1570 Edition | Book 8 | Page 1232 
MarginaliaThe iudgementes of x. or. xij. Vnieursities against the kynges mariage.
Orleance. Paris. Tolouse. Angiewe. Bononye. Padua. The Facultie of Parys. Bytures. Oxforde. Cābridge.of God & the iudgementes of the best learned clerkes, and also by the censure of the chief Vniuersities of all Christendome, to þe number of x. and moe, it was soone discussed to be vnlawfull.
All these censures, bookes, and writynges of so many Doctors, Clerkes, & Vniuersities sent frō all quarters of Christendome, to the kyng, albeit they might suffice to haue fully resolued & did in deede resolue the kinges consciēce touching this scruple of his mariage: yet would not
CloseFoxe is being very subtle here. Henry was allied with Charles V at this point against France and could not yet afford to forgo this arrangement. Foxe is also not mentioning that the pope was in the emperor's power, since Rome had been sacked by imperial troops on 6 May 1527.
CloseGardiner and Edward Foxe were sent to Rome (more precisely to Orvieto where the pope was then residing) in February 1528.
CloseFoxe is here referring to Sir Nicholas Harvey who was Henry VIII's ambassador to the emperor in 1530. The imperial ambassador in England, Eustace Chapuys, suggested that Harvey was also a partisan of Anne Boleyn (for which, see Calendar of State Papers, Spain, iv/i, p.586). Harvey left England in late June 1530, arriving in Augsburg (8 July) in the midst of the famous Luther trial.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe kings perswasion to the Legates.At the commyng of which Legates, the kyng fyrst openyng vnto them the griefe of hys conscience, seemed with great reasons & persuasions, sufficientlye to haue drawen the good will of those two Legates to his side. Who also of theyr owne accorde, pretended no lesse but to shewe a willyng inclination to further the kynges cause. MarginaliaEuyll language of the people about the kings diuorce.But yet the mouthes of the common people, and in especiall of women, and such other as fauoured the Queene, and talked theyr pleasure, were not stopped. Wherfore, to satisfye the blinde surmises, and foolyshe communication of these also, who seing the cōmyng of the Cardinals cast out such leaude wordes, that þe king would for hys own pleasure haue an other wife, with lyke vnseemyng talke: he therfore willyng that all men should know the truth of his procedinges, caused all his Nobilitie, Iudges, and Counsaillours, with diuers other persons, to resort to hys Pallace of Bridewell the viij. daye of Nouemb. an. 1529. where hee openlye speakyng in hys great chamber, had these wordes in effecte as followeth.
CloseHenry VIII delivered this oration at Bridewell on 8 November 1529 (see Edward Hall, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre & York (London, 1547) and it remained in all four editions. Henry VIII's sense of dynastic insecurity, more clearly expressed here than perhaps at any other moment of the reign, he was clearly referring to the 'Wars of the Roses', still within living memory. He refers to his own grandfather, Edward IV (of York), who had contested the throne with Henry VI (of Lancaster) between 1461 and 1471, and who ruled unopposed to 1483. Famously, his successor, Edward V was usurped (or perhaps legitimately replaced) by Richard III, who was himself removed by the successful rebellion of Henry Tudor (a distant Lancastrian candidate). Henry VII had married Elizabeth York and their heirs - Arthur, Henry, Mary and Margaret - had united the Plantagenet family. The 'fayre daughter' is, of course, Princess Mary (later Mary I), born 18 February 1516, the only child of Catherine and Henry to survive early childhood. The king emphasised the seriousness of the situation in which he might find himself, having 'so long lyued in adultery to Gods great displeasure, and haue no true heyre of my body to inherit this realme'. The king promised that 'I seke a remedy'. Already, two ecclesiastical tribunals had been assembled to hear the case, one at Westminster in 1527 and another at Blackfriars monastery in 1529. Moreover, Henry had also canvassed widely among the English theologians (e.g., John Fisher, John Stokesley) and canonists (e.g., Stephen Gardiner, William Warham) and assembled a group of scholars to examine the evidence from every conceivable angle (including such men as Richard Croke and Nicholas de Burgo). Henry's case revolved around the fact that Arthur and Catherine had consummated their marriage which had created insurmountable impediments between Catherine and himself. In essence he had married his genuine sister; his daughter was the product of an incestuous union, was illegitimate and, thereby, could not inherit. Henry's sincerity has been called into question by historians and chroniclers from the time of the speech itself, but there is no real reason to doubt his claims. One of the key characteristics of the Tudors, and Henry in particular, was their devotion to the veneer of legality for their acts. The question of legitimacy hung over the Tudors, and Henry was obsessed by the idea of a legitimate male heir and of avoiding a return to the bloodshed of the civil wars. By this point, of course, Henry had also been convinced that his marriage to Catherine was entirely illegitimate, so he has no real reason to dissemble with regard to Catherine's merits and his feelings toward her.