rises to our notice. Upon the disgrace of Wolsey, a faithful attendant of his named Thomas Cromwell straightway assumed in Henry's regard the place from which the Cardinal had fallen. He was just the opposite of Wolsey in caring nothing for pomp and parade. For the space of ten years this wonderful man shaped the policy of Henry's government. What he proposed to himself was the establishment of a royal despotism upon the ruin of every other power in the State. The executioner's axe was constantly wet with the blood of those who stood in his way, or who in any manner incurred his displeasure.
It was to the bold suggestions of this man that Henry now listened, when all other means of gratifying his passion had been tried in vain. Cromwell's advice to the king was to waste no more time in negotiating with the Pope, but at once to renounce the jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff, proclaim himself Supreme Head of the Church in England, and then get a decree of divorce from his own courts.
The Breach with Rome.—The advice of Cromwell was acted upon, and by a series of steps England was swiftly and forever carried out from under the authority of the Roman See. Henry first virtually cut the Gordian knot by a secret marriage with Anne Boleyn, notwithstanding a papal decree threatening him with excommunication should he dare to do so. Parliament, which was entirely subservient to Henry's wishes, now passed a law known as the Statute of Appeals, which made it a crime for any Englishman to carry a case out of the kingdom to the courts at Rome. Cranmer, a Cambridge doctor who had served Henry by writing a book in favor of the divorce, was, in accordance with the new programme, made archbishop of Canterbury. He at once formed a court, tried the case, and of course declared the king's marriage with Catherine null and void from the very first, and his union with Anne legal and right.
The Act of Supremacy (1534).—The decisive step had now been taken: the Rubicon had been crossed. The Pope issued a decree excommunicating Henry and relieving his subjects from
