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presence of that great King, before whom I am to be to

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1t seems, that gentleman knew nothing of the judgment that passed at Lambeth, annulling the marriage; for it was transacted secretly. It could have no foundation or colour but from that story mentioned in Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, of the Lord Percy's addresses to her. He was now examined upon that but it will appear from his letter to Cromwell, that he solemnly purged both himself and her from any precontract, being examined upon oath by the two archbishops; and that he received the sacrament upon it, before the duke of Norfolk, and some of the king's council that were learned in the spiritual law; assuring them by his oath, and by the sacrament that he had received, and intended to receive, that there was never any contract, or promise of marriage, between her and him. This he wrote on the 13th of May, four days before the queen's execution; which will be found in the Collection (No. xlix).

This shows plainly, that she was prevailed on, between fear and hope, to confess a precontract, the person not being named.

The French gentleman gives the same account of the manner of her death, and of her speech, that all the other writers of that time do. "When she was brought to the place of execution, within the Tower, he says, her looks were cheerful; and she never appeared more beautiful than at that time. She said to those about her, Be not sorry to see me die thus; but pardon me from your hearts, that I have not expressed to all about me that mildness that became me; and that I have not done that good that was in my power to do. She prayed for those who were the procurers of her death. Then, with the aid of her maids, she undressed her neck with great courage, and so ended her days."

This long recital I have translated out of Meteren; for I do not find it taken notice of by any of our writers. I leave it thus, without any other reflections upon it, but that it seems all over credible.

Thevet, a Franciscan friar, who, for seventeen or eighteen years, had wandered up and down Europe, to prepare materials for his Cosmography (which he published in the year 1563), says, that many English gentlemen assured him, that King Henry expressed great repentance of his sins, being at the point of death; and, among other things, of the injury and the crime committed against Queen Anne Boleyn, who Cosmog. 1. 16.

was falsely accused, and convicted of that which was laid to her charge. It is true, Thuanus has very much disgraced that writer as a vain and ignorant plagiary; but he having been of the order that suffered so much for their adhering to Queen Katherine, is not to be suspected of partiality for Queen Anne. We must leave those secrets to the great day. It may be easily believed, that both the pope and the emperor, as they were glad to be freed from the obligation they seemed to be under to protect Queen Katherine, so Queen Anne's fall gave them a great deal of ill-natured joy. The pope, upon the first news of her disgrace, sent for Cassali, expressing a great deal of pleasure upon the queen's imprisonment; and at the same time spoke very honourably of the king. "He hoped, upon these emergents, all matters would be brought to a good agreement; and that the king would reconcile himself to the see, by which he would become the arbiter of all Europe. He told Cassali, that he knew how good an instrument he was in Pope Clement's time; and what pains he took, both with the pope and the emperor, to prevent the breach. He added, that the naming of Fisher to be a cardinal was so pressed on him, that he could not decline it. He desired Cassali would try how any messenger that he might send to the king would be received: for, as soon as he knew that, he would send one immediately." Of all this, Cassali wrote an account to the king.

At the same time, Pace gave him an account* of a long conversation he had with the emperor on the same subject: The for he was then the king's ambassador in that court. emperor excused his adhering to his aunt, whom he could not in honour forsake; but, at the same time, he said, he abhorred the pope's bull for deposing the king; and he was so far from any thoughts of executing it, that he commanded it to be suppressed in his dominions: nor did he encourage, as was suspected, the king of Scotland to undertake to execute it. He imputed the breach that had been made between him and the king to the French king; who, he said, was like an eel in a man's hand, ready to forsake him, and even to renounce God, who, he believed, had given him over to a reprobate mind. He was resolved now to return to his old friendship with the king, and he would not hearken to intimations given him by the agent of France, that the king had poisoned his aunt. He pressed him to legitimate the Princess Mary. He might do that, without owning the lawfulness of the marriage; which was a point, in which he would stir no more. She was born in a marriage in fact, and bona fide; and in many cases in which *Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 14.

marriages had been dissolved, yet the legitimacy of the issue was often secured."

Of all this Pace gave the king an account*; and pressed, with some vehemence, the legitimating the princess. The emperor was then going to Rome; so King Henry intended to join Cassali with Pace, in his embassy to the emperor. Pace begged that might not be done; expressing a great aversion to him, as being a base and a perverse man. It is plain Pace pressed the king much to think of being reconciled to the pope. Cardinal Ghinucci offered his service again to the king with expressions full of zeal. Grandvill also entered with Cassali upon the same subject; but Cassali wrote to the king, that he did not at all meddle in that matter. The emperor went to Rome, and Pace followed him thither. The king sent a dispatch to Pace, which will be found in the Collection (No. 1), telling him of the motion that the emperor's ambassador made to him for returning to the old friendship with their master; they also made him some overtures in order to it. First, the emperor would be a mean to reconcile him to the bishop of Rome; he also hoped, that the king would contribute towards the war against the Turk; and that since there was an old defensive league between them, and since it seemed that the French king intended to invade the duchy of Milan, he expected the king would assist him, according to that league."

