652 HENRY VIII. (ENGLAND) him, he could not be prevailed upon to do any- thing. At length Henry married Anne Bo- leyn, Jan. 25, 1533, according to the generally received account, though it was believed that a secret marriage had taken place in the pre- ceding November. A papal brief soon ap- peared, declaring Henry and Anne excom- municated, unless they should avoid all inter- course pending the decision of the divorce, the marriage being kept secret. Parliament met, and passed the act of appeals (April 12), di- rected against the papal authority, and intend- ed to bear against Catharine's appeal to Rome. This took the matter before the convocation, and that body, on Cranmer's application, de- cided that Pope Julius II., in granting a license for the marriage of Henry and Catharine, had exceeded his authority, and that the mar- riage was therefore ab initio void. Cranmer then demanded the king's permission to pro- ceed with the case, which being granted, he opened his court at Dunstable, and summoned Catharine to appear. She refused, and was pronounced contumacious, and the trial pro- ceeded. Judgment was rendered May 23, 1533, the marriage being declared null and void from the beginning. Nine days later the coronation of Anne took place, and it was announced to Catharine that she should no longer be called queen, but princess dowager. There was much discontent, and the emperor, whom Henry in vain sought to appease, believed there would be an insurrection, and urged Catharine not to carry out her design of flying to Spain with her daughter. On May 12 Henry was summoned to appear at Rome, but he appealed to a gen- eral council. News of the divorce threw the pope into a rage, yet he contented himself at the time with a conditional excommunication, declaring Cranmer's judgment illegal, and giv- ing Henry more than two months for repent- ance and restitution. Henry stood firm, but Francis failed to support him, and he had to look to the German Protestants for sympathy ; and he sent an envoy to the elector of Saxony, with no effect. The princess Elizabeth was born Sept. 7, 1533. Conspiracies against the king were formed, implicating both Catharine and her daughter Mary ; and the throne was in much danger from the ambition of some par- ties and the fanaticism of others. Government acted vigorously, and it was determined to form a Protestant league. Parliament met in Janu- ary, 1534, and took a variety of measures to in- crease the separation of Rome and England, under Cromwell's lead. The papal authority was conditionally abolished in England. An act of succession was passed, settling the crown upon the children of Henry and Anne. At length the pope gave sentence, deciding against Henry, declaring him excommunicate, and free- ing his subjects from allegiance. The emperor was to enforce the sentence, and invade Eng- land within four months ; and preparations to that end were at once begun. Francis showed himself friendly to Henry, and a meeting be- tween them was prevented only by the latter'8 fear that a rebellion might break out during his absence. A French fleet guarded the chan- nel through the summer. Henry's conduct was very energetic. Convocation declared that the pope had no more authority in Eng- land than any other bishop; convicted con- spirators were executed ; military preparations were made ; the oaths of allegiance under the statute of succession were taken ; and More and Fisher were imprisoned, and ultimately executed, for refusing to admit the king's su- premacy. The act of supremacy was passed, making Henry the head of the church, which act has been described as " the epitome of all the measures which had been passed against the encroachments of the spiritual powers within and without the realm," and as being " at once the symbol of the independence of England, and the declaration that thenceforth the civil magistrate was supreme within the English dominions over church as well as state." A new and sweeping treason act was passed. The first fruits were transferred to the crown. The new pope, Paul III., who as Cardinal Farnese had been on Henry's side, showed a desire for reconciliation, and the French king labored in the same direction ; but the hour for England's divorce -from Rome had come, and all negotiation was now useless. The execution of Fisher and More created a great sensation among Catholics. The pope issued a bull of interdict and deposition against the king. The union of the Protestants was now more earnestly sought than before, Henry aiming at the formation of a grand league. The visitation of the monasteries commenced in 1535, and the first suppression took place the next year. Catharine died at the beginning of 1536, and the fall of Anne Boleyn occurred four months later, when Henry married Jane Seymour. On Anne's deatli new overtures came from Rome for a reconciliation, which failed principally through the indiscretion of Reginald Pole. The pilgrimage of grace oc- curred in 1536, being a popular outbreak, principally due to the suppression of the mon- asteries and to the social changes that were going on. The dispute was settled by com- promise, the government yielding to some of the demands of the insurgents. A second out- break was put down by force, and many per- sons were executed. Edward, prince of Wales, was born Oct. 12, 1537, and Queen Jane died 12 days later. During 1538 there were con- spiracies against the crown, for which many persons suffered, at the head of whom stood the marquis of Exeter, a grandson of Edward IV. The final dissolution of the monasteries took place in 1539, the same year that the six articles were adopted, forming the new church in England, and embracing the real presence, communion in both kinds not necessary to sal- vation, forbidding the marriage of priests, up- holding vows of chastity, declaring that private masses should be continued, and providing for
