History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century
Chapter 223 : On the 22nd of October, a month after his arrival, the nuncio, borne in a sedan chair

On the 22nd of October, a month after his arrival, the nuncio, borne in a sedan chair of red velvet, was carried to court. He was placed on the right of the throne, and his secretary in his name delivered a high-sounding speech, saluting Henry with the name of Saviour of Rome, _Liberator urbis_. "His majesty," replied Fox in the king's name, "has only performed the duties inc.u.mbent on a Christian prince, and he hopes that the holy see will bear them in mind."--"Well attacked, well defended," said Du Bellay. For the moment, a few Latin declamations got the papal nuncio out of his difficulties.

Campeggio did not deceive himself: if the divorce were refused, he foresaw the reformation of England. Yet he hoped still, for he was a.s.sured that Catherine would submit to the judgment of the church; and being fully persuaded that the queen would refuse the holy father nothing, the nuncio began "his approaches," as Du Bellay calls them.

On the 27th of October, the two cardinals waited on Catherine, and in flattering terms insinuated that she might prevent the blow which threatened her by voluntary retirement into a convent. And then, to end all indecision in the queen's mind, Campeggio put on a severe look and exclaimed: "How is it, madam, explain the mystery to us? From the moment the holy father appointed us to examine the question of your divorce, you have been seen not only at court, but in public, wearing the most magnificent ornaments, partic.i.p.ating with an appearance of gaiety and satisfaction at amus.e.m.e.nts and festivities which you had never tolerated before.... The church is in the most cruel embarra.s.sment with regard to you; the king, your husband, is in the greatest perplexity; the princess, your daughter, is taken from you ... and instead of shedding tears, you give yourself up to vanity.

Renounce the world, madam; enter a nunnery. Our holy father himself requires this of you."[873]

[873] Ibid. 1st November, p. 195.

[Sidenote: CATHERINE'S REPLY.]

The agitated queen was almost fainting; stifling her emotion, however, she said mildly but firmly: "Alas! my lords, is it now a question whether I am the king's lawful wife or not, when I have been married to him almost twenty years and no objection raised before?... Divers prelates and lords are yet alive who then adjudged our marriage good and lawful,--and now to say it is detestable! this is a great marvel to me, especially when I consider what a wise prince the king's father was, and also the natural love and affection my father, King Ferdinand, bare unto me. I think that neither of these ill.u.s.trious princes would have made me contract an illicit union." At these words, Catherine's emotion compelled her to stop.--"If I weep, my lords," she continued almost immediately, "it is not for myself, it is for a person dearer to me than my life. What! I should consent to an act which deprives my daughter of a crown? No, I will not sacrifice my child. I know what dangers threaten me. I am only a weak woman, a stranger, without learning, advisers, or friends ... and my enemies are skilful, learned in the laws, and desirous to merit their master's favour ... and more than that, even my judges are my enemies. Can I receive as such," she said as she looked at Campeggio, "a man extorted from the pope by manifest lying?... And as for you," added she, turning haughtily to Wolsey, "having failed in attaining the tiara, you have sworn to revenge yourself on my nephew the emperor ... and you have kept him true promise; for all his wars and vexations, he may only thank you. One victim was not enough for you. Forging abominable suppositions, you desire to plunge his aunt into a frightful abyss....

But my cause is just, and I trust it in the Lord's hand." After this bold language, the unhappy Catherine withdrew to her apartments. The imminence of the danger effected a salutary revolution in her; she laid aside her brilliant ornaments, a.s.sumed the sober garments in which she is usually represented, and pa.s.sed days and nights in mourning and in tears.[874]

[874] Regina in luctu et lacrymis noctes diesque egit. Sanders, p. 29.

Thus Campeggio saw his hopes deceived; he had thought to find a nun, and had met a queen and a mother.... He now proceeded to set every imaginable spring at work; as Catherine would not renounce Henry, he must try and prevail upon Henry to renounce his idea of separating from the queen. The Roman legate therefore changed his batteries, and turned them against the king.

[Sidenote: HENRY'S INTERVIEW WITH THE NUNCIO.]

