the present Parliament had been called at the request of the nation for the restraint of the clergy. They were so hated throughout the realm, both by nobles and people, that, but for his protection, they would be utterly destroyed. He should wait to take action till February, to see whether the Pope would meanwhile change his conduct towards him.[1]
Norfolk, to whom the Nuncio went next, gave him no comfort; he said that, "though Queen Catherine was a good woman, her coming to England had been the curse of the country;" God had shown his displeasure at the marriage by denying the King a male heir; if the King should die without a son, old feuds would be reopened and the realm would be plunged into misery. It was not tolerable that the vital interests of England should be sacrificed to the Emperor. He advised the Nuncio to use his influence with the Pope. "The King's severity might then perhaps be modified."
One more direct appeal was made by Henry himself to Clement. "Finding his just demands neglected, the requests of the King of France unattended to, and the address of his nobles despised and derided," he perceived, he said, that the Pope was wholly devoted to the Emperor's will, and ordained, prorogued and altered to serve the times. He required the Pope, therefore, to set down in writing his grounds for rejecting his suit. He demanded once more that the cause should be heard in England before indifferent judges. "The laws of the realm would not suffer the contrary; he abhorred contention, but would not brook denial."[2]
