Speaker 1: the yoke? Cromwell could give him no comfort and left
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  Speaker 1: him gloomy at the prospect of going through the ceremony
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  Speaker 1: on the morrow. On Tuesday morning, when he was appareled
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  Speaker 1: for the wedding as usual, in a blaze of magnificence
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  Speaker 1: of crimson satin and cloth of gold, Cromwell entered his
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  Speaker 1: chamber on business. My Lord said, Henry, if it were
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  Speaker 1: not to satisfy the world in my realm, I would
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  Speaker 1: not do what I must do this day for any
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  Speaker 1: earthly thing. But withal he went through it as best
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  Speaker 1: he might, though with heavy heart and gloomy countenance. And
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  Speaker 1: the unfortunate bride we are told was remarked to be
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  Speaker 1: quote demure and sad end quote as well as she
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  Speaker 1: might be when her husband and Cranmer placed upon her
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  Speaker 1: finger the wedding ring with the ominous inscription quote God
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  Speaker 1: send me well to keep end quote. Early the next morning,
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  Speaker 1: Cromwell entered the case's chamber between hope and fear, and
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  Speaker 1: found Henry frowning and sulky. How does your grace like
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  Speaker 1: the queen? He asked. Henry, grumblingly and not quite relevantly,
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  Speaker 1: replied that he, Cromwell, was not everybody, And then he
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  Speaker 1: broke out, Surely, my Lord, as you know, I liked
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  Speaker 1: her not well before, but now I like her much worse.
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  Speaker 1: With an incredible grossness and want of common decency. He
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  Speaker 1: then went into certain details of his wife's physical qualities
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  Speaker 1: that had disgusted him and turned him against her. He
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  Speaker 1: did not believe from certain peculiarities that he described that
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  Speaker 1: she was a maid, he said, but so far as
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  Speaker 1: he was concerned, he was so quote struck to the
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  Speaker 1: heart end quote that he had left her as good
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  Speaker 1: a maid as he had found her. Nor was the
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  Speaker 1: King more reticent with others. He was free with his
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  Speaker 1: details to the gentlemen of his chamber, Denny Hennyagh and
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  Speaker 1: others as to the signs which it pleased him to
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  Speaker 1: consider suspicious as touching his wife's previous virtue, and protested
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  Speaker 1: that he never could or would consummate the marriage, though
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  Speaker 1: he professed later that for months after the wedding he
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  Speaker 1: did his best to overcome his repugnance and lived constantly
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  Speaker 1: in contact with his wife, But he never lost sight
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  Speaker 1: of the hope of getting free. If he did not
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  Speaker 1: find mean soon to do so, he said he should
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  Speaker 1: have no more issue. His conscience told him that tender
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  Speaker 1: conscience of his that Anne was not his legal wife,
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  Speaker 1: and he turned to Cromwell for a remedy and found none.
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  Speaker 1: For Cromwell knew that the breaking up of the Protestant
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  Speaker 1: union upon which he had staked his future would inevitably
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  Speaker 1: mean now the rise of his rivals and his own ruin.
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  Speaker 1: He fought stoutly for his position, though Norfolk and Gardener
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  Speaker 1: were often now at the King's ear his henchmen. Doctor Barnes,
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  Speaker 1: who had gone to Germany as envoy during the marriage negotiations,
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  Speaker 1: was a Protestant, and in a sermon on justification by
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  Speaker 1: faith he violently attacked Gardener. The latter, in spite of
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  Speaker 1: Cromwell and Cranmer, secured from the King an order that
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  Speaker 1: Barnes should humbly and publicly recant. He did so at
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  Speaker 1: Easter at the Spittle, but at once repeated the offense,
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  Speaker 1: and he and two other clergymen who thought like him
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  Speaker 1: were burnt for heresy. Men began to shake their heads
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  Speaker 1: and look grave now as they spoke of Cromwell and Cranmer,
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  Speaker 1: But the Secretary stood sturdily, and in may seemed as
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  Speaker 1: if he would turn the tables upon his enemies once. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: he threatened the Duke of Norfolk roughly with the King's displeasure,
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  Speaker 1: and at the opening of Parliament he took the lead
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  Speaker 1: as usual, expressing the king's sorrow at the religious bitterness
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  Speaker 1: in the country and demanding large supplies for the purposes
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  Speaker 1: of national defense. But though still apparently as powerful as
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  Speaker 1: ever and more than ever overbearing, he dared not yet
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  Speaker 1: propose to the King a way out of the matrimonial tangle.