Henry, always impatient, went one day unannounced to Campeggio's lodging, accompanied by Wolsey only:[875] "As we are without witnesses," he said, taking his seat familiarly between the two cardinals, "let us speak freely of our affairs.[876]--How shall you proceed?" But to his great astonishment and grief,[877] the nuncio prayed him, with all imaginable delicacy, to renounce the divorce.[878] At these words the fiery Tudor burst out: "Is this how the pope keeps his word? He sends me an amba.s.sador to annul my marriage, but in reality to confirm it." He made a pause. Campeggio knew not what to say. Henry and Catherine being equally persuaded of the justice of their cause, the nuncio was in a dilemma. Wolsey himself suffered a martyrdom.[879] The king's anger grew fiercer; he had thought the legate would hasten to withdraw an imprudent expression, but Campeggio was dumb. "I see that you have chosen your part," said Henry to the nuncio; "mine, you may be sure, will soon be taken also. Let the pope only persevere in this way of acting, and the apostolical see, covered with perpetual infamy, will be visited with a frightful destruction."[880] The lion had thrown off the lamb's skin which he had momentarily a.s.sumed. Campeggio felt that he must appease the monarch. "Craft and delay" were his orders from Rome; and with that view the pope had provided him with the necessary arms. He hastened to produce the famous _decretal_ which p.r.o.nounced the divorce. "The holy father," he told the king, "ardently desires that this matter should be terminated by a happy reconciliation between you and the queen; but if that is impossible, you shall judge yourself whether or not his holiness can keep his promises." He then read the bull, and even showed it to Henry, without permitting it, however, to leave his hands. This exhibition produced the desired effect: Henry grew calm. "Now I am at ease again," he said; "this miraculous talisman revives all my courage. This decretal is the efficacious remedy that will restore peace to my oppressed conscience, and joy to my bruised heart.[881] Write to his holiness, that this immense benefit binds me to him so closely, that he may expect from me more than his imagination can conceive."

And yet a few clouds gathered shortly after in the king's mind.

Campeggio having shown the bull had hastened to lock it up again.

Would he presume to keep it in his own hands? Henry and Wolsey will leave no means untried to get possession of it; that point gained, and victory is theirs.

[875] Regia majestas et ego ad eum crebro accessimus. State Papers, vii. p. 103.

[876] Rex et duo cardinales, remotis arbitris, de suis rebus multum et diu collocuti. Sanders, P. 29.

[877] Incredibili utriusque nostrum animi mrore. State Papers, vii.

p. 104.

[878] Conatus est omne divortium inter regiam majestatem et reginam dissuadere. Ibid.

[879] Non absque ingenti cruciatu. Ibid.

[880] Ingemiscendum excidium, perpetua infamia. Ibid.

[881] Remedium levamenque afflictae oppressaque conscientiae. Ibid.

[Sidenote: WOLSEY REFUSED THE DECRETAL.]

Wolsey having returned to the nuncio, he asked him for the decretal with an air of candour as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He desired, he said, to show it to the king's privy-councillors.

"The pope," replied Campeggio, "has granted this bull, not to be used, but to be kept secret;[882] he simply desired to show the king the good feeling by which he was animated." Wolsey having failed, Henry tried his skill. "Have the goodness to hand me the bull which you showed me," said he. The nuncio respectfully refused. "For a single moment," he said. Campeggio still refused. The haughty Tudor retired, stifling his anger. Then Wolsey made another attempt, and founded his demand on justice. "Like you, I am delegated by his holiness to decide this affair," he said, "and I wish to study the important doc.u.ment which is to regulate our proceedings."--This was met by a new refusal.

"What!" exclaimed the minister of Henry VIII, "am I not, like you, a cardinal?... like you, a judge? your colleague?" It mattered not, the nuncio would not, by any means, let the decretal go.[883] Clement was not deceived in the choice he had made of Campeggio; the amba.s.sador was worthy of his master.

[882] Non ut ea uteremur, sed ut secreta haberetur. State Papers, vii.

p. 104.

