650 HENRY VIII. (ENGLAND) purpose. Henry was at first disposed to pros- ecute the war more vigorously than ever against France, and Bourbon showed that he could ob- tain the crown of that country ; but Wolsey's policy prevailed, much aided by the emperor's conduct, as he evinced a disposition hostile to English aggrandizement. A treaty of peace was made with France in August, 1525, on terms advantageous to England. In 1527 Hen- ry and Francis formed an alliance for the ex- pulsion of the imperialists from Italy, and the deliverance of the pope, who was the empe- ror's prisoner. Henry renounced all claims to the French throne, and Francis agreed to pay 50,000 crowns annually to Henry and his suc- cessors. Wolsey made a magnificent journey to France, which the public associated with the thought of Henry's divorce, with a view to his marriage with a French princess ; and from this time, the spring of 1527, the question of divorce becomes the leading incident of Hen- ry's reign. His marriage with Catharine had not been productive of heirs. During the first nine years of their union, the queen had thrice miscarried, two sons died immediately after birth, and a third son was still-born. The only child that lived was the princess Mary, born in 1516. Henry, who was superstitious even to fanaticism, was much impressed by these re- peated misfortunes, and believed they were punishments for having married his brother's wife. The idea of a divorce had perhaps been maturing in his mind for years, when accident gave it sudden prominence. The marriage of the princess Mary with a French prince being spoken of as probable, the legitimacy of the princess was questioned by the French envoy, the bishop of Tarbes. This the king asserted in council, but it has been doubted whether the bishop ever raised any such question. At this time the pope was suffering from the at- tack of the imperialists, and soon became a prisoner of the emperor, and Wolsey deter- mined to procure a divorce, in the hope of be- ing able to commit Henry thoroughly to the cause of the ancient church, which was be- ginning to feel the attacks of the reformers. Apart from the theological reasons which de- terred the pope from granting a divorce, he had to dread the resentment of the emperor, who was Catharine's nephew. Wolsey aimed at a reformation of manners in England, and he hated the emperor because of his repeated dis- appointments respecting the papacy ; and in both the ends he proposed to effect, the moral reformation and the divorce, he had a good right to count upon the pope's assistance, as matters stood in 1527. But it was impossible that the pope should continue to be the open enemy of the emperor ; and unless he should so continue, his aid in the divorce question could not be counted upon. The alliance with the emperor was popular in England, he being ruler of Flanders, with which country England had a great and profitable commerce. The em- peror himself was at that time popular in Eng- land: with the reformers, because he was at war with the pope ; with the conservatives, be- cause they knew his position necessarily made him the champion of the old order of things, though circumstances had for the time made him their apparent enemy ; and generally, be- cause he was the foe of France, England's old rival. Wolsey triumphed over all these ob- stacles, by convincing Henry that by a change of foreign policy he could cause the pope to grant the divorce he so much desired ; and in his correspondence with the English agent at Rome, he declared that the king would dis- regard the wishes of his subjects and the pri- vate interests of his realm, to attach himself cordially and constantly to the holy see, pro- vided the pope should prove his friend in the matter he had so much at heart. That Hen- ry was in part governed by religious feeling, and also by considerations growing out of the subject of the succession, cannot reason- ably be doubted ; but his attachment to Anne Boleyn, which began some years before the open agitation of the divorce question, was the real occasion of his wish to put away his wife, Anne being resolute in her determination not to be his mistress. Wolsey was opposed to the proposed marriage with Anne, and the king, without his minister's knowledge, sent his sec- retary to Rome, with a private proposition that a dispensation should be granted, allowing him to take a second wife, the former marriage to stand with no definite sentence passed upon it; or, if that were impossible, leaving the pope to proceed after his own ideas, the main object to be kept always in view. Wolsey's plan was that the pope should extend his (Wolsey's) legatine authority so far as to grant him full power to act as English vicegerent so long as Rome should be held by the emperor's forces. Soon, however, the public and private agents acted together, and the pope was urgently de- sired to do that which Henry asked. For years he played a double game, though warned by Wolsey and others of the evil that must follow to Rome from his failure to favor Henry. In 1528 Cardinal Campeggio was appointed to proceed to England, to hear the cause in con- junction with Wolsey; but he purposely de- layed his journey, and had instructions not to decide the cause. He endeavored to persuade the king to give up his wish, and failing, sought to induce Catharine to take the vows of chas- tity, and to retire from the contest ; but that lady, who was singularly tenacious of her rights, would consent only on condition that the king should take the same vows. Henry, now convinced that only bold measures would answer, avowed his intention to make Anne Boleyn his wife, and installed her in Green- wich palace. He sent a relative of the lady to Rome, to announce that his request must be granted, menacing that, if he failed with the pope, the whole matter should be laid before parliament. The emperor sought to intimidate the king ; but Henry summoned a meeting of