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  Speaker 1: Going home to Austin Friars from the sitting of Parliament
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  Speaker 1: on the seventh June, he told his new colleague Riathlessly,
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  Speaker 1: that the thing that principally troubled him was that the
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  Speaker 1: King did not like the queen, and that his marriage
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  Speaker 1: had never been consummated. Riathlessly, whose sympathies were then Catholic,
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  Speaker 1: suggested that quote some way might be devised for the
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  Speaker 1: relief of the King end quote. Ah, sighed Cromwell, who
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  Speaker 1: knew what such a remedy would mean to him. Quote,
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  Speaker 1: but it is a great matter end quote. The next
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  Speaker 1: day riathlously returned to the subject and begged Cromwell to
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  Speaker 1: devise some means of relief for the king quote, for
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  Speaker 1: if he remained in this grief and trouble. They should
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  Speaker 1: all smart for it someday end quote. Yes, replied Cromwell,
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  Speaker 1: it is true, but it is a great matter. Mary
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed riathlessly, out of patience. I grant that, but let
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  Speaker 1: a remedy be searched for. But Cromwell had no remedy yet,
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  Speaker 1: but one that would ruin himself, and that he dared
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  Speaker 1: not propose. So he shook his head sadly and changed
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  Speaker 1: the subject. The repudiation of Anne was, as Cromwell said,
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  Speaker 1: a far greater matter than at first sight appeared. The
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  Speaker 1: plan to draw into one confederation for the objects of England,
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  Speaker 1: the German Protestants, the King of Denmark, and the Duke
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  Speaker 1: of Cleves, whose seizure of Gelderland had brought him in
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  Speaker 1: opposition to the Emperor, was the most threatening that had
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  Speaker 1: faced Charles for years. His own city of Ghent was
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  Speaker 1: an open revolt, and Francis, after all, was but a
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  Speaker 1: fucal ally. If once more the French king turned from
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  Speaker 1: him and made friends with the Turk and the Lutherans,
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  Speaker 1: then indeed would the imperial power have cause to tremble
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  Speaker 1: and Henry to rejoice. Cromwell had striven hard to cement
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  Speaker 1: the Protestant combination, but again and again he had been
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  Speaker 1: thwarted by his rivals. The passage of the six Articles
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  Speaker 1: against his wish, although the execution of the Act was
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  Speaker 1: suspended at Cromwell's instance, had caused the gravest distrust on
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  Speaker 1: the part of Hans Frederick and the Landgrave of Hesse,
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  Speaker 1: and if Henry were encouraged to repudiate his German wife,
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  Speaker 1: not only would her brother, already in negotiation with the
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  Speaker 1: imperial agents for the investiture of Gueldres and his marriage
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  Speaker 1: with the Emperor's niece, the Duchess of Milan, be at
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  Speaker 1: once driven into opposition to England, but Hans Frederick and
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  Speaker 1: hess would also abandon Henry to the tender mercies of
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  Speaker 1: his enemies. The only way to avoid such a disaster
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  Speaker 1: following the repudiation of Anne, was first to drive a
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  Speaker 1: wedge of distrust between Charles and Francis, now in close confederacy.