[883] Nullo pacto adduci vult, ut mihi, _suo collegae_, commissionem hanc decretalem e suis manibus credat. (Ibid. p. 105.) By no engagement could he be induced, to trust out of his hands, to me, his colleague that decretal commission.

It was evident that the pope in granting the bull had been acting a part: this trick revolted the king. It was no longer anger that he felt, but disgust. Wolsey knew that Henry's contempt was more to be feared than his wrath. He grew alarmed, and paid the nuncio another visit. "The _general_ commission," he said, "is insufficient, the _decretal_ commission alone can be of service, and you do not permit us to read a word of it.[884]... The king and I place the greatest confidence in the good intentions of his holiness, and yet we find our expectations frustrated.[885] Where is that paternal affection with which we had flattered ourselves? What prince has ever been trifled with as the king of England is now? If this is the way in which the _Defender of the Faith_ is rewarded, Christendom will know what those who serve Rome will have to expect from her, and every power will withdraw its support. Do not deceive yourselves: the foundation on which the holy see is placed is so very insecure that the least movement will suffice to precipitate it into everlasting ruin.[886]

What a sad futurity!... what inexpressible torture!... whether I wake or sleep, gloomy thoughts continually pursue me like a frightful nightmare."[887] This time Wolsey spoke the truth.

[884] Nec ullum verb.u.m nec mentionem ullam. Ibid.

[885] Esse omnni spe frustratos quam in praefata Sanct.i.tate tam ingenue reposueramus. Ibid.

[886] A fundamento tam levi, incertaque statera pendeat, ut in sempiternam ruinam. State Papers, vii, p. 106.

[887] Quanto animi cruciatu ... vigilans dormiensque. Ibid. p. 108.

[Sidenote: THE NUNCIO REFUSES EVERYTHING.]

But all his eloquence was useless; Campeggio refused to give up the so much desired bull. When sending him, Rome had told him: "Above all, do not succeed!" This means having failed, there remained for Wolsey one other way of effecting the divorce. "Well, then," he said to Campeggio, "let us p.r.o.nounce it ourselves."--"Far be it from us,"

replied the nuncio; "the anger of the emperor will be so great, that the peace of Europe will be broken for ever."--"I know how to arrange all that," replied the English cardinal, "in political matters you may trust to me."[888] The nuncio then took another tone, and proudly wrapping himself up in his morality, he said: "I shall follow the voice of my conscience; if I see that the divorce is possible, I shall leap the ditch; if otherwise, I shall not."--"Your conscience! that may be easily satisfied," rejoined Wolsey. "Holy Scripture forbids a man to marry his brother's widow; now no pope can grant what is forbidden by the law of G.o.d."--"The Lord preserve us from such a principle," exclaimed the Roman prelate; "the power of the pope is unlimited."--The nuncio had hardly put his conscience forward before it stumbled; it bound him to Rome and not to heaven. But for that matter, neither public opinion nor Campeggio's own friends had any great idea of his morality; they thought that to make him _leap the ditch_, it was only requisite to know the price at which he might be bought. The bishop of Bayonne wrote to Montmorency: "Put at the close of a letter which I can show Campeggio something _promissory_, that he shall have _benefices_.... That will cost you nothing, and may serve in this matter of the marriage; for I know that he is longing for something of the sort."--"What is to be done then," said Wolsey at last, astonished at meeting with a resistance to which he was unaccustomed. "I shall inform the pope of what I have seen and heard,"

replied Campeggio, "and I shall wait for his instructions." Henry was forced to consent to this new course, for the nuncio hinted, that if it were opposed he would go in person to Rome to ask the pontiff's orders, and he never would have returned. By this means several months were gained.

[888] Du Bellay to Montmorency. Le Grand, Preuves, p. 266.

[Sidenote: THE PEOPLE SUPPORT CATHERINE.]

During this time men's minds were troubled. The prospect of a divorce between the king and queen had stirred the nation; and the majority, particularly among the women, declared against the king. "Whatever may be done," the people said boldly, "whoever marries the princess Mary will be king of England."[889] Wolsey's spies informed him that Catherine and Charles V had many devoted partizans even at the court.