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe kings oration to his subiects.Our trustie and welbeloued subiectes, both you of the nobilitie and you of the meaner sorte, it is not vnknowē to you how that we, both by Gods prouision and true and lawfull inheritaunce, haue reigned ouer this realme of England, almost the terme of xx. yeares. Duryng which tyme, we haue so ordered vs, thanked be God, that no outward enemye hath oppressed you, nor taken any thyng from vs, nor we haue inuaded no realme, but we haue had victorye and honour, so that we thinke that you nor none of your predecessours neuer liued more quietly, more wealthely, nor in more estimation vnder any of our noble progenitours. But when we remember our mortalitie and that we must dye, then we thinke that all our doinges in our life tyme, are clearely defaced, and worthy of no memorye, if we leaue you in trouble at the tyme of our death. For if our true heyre be not knowen at the time of our death, see what mischiefe and trouble shall succeede to you and to your children. The experience therof some of you haue seene after the death of our noble grādfather, K. Edward. 4. & some haue heard what mischiefe & manslaughter cōtinued in this realme betwene the houses of Yorke & Lancaster: by the which dissension, thys realme was lyke to haue bene clearely destroyed.
[Back to Top]And although it hath pleased almightye God to send vs a fayre daughter of a noble woman, and of me begotten, to our great comforte and ioye, yet it hath bene tolde vs by diuerse great Clarkes, that neither she is our lawfull daughter, nor her mother our lawfull wife, but that we liue together abominablye and detestablye, in open adultrye: in somuch, that when our Ambassade was last in Fraunce, and motion was made that the Duke of Orleance shoulde marrye our sayd daughter, one of the chiefe Counsaillours to the French kyng sayd: It were well done, to know whether she bee the kyng of Englandes lawfull daughter or not, for well knowen it is, that he begotte her on his brothers wife, which is directly agaynst Gods lawe & hys precepte. Thynke you my Lordes, that these wordes touche not my bodye and soule? Thinke you that these doynges do not daylye and hourely trouble my conscience, & vexe my spirites? Yes we doubt not, but and if it were your owne cause, euery man would seeke remedye, when the perill of your soule, and the losse of your enheritaunce is openly layd to you. For thys onely cause, I proteste before God, and in the worde of a prince, I haue asked counsell of the greatest Clerkes in Christendome, and for this cause I haue sent for this Legate, as a man indifferent onely to knowe the truth, and so to setle my conscience, and for none other cause, as God can iudge.
[Back to Top]And as touching the Queene, if it bee adiudged by the law of God that she is my lawful wife, there was neuer thyng more pleasaunt nor more acceptable to me in my life, both for the discharge and clearyng of my conscience, and also for the good qualities and conditions the whiche I know to be in her. For I assure you all, that beside her noble parentage of the whiche she is discended (as you well know) she is a woman of most gentlenes, of most humilitie and buxumnes, yea & of all good qualities apperteynyng to nobilitie, she is without comparison, as I this xx. yeares, almost haue had the true experiment: so that if I were to mary agayne, if the mariage might be good, I would surely chose her aboue all other women. But if it bee determined by iudgement that our Mariage was agaynst Gods law and clerely voyde, thē I shall not onely sorowe the departyng from so good a Lady and louyng companyon, but much more lament & bewayle my infortunate chaunce that I haue so long lyued in adultery to Gods great displeasure, and haue no true heyre of my body to inherite this realme. These bee the sores that vexe my mynde, these bee the panges that trouble my conscience, and for these greues I seke a remedy. Therfore I require of you all, as our trust and cōfidence is in you, to declare to our subiectes our mynde and entent, accordyng to our true meanyng, and desyre them to pray with vs that the very truth may be knowē for the discharge of our conscience & sauyng of our soule, and for the declaration hereof I haue assembled you together, and now you may depart.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe Legats talke with the Queene.
