CH. 7. willed me to omit further communication thereupon, and to proceed to the doing of such things that I was specially sent for. A.D. 1533. Nov. 7. 'Whereupon making protestation of your Highness's mind and intent towards the see apostolic-not intending anything to do in con-. tempt of the same-I exhibited unto his Holiness the commission which your Highness had sent unto me; and his Holiness delivering it to the datary, commanded him to read it; and hearing in the same the words (referring to the injuries which he had done to your Highness), he began to look up after a new sort, and said, 'O questo et multo vero! (this is much true!)' meaning that it was not true indeed. And verily, sure not only in this, but also in many parts of the said commission, he showed himself grievously offended; insomuch that, when those words, To the next general council which shall be lawfully held in place convenient,' were read, The pope's he fell in a marvellous great choler and rage, not anger. only declaring the same by his gesture and manner, but also by words: speaking with great vehemence, and saying, 'Why did not the king, when I wrote to my nuncio this year past, to speak unto him for this general council, give no answer unto my said nuncio, but referred him for answer to the French king? at what time he might perceive by my doing, that I was very well disposed, and much spake for it.' The thing so standing, now to speak of a general council! Oh, good Lord! but well! his commission and all his other writings cannot be but welcome unto me;' which words methought he CH. 7. spake willing to hide his choler, and make me A.D. 1533. believe that he was nothing angry with their Nov. 10. doings, when in very deed I perceived, by many arguments, that it was otherwise. And one among others was taken here for infallible with them that knoweth the pope's conditions, that he was continually folding up and unwinding of his handkerchief, which he never doth but when he is tickled to the very heart with great choler.' At length the appeal was read through; and at the close of it Francis entered, and talked to the pope for some time, but in so low a voice that Bonner could not hear what was passing. When he had gone, his Holiness said that he would deliberate upon the appeal with the consistory, and after hearing their judgments would return. his answer. Three days passed, and then the English agent was informed that he might again present himself. The pope had recovered his calmness. When he had time to collect himself, Clement could speak well and with dignity; and if we could forget that his conduct was substantially unjust, and that in his conscience he knew it to be unjust, he would almost persuade us to believe him honest. 'He said,' wrote Bonner, 'that his mind towards your Highness always had been to minister justice, and to do pleasure to you; albeit it hath not been so taken: and he never unjustly grieved your Grace that he knoweth, nor intendeth hereafter to do. As concerning the appeal, he said that, forasmuch as there was a constitution of Pope Pius, A.D. 1533. The appeal CH. 7. his predecessor, that did condemn and reprove all such appeals, he did therefore reject your Grace's November. appeal as frivolous, forbidden, and unlawful.' As is rejected. touching the council, he said generally, that he would do his best that it should meet; but it was to be understood that the calling a general council belonged to him, and not to the King of England. Yet on Clement assures Francis that the King of England's cause is just, The audience ended, and Bonner left the pope convinced that he intended, on his return to Rome, to execute the censures and continue the process without delay. That the sentence which he would pronounce would be against the king appeared equally certain. It appeared certain, yet after all no certain departure conclusion is possible. Francis I., though not choosing to quarrel with the see of Rome to do a pleasure to Henry, was anxious to please his ally to the extent of his convenience; at any rate, he would not have gratuitously deceived him; and still less would he have been party to an act of deliberate treachery. When Bonner was gone he had a last interview with the pope, in which he urged upon him the necessity of complying with Henry's demands; and the pope on this occasion said that he was satisfied that the King of England was right; that his cause was good; and authority, that he had only to acknowledge the papal jurissentence in diction by some formal act, to find sentence immediately pronounced in his favour. Except for his precipitation, and his refusal to depute a proxy to plead for him, his wishes would have been complied And if he will only acknow ledge the papal he will give his favour. with long before. In the existing posture of CH. 7. affairs, and after the measures which had been A.D. 1533. passed in England with respect to the see of November. Rome, he himself, the pope said, could not make advances without some kind of submission; but a single act of acknowledgment was all which he required.* pope treacher Extraordinary as it must seem, the pope Was the certainly bound himself by this engagement: honest? or and who can tell with what intention? Το ous? or believe him sincere and to believe him false seems merely weak? equally impossible. If he was persuaded that Henry's cause was good, why did he in the following year pronounce finally for Catherine? why had he emperilled so needlessly the interests of the papacy in England? why had his conduct from the beginning pointed steadily to the conclusion at which he at last arrived? and why throughout Europe were the ultramontane party, to a man, on Catherine's side? On the other hand, what object at such a time can be Let us conceived for falsehood? Can we suppose that judge him he designed to dupe Henry into submission by a promise which he had predetermined to break? It is hard to suppose even Clement capable of so elaborate an act of perfidy; and it is, perhaps, idle to waste conjectures on the motives of a weak, much-agitated man. He was, probably, but giving a fresh example of his dis Letter of the King of France: LEGRAND, vol. iii. Reply of Henry: FOXE, vol. v. p. 110. try to charitably. A.D. 1533. 152 Proposal for a Court to sit at Cambray. CH. 7. position to say at each moment whatever would be most agreeable to his hearers. This was his November. unhappy habit, by which he earned for himself a character for dishonesty, I labour to think, but half deserved. Proposal that the cause referred to sion, to sit at Cam bray. If, however, Clement meant to deceive, he succeeded, undoubtedly, in the deceiving the should be French king. Francis, in communicating to a commis- Henry the language which the pope had used, entreated him to reconsider his resolution. The objection to pleading at Rome might be overcome; for the pope would meet him in a middle course. Judges could be appointed, who should sit at Cambray, and pass a sentence in condemnation of the original marriage; with a definite promise that their sentence should not again be called in question. To this arrangement there could be no reasonable objection; and Francis implored that a proposal so liberal should not be rejected. Sufficient danger already threatened Christendom, from heretics within and from the Turks without; and although the English parliament were agreed to maintain the second marriage, it was unwise to provoke the displeasure of foreign princes. To allow time for the preliminary arrangements, the execution of the censures had been further postponed; and if Henry would make up the quarrel, the French monarch was commissioned to offer a league, offensive and defensive, between England, France, and the Papacy. He himself only desired to be faithful to his engagements to his good brother; and as a proof of his good faith, he said Francis implores Henry to consent. |