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  Speaker 1: In January, the Emperor had surprised the world by his
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  Speaker 1: boldness in traversing France to his Flemish dominions. He was
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  Speaker 1: feasted splendidly by Francis and escaped unbetrayed, But during his
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: stay in France. Desperate attempts were made by Wyatt, Henry's ambassador,
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  Speaker 1: with Charles Bonner, the ambassador in France, and by the
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Duke of Norfolk, who went in February on a special
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  Speaker 1: mission to sow discord between the allied sovereigns, and not
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  Speaker 1: without some degree of success. Charles, during his stay in France,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: was badgered by Wyat into saying some hasty words which
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: were deliberately twisted by Norfolk into a menace to France
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  Speaker 1: and England alike. Francis was reminded with irritating iteration that
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  Speaker 1: Charles had plenty of smiles and soft words for his
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  Speaker 1: French friends, but avoided keeping his promises about the Session
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  Speaker 1: of Milan or anything else. So in France, those who
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: were in favor of the Imperial Alliance, the Montmorencys and
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: the Queen, declined in their hold over Francis and their opponents,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: the Barons, The Queen of Navarre, Francis's sister, and the
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Duchess of Etampe his mistress, planned with Henry's agents for
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: an understanding with England. This, as may be supposed, was
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: not primarily Cromwell's policy, but that of Norfolk and his friends,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: because its success would inevitably mean the conciliation of the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: German princes and Cleaves by the Emperor, and the breakup
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: of the Protestant can Confederacy and England, by which Cromwell
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: must now stand or fall. As early as April, Merrilac,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: the French ambassador in England, foretold the great change that
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: was coming, the arrest of Barnes, Gerrard and Jerome for
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: anti Catholic teaching, and the persecutions everywhere for those who offended,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: ever so slightly in the same way presaged Cromwell's fall.
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  Speaker 1: Quote Cranmer and Cromwell, writes Merrilac, do not know where
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  Speaker 1: they are. Within a few days there will be seen
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: in this country a great change in many things, which
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: this king begins to make in his ministers, recalling those
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: he had disgraced and degrading those he had raised. Cromwell
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: is tottering, for all those now recalled were dismissed at
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: his request, and bear him no little grudge. Amongst others,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the bishops of Winchester, that is, Gardener, Dorham and Bath,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: men of great learning and experience, who are now summoned
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  Speaker 1: to the Privy Council it is said that Tunstall, that
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: is Dorham, will be Vicar General and Bath privy Seal,
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  Speaker 1: which are Cromwell's principal offices. If he holds his own,
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  Speaker 1: that is Cromwell, it will only be because of his
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: close assiduity in business. Though he is very rude in
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  Speaker 1: his demeanor, he does nothing without consulting the king, and
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: is desirous of doing justice, especially to foreigners. This was
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  Speaker 1: somewhat premature, but it gives a good idea of the
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: process that was going on. There is no doubt that
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Cromwell believed in his ability to keep his footing politically,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: for he was anything but rigid in his principles. And
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: if the friendship with France initiated by his rivals had,
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  Speaker 1: as it showed signs of doing, developed into an alliance
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  Speaker 1: that would enable Henry both to dismiss his fears of
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: the Emperor and throw over the Protestants, he would probably
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: have accepted the situation and have proposed a means for
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Henry to get rid of his distasteful wife. But this
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: opportunism did not suit his opponents in Henry's council. They
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: wanted to get rid of the man quite as much
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  Speaker 1: as they did his policy, for his insolence had stung
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  Speaker 1: them to the quick. Great nobles as most of them were,
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  Speaker 1: and he the son of a blacksmith. Some other means, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: than a mere change of policy was necessary to dislodge
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  Speaker 1: the strong man who guided the king. Parliament had met
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  Speaker 1: on the twelfth April, and it was managed with Cromwell's
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: usual boldness and success, as if to mark that his
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: great ability was still paramount. He was made Earl of
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Essex and Great Chamberlain of England in the following week,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: but the struggle in the Council and around the king
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: continued unabated. Henry was warned by Cromwell's enemies of the
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: danger of allowing religious freedom to be carried too far,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: and of thus giving the Catholic powers an excuse for
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: executing the Pope's decree of deprivation against him. He was
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: reminded that the Emperor and Francis were still friends, that
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the latter was suspiciously preparing for war, and that Henry's
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: brother in law, the Duke of Cleves, quarrel with the
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Emperor might drag England into war for the sake of
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: a beggarly German dukedom of no importance or value to her.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: On the other hand, Cromwell would point out to Henry
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the disobedience and insolence of the Catholics who questioned his
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: spiritual supremacy and caused churchmen who advocated a reconciliation with