To all this the king answered, "That the interruption of their friendship proceeded from the emperor, who had made him ill returns for the services he had done him. For he pretends he made him first king of Spain, and then emperor. When the empire was at his disposition, he had furnished him with money; so that he ought to thank the king only for all the honour he was advanced to: but in lieu of that, he had showed great ingratitude to the king, and had not only contemned his friendship, but had set on all the ill usage he had met with from the bishop of Rome; which, as he understood, he owed chiefly to him: yet such was the king's zeal for concord among Christian princes, and such was his nature, that he could continue his displeasure against no man, when the cause of it was once removed: so, if the emperor would desire him to forget all that was passed, and would purge himself of all particular unkindness to him, he would be willing to return to their old friendship: but he having received the injuries, would not sue for a reconciliation, nor treat upon the foot of the old leagues between them, till the reconciliation should * Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 14.

be first made, and that without any conditions: when that was done, he would answer all his reasonable desires.

"But as for the bishop of Rome, he had not proceeded on such slight grounds, that he could in any sort depart from what he had done; having founded himself on the laws of God, of nature, and honesty, with the concurrence of his parliament. There was a motion made to him from that bishop for a reconciliation, which he had not yet embraced, nor would he suffer it to be compassed by any other means; and therefore he would not take it in good part, if the emperor would insist in that matter, for the satisfaction of the bishop of Rome, that was his enemy; or move him to alter that, which was already determined against his authority. When there was a general peace among Christian princes, he would not be wanting to give an aid against the Turk; but till the friendship between the emperor and him was quite made up, he would treat of nothing with relation to the king of France: when that was done, he would be a mediator between them. This was the answer given to the emperor's ambassador; which was communicated to Pace, that, in case he had any discourse with the emperor on the subject, he should seem only to have a general knowledge of the matter, but should talk with him suitably to these grounds; encouraging the emperor to pursue what he had begun, and extolling the king's nature and courage, with his inclination to satisfy his friends, when he was not too much pressed that would hurt and stop good purposes: and he orders him to speak with Grandvill of it, of whom it seems he had a good opinion, and that he should represent to the emperor the advantage that would follow on the renewing their old friendship, but not to clog it with conditions; for whatever the king might be afterwards brought to upon their friendship, when made up, the king would not suffer it to be loaded with them; for the king had suffered the injury: but he was ordered to say all this as of himself, and Pace was ordered to go to court and put himself in Grandvill's way, that he might have occasion to enter upon these subjects with him." Thus that matter was put in a method; so that in a little time the friendship seemed to be entirely made

up.

The king would never hearken to a reconciliation with the pope. On the contrary, he went on in his design of reforming matters in England. In the convocation, in the year 1536, Cromwell came and demanded a place as the king's vicar-general; the archbishop assigned him the place next above himself. On the 21st of June, the archbishop laid before the house the sentence definitive of the nullity

of the king's marriage with Queen Anne, which Cromwell desired they would approve; it was approved in the upper house, and sent down to the lower, in which it was also approved. On the 23d of June, the prolocutor with the clergy offered a book to the upper house, in which they set forth a collection of many ill doctrines that were publicly preached within the province. On the 28th of June, the confirmation of the decree concerning the king's last marriage was subscribed by both houses. On the 11th of July, the book concerning the articles of faith and the ceremonies was brought in by the bishop of Hereford, and was signed by both houses. These were also signed by the archbishop of York, and the bishop of Duresme. On the 20th of July, the bishop of Hereford brought another book, containing the reasons why the king ought not to appear in a council, summoned by the pope to meet at Mantua: this was likewise agreed to, and subscribed by both houses. I have nothing new to add to the account I have given in my History of the other proceedings in matters of religion this year; in which no convocation sat at York. There are several draughts of these articles that are in several places corrected by the king's own hand some of the corrections are very long and very material: of these only it was that I meant, and not of the engrossed and signed articles themselves, when I said they were corrected by the king, as I have been misunderstood.

By these steps it appearing clearly that the king had no thoughts of a reconciliation with Rome, the pope on his part resolved to create him as much trouble as he could. Pole had been sent over from England to Paris, while the suit of divorce was in dependence; he was particularly recommended by the bishop of Bayonne, in one of his letters to Montmorency, as a person of great hopes, and much favoured by the king. He came after that to England; for he tells himself that he was in England, while the point of the supreme headship was in debate. He says he was then absent, which shows that at that time he was contented to be silent in his opinion, and that he did not think fit to oppose what was doing. He was afterwards suffered to go and settle at Padua, where the gravity of his deportment, that was above his age, and the sweetness of his temper, made him be very much considered. He was still supported from England; whether only out of his deanery of Exeter, or by any farther special bounty of the king's, is not certain. In several letters from Padua, he acknowledges the king's bounty and favour to him, and in one he desires a further supply. He, being commanded by the king to do it, wrote over his opinion concerning his marriage. The king sent it to Cranmer before his being sent out of England; for that faithful and

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