Ex Edw. Hallo.Shortly after this Oration of the kyng, wherewith he stirred the hartes of a number, then the ij. Legates, beyng requested of the kyng for discharge of hys conscience, to iudge and determine vppon the cause, went to the Queene
CloseFoxe's analysis of the reception of the oration, and the events that followed it was substantially changed in between the 1563 and the 1570 and later editions. In 1563, Foxe placed the emphasis on the Queen's reaction. As Foxe says in 1563, 'herepon word was sent not longer after to the Quene, by the cardinal, & certen other messengers'. In reality, delegations of the great and the good were sent to Queen Catherine a number of times over the course of the marriage trial, with the objective of ending her obstructionism. The latest delegation (for which, see L&P, iv:iii, no.739), perhaps that one referred to here, consisted of Thomas Howard (Duke of Norfolk), Edward Lee and Richard Sampson, Longland and Stokesley, and they addressed theology, canon law and civil political issues. The cardinal referred to here is Cardinal Lorenzo (var: 'Lawrence') Campeggio (who was also for a time Cardinal Protector of England and bishop of Salisbury). The legatine trial at Blackfriars (31 May - 23 July 1529) over which Campeggio presided with Wolsey, was actually his second legatine appearance in England, having been sent in 1518 as Leo X's nuncio (to secure men and funding for a projected crusade). Campeggio was deprived of Salisbury via act of parliament (11 March 1535) (see Edward V Cardinal, Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio, Legate to the Courts of Henry VIII and Charles V (Boston, 1935)].
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CloseIn the 1563 edition, Foxe replicated in extenso the speech supposedly given in reply by Queen Catherine, which had appeared in Edward Hall's chronicle, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre & York (London, 1547), fols.180B-81A. There is some question over whether she actually made it at all. Catherine claims that she was unaware of the king's doubts; either she had been kept in the dark about young Henry's protest or his doubts and confessions of 1518, or her Spanish servants had not been paying attention. She makes the valid point that some theologians who were now raising objections to the marriage had accepted it at the time. One such was William Warham; another was Richard Fox, the aged bishop of Winchester. Former servants and courtiers had been trotted out at the tribunals to speak on events of twenty years' earlier and pick over the bones of ill or half-remembered statements. She refers tellingly to the dispensation of Julius II (dated 26 December 1503). She reserved her strongest statements, however, for Cardinal Wolsey, convinced that he was behind the divorce issue. In 1515 Leo X had created Wolsey a cardinal and he hoped to negotiate this, and English diplomatic ties with the empire after 1519, into his own election as pope. Charles V, however, supported his tutor (Adrian Dedel or Adrian Florenszoon Boeyens) as Pope Adrian VI and later, Giulio di Giuliano de'Medici (as Clement VII), for which Wolsey never forgave him. Later, in the aftermath of the imperial troops sacking of Rome (6 May 1527), Wolsey had conceived a scheme by which he would be appointed (by the French cardinals) as vice-pope for the duration of the pope's captivity. Charles V once again foiled his efforts by allowing Clement to escape captivity. Catherine was convinced that Wolsey was pursuing his grudge against her (as the aunt of the emperor he could not touch), which may indeed have been a fair assessment of Wolsey's ways of behaving.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaQueene Katherines aūswer to the Cardinalls.Alas my Lordes (said she) is it now a questiō whether I bee the kynges lawfull wife or no, when I haue bene maryed to hym almost. xx. yeares, & in the meane season neuer question was made before? Diuers Prelates yet beyng alyue and Lordes also & priuye counsailors with the kyng at that tyme, then adiuged our Mariage lawfull and honest, and now to say it is detestable and abhominable, I thinke it great maruell: and in especiall whē I consider what a wise Prince the kynges father was, and also the loue and naturall affection that kyng Fernando my father bare vnto me. I thinke in my selfe that neither of our fathers were so vncircumspect, so vnwise, and of so small imaginatiō, but they foresaw what might folow of our mariage, & in especiall the kyng my father sent to the Court of Rome, & there after long suite, with great coste & charge, obteined a licence & dispēsation, that I beyng the one brothers wife and peraduenture carnally knowen, might without scrupule of conscience,
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