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Rome to be imprisoned. Clearly, such a position could not
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: continue indefinitely, and Norfolk anticipated Cromwell by playing the final
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: trump card, that of arousing Henry's personal fears. The word
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: treason and a hint that anything could be intended against
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: his person always brought Henry to heal. What the exact
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: accusation against Cromwell was, no one knows, though it was
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: whispered at the time that the nobles had told Henry
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: that Cromwell had amassed great stores of money and arms,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: and maintained a vast number of dependents fifteen hundred men,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: it was asserted, wore his livery with a sinister object.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Some said to marry the Princess Mary and make himself king,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: and that he had received a great bribe from the
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Duke of Cleves and the Protestants to bring about the
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: marriage of Anne. Others said that he had boasted that
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: he was to receive a crown abroad from a foreign potentate,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: that is, the Emperor, and that he had talked of
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: defending the new doctrines at the sword's Point. No such accusations, however,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: are on official record, and there is no doubt that
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: the real reason for his arrest was the animosity of
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: the Aristocratic and Catholic party against him, acting upon the
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: King's fears and his desire to get rid of Anne
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: of Cleaves. On the ninth June, Parliament was still sitting
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: discussing the religious question with a view to the settlement
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: of some uniform doctrine. The lords of the Council left
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: the chamber to go across to Whitehall to dinner before midday,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: and as they wended their way across the Great Courtyard
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: of Westminster, a high wind carried away Cromwell's flat cap
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: from his head. It was the custom, when one gentleman
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: was even accidentally uncovered, for those who were with him
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: also to doff their bonnets. But as an attendant ran
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: and recovered Cromwell's flying headgear on that occasion, the haughty
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Minister looked grimly round and saw all his colleagues once
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: so humble holding their own caps upon their heads a
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: high wind. Indeed, must this be, sneered Cromwell, to blow
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: my cap off, and for you to need hold yours on.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: He must have known that ill foreboded, for during dinner
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: no one spoke to him. The mule finished, Cromwell went
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: to the consul chamber with the rest, and, as was
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: his custom, stood at a window apart to hear appeals
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: and applications to him, And when these were disposed of,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: he turned to the table to take his usual seat
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: with the rest. On this occasion, norfolk stopped him and
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: told him that it was not meet that traders should
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: sit amongst loyal gentlemen. I am no trader, shouted Cromwell,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: dashing his cap upon the ground, But the Captain of
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the Guard was at the door and still protesting. The
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: wretched man was hurried to the water gate and rode
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: swiftly to the tower, surrounded by halberdiers norfolk. As he
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: left the consul chamber, tearing off the fallen minister's badge
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: of the Garter as a last stroke of ignominy. Cromwell
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: knew he was doomed for by the iniquitous act that
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: he himself had forged for the ruin of others. He
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: might be attainted and condemned legally without his presence or defense. Mercy, Mersey, Mercy,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: he wrote to the King in his agony. But for
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: him there was as little mercy as he had shown
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: to others. His death was a foregone conclusion, for Henry's
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: fears had been aroused, but Cromwell had to be kept
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: alive long enough for him to furnish such information as
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: would provide a plausible pretext for the repudiation of Anne.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: He was ready to do all that was asked of him,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: to swear to anything the King wished. He testified that
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: he knew the marriage had never been consummated and never
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: would be, that the King was dissatisfied from the first,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: and had complained that the evidence of the nullification of
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: the prior contract with the Air of Lorraine was insufficient.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: That the King had never given full consent to the marriage,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: but had gone through the ceremony under the compulsion of
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: circumstances and with mental reservation. When all this was sworn
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: to Cromwell's hold upon the world was done upon evidence
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: now unknown, he was condemned for treason and heresy without
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: being heard in his own defense. And on the twenty
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: eight July fifteen forty he stood a sorry figure upon
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: the scaffold in the tower. He had been a sinner,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: he confessed, and had travailed after the things of this world.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: But he fervently avowed that he was a good Catholic
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: and no heretic, and had it harbored no thought of
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: evil towards his sovereign. But Protestations availed not, and his head,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: the cleverest head in England, was pitiably hacked off by
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: a bungling headsman. Before that happened, the repudiation of Anne
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: of Cleves was complete, and a revival of the aristocratic
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: and Catholic influence in England was an accomplished fact. End
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: of Section twenty two