a motive more forcible than even the fuggeftions CHA P.

of that powerful favorite.

ANNE Boleyn, who lately appeared at court, had been appointed maid of honor to the queen; and having had frequent opportunities of being feen by Henry, and of converfing with him, he had acquired an entire afcendant over his affections. This young lady, whofe grandeur and misfortunes have rendered her fo celebrated, was daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, who had been employed by the king in feveral embaffies, and who was allied to all the principal nobility in the kingdom. His wife, mother to Anne, was daughter of the duke of Norfolk; his own mother was daughter of the earl of Ormond; his grandfather Sir Geoffry Boleyn, who had been mayor of London, had efpoufed one of the daughters and co-heirs of lord Hastings. Anne herself, though then in very early youth, had been carried over to Paris by the king's fifter, when the princefs efpoufed Lewis XII. of France; and upon the demife of that monarch, and the return of his dowager into England, this damfel, whofe accomplishments even in her tender years were always much admired, was retained in the fervice of Claude, queen of France, spouse to Francis; and after the death of that princefs, she paffed into the family of the dutchefs of Alençon, a woman of fingular merit. The exact time,

Camden's preface to the life of Elizabeth.

vol. i. p. 44.

Burnet,

XXX,

1527. Anne Bo

leyn.

XXX.

1927.

HAF. when he returned to England, is not certainly known; but it was after the king had entertained doubts with regard to the lawfulnefs of his marriage with Catherine; if the account is to be credited, which he himself afterwards gave of that tranfaction. Henry's fcruples had made him break off all conjugal commerce with the queen; but as he fti fupported an intercourfe of civility and friendship with her, he had occafion, in the frequent vifits which he paid her, to obferve the beauty, the youth, the charms of Anne Boleyn. Finding the accomplishments of her mind nowife inferior to her exterior graces, he even entertained the defign of raifing her to the throne; and was the more confirmed in this refolution, when he found that her virtue and modefty prevented all hopes of gratifying his paffion in any other manner. As every motive, therefore, of inclination and policy, feemed thus to concur in making the king defirous of a divorce from Catherine, and as his profpect of fuccefs was inviting, he refolved to make applications to Clement, and he fent Knight, his fecretary, to Rome for that purpose.

Henry ap

ope for a divorce.

THAT he might not fhock the haughty claims. plies to the of the 'pontiff, he refolved not to found the application on any general doubts concerning the papal power to permit marriage in the nearer degrees of confanguinity; but only to infift on particular grounds of nullity in the bull, which Julius had granted for the marriage of Henry and Catherine. It was a maxim in the court of

XXX.

1527.

Rome, that, if the pope be furprifed into any CHAP, conceffion, or grant any indulgence upon falfe fuggeftions, the bull may afterwards be annulled; and this pretence had ufually been employed, wherever one pope had recalled any deed, executed by any of his predeceffors. But Julius's bull, when examined, afforded abundant matter of this kind; and any tribunal, favorable to Henry, needed not want a fpecious color for gratifying him in his applications for a divorce: It was faid in the preamble, that the bull had been granted upon his folicitation; though it was known, that, at that time, he was under twelve years of age: It was alfo affirmed, as another motive for the bull, that the marriage was requifite, in order to preferve peace between the two crowns; though it is certain, that there was not then any ground or appearance of quar rel between them. Thefe falfe premifes in Julius's bull feemed to afford Clement a fufficient reafon or pretence for annulling it, and granting Henry a difpenfation for a fecond marriage BUT though the pretext for this indulgence The pope had been lefs plaufible, the pope was in fuch a fituation, that he had the strongest motives to embrace every opportunity of gratifying the Englifh monarch. He was then a prifoner in the hands of the emperor, and had no hopes of recovering his liberty on any reasonable terms, except

10

10

Collier, Ecclef. Hift. vol. ii. p. 25. from the Cott. Lib. Vitel. p. 9.

favorable.

XXX. 1527.

CHAP. by the efforts of the league, which Henry had formed with Francis and the Italian powers, in order to oppose the ambition of Charles. When the English Secretary, therefore, folicited him in private, he received a very favorable answer; and a difpenfation was forthwith promised to be granted to his mafter ". Soon after, the march of a French army into Italy, under the command of Lautrec, obliged the Imperialists to restore Clement to his liberty; and he retired to Orvieto, where the Secretary, with Sir Gregory Caffali, the king's refident at Rome, renewed their applications to him. They ftill found him full of high profeffions of friendship, gratitude, and attachment to the king; but not so prompt in granting his request as they expected. The emperor, who had got intelligence of Henry's application to Rome, had exacted a promife from the pope, to take no steps in the affair before he communicated them to the Imperial minifters; and Clement, embarraffed by this promise, and still more overawed by the emperor's forces in Italy, feemed willing to poftpone thofe conceffions defired of him by Henry. Importuned, however, by the English minifters, he at laft put into their hands a commiffion to Wolfey, as legate, in conjunction with the archbishop of Canterbury, or any other English prelate, to examine the validity of the king's marriage, and of Julius's difpenfation": He alfo granted them a provifional difpenfation

II

X2

Burnet, vol. i. p. 47. Rymer, vol. xiv. 237.

XXX.

for the king's marriage with any other perfon; CHA P. and promifed to iffue a decretal bull, annulling the marriage with Catherine. But he reprefented to them the dangerous confequences, which must ensue to him, if these conceffions fhould come to the emperor's knowledge; and he conjured them not to publish thofe papers, or make any further use of them, till his affairs were in fuch a fituation as to fecure his liberty and independence. And his fecret advice was, whenever they fhould find the proper time for opening the fcene, that they should prevent all oppofition, by proceeding immediately to a conclufion, by declaring the marriage with Catherine invalid, and by Henry's inftantly efpoufing fome other perfon. Nor would it be fo difficult, he faid, for himfelf to confirm these proceedings, after they were paffed, as previously to render them valid, by his confent and authority ".

13

WHEN Henry received the commission and difpenfation from his ambaffadors, and was informed of the pope's advice, he laid the whole before his minifters, and asked their opinion in fo delicate a fituation. The English counsellors confidered the danger of proceeding in the manner pointed out to them. Should the pope refuse to ratify a deed, which he might juftly call precipitate and irregular, and fhould he difavow the advice which he gave in fo clandeftine a manner, the king would find his fecond marriage totally.

"Collier, from Cott. Lib. Vitel. B. 10.

1528