He wished to make sure of this. "It is pretended," he said one day in an indifferent tone, "that the emperor has boasted that he will get the king driven from his realm, and that by his majesty's own subjects.... What do you think of it, my lords?"--"Tough against the spur," says Du Bellay, the lords remained silent. At length, however, one of them more imprudent than the rest, exclaimed: "Such a boast will make the emperor lose more than a hundred thousand Englishmen."

This was enough for Wolsey. To _lose_ them, he thought, Charles must _have_ them. If Catherine thought of levying war against her husband, following the example of former queens of England, she would have, then, a party ready to support her; this became dangerous.

[889] Du Bellay to Montmorency, 8th November 1528. Le Grand, Preuves, p. 204.

The king and the cardinal immediately took their measures. More than 15,000 of Charles's subjects were ordered to leave London; the arms of the citizens were seized, "in order that they might have no worse weapon than the tongue;"[890] the Flemish councillors accorded to Catherine were dismissed after they had been heard by the king and Campeggio, "for they had no commission to speak to _the other_ [Wolsey]"--and finally, they kept "a great and constant watch" upon the country. Men feared an invasion of England, and Henry was not of a humour to subject his kingdom to the pope.

[890] Ibid. p. 232.

[Sidenote: HENRY'S SPEECH.]

This was not enough; the alarmed king thought it his duty to come to an explanation with his people; and having summoned the lords spiritual and temporal, the judges, the members of the privy-council, the mayor and aldermen of the city, and many of the gentry, to meet him at his palace of Bridewell on the 13th of November,[891] he said to them with a very condescending air: "You know, my lords and gentlemen, that for these twenty years past divine Providence has granted our country such prosperity as it had never known before. But in the midst of all the glory that surrounds me, the thought of my last hour often occurs to me,[892] and I fear that if I should die without an heir, my death would cause more damage to my people than my life has done them good. G.o.d forbid, that for want of a legitimate king England should be again plunged into the horrors of civil war!"

Then calling to mind the illegalities invalidating his marriage with Catherine, the king continued: "These thoughts have filled my mind with anxiety, and are continually p.r.i.c.king my conscience. This is the only motive, and G.o.d is my witness,[893] which has made me lay this matter before the pontiff. As touching the queen, she is a woman incomparable in gentleness, humility, and buxomness, as I these twenty years have had experiment of; so that if I were to marry again, if the marriage might be good, I would surely choose her above all other women. But if it be determined by judgment that our marriage was against G.o.d's law, and surely void, then I shall not only sorrow in departing from so good a lady and loving companion, but much more lament and bewail my unfortunate chance, that I have so long lived in adultery, to G.o.d's great displeasure, and have no true heir of my body to inherit this realm.... Therefore I require of you all to pray with us that the very truth may be known, for the discharging of our conscience and the saving of our soul."[894] These words, though wanting in sincerity, were well calculated to soothe men's minds.

Unfortunately, it appears that after this _speech from the crown_, the official copy of which has been preserved, Henry added a few words of his own. "If, however," he said, according to Du Bellay, casting a threatening glance around him, "there should be any man whatsoever who speaks of his prince in other than becoming terms, I will show him that I am the master, and there is no head so high that I will not roll it from his shoulders."[895] This was a speech in Henry's style; but we cannot give unlimited credit to Du Bellay's a.s.sertions, this diplomatist being very fond, like others of his cla.s.s, of "seasoning"

his despatches. But whatever may be the fact as regards the postscript, the speech on the divorce produced an effect. From that time there were no more jests, not even on the part of the Boleyns'

enemies. Some supported the king, others were content to pity the queen in secret; the majority prepared to take advantage of a court-revolution which every one foresaw. "The king _so plainly_ gave them to understand his pleasure," says the French amba.s.sador, "that they speak more soberly than they have done hitherto."

[891] This act is dated Idibus Novembris. Wilkins, Concilia, iii. p.

714. Herbert and Collyer say the 8th November.

[892] In mentem una venit et concurrit mortis cogitatio. Ibid.

[893] Haec una res quod Deo teste et in regis oraculo affirmamus.

Wilkins, Concilia, iii. p. 714.