Great Harry by Erickson Carolly 1943-

Author:Erickson, Carolly, 1943-
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Henry VIII, King of England, 1491-1547
Publisher: New York : Summit Books
Published: 1980-12-13T05:00:00+00:00

sacrament he felt more secure, and announced himself to be "armed towards God and the world."

He drew even more security from the unsullied state of his conscience, believing that its purity ensured him God's favor. In the letters he wrote the word conscience appeared again and again: he would not "clog the conscience" of his correspondent; he forbore to "distain his honor or conscience"; "good conscience" must rule, "conscience can be best judge." The "exoneration of conscience before God" he held to be of pre-eminent importance, conscience being, in his view, the instrument by which people accounted for themselves in God's eyes.*®

His own conscience could not have been more clear. He had begun to compose a book on the subject of his invalid marriage, and spent his evenings poring over theological volumes and extracting texts to support his position. The work went well. "I am right well comforted," he said, "in so much that my book maketh substantially for my matter." Probably Henry expected his treatise to have the same impact as his book against Luther; certainly he expected it to offset the halfhearted response his diplomats had received from the pope in Rome. Some nights he devoted as much as four hours to this labor, and the more writing and reading he did the more entrenched his view of the issues became. By August the king was so committed to his cause, the French ambassador Du Bellay declared, "that none but God can get him out of it."*^

One at least tried. Wolsey was far from sanguine about the eventual outcome of the nullity suit. With shrewdness acquired over many years of skilled diplomacy he assessed Pope Clement's position and concluded, rightly, that no definite answer was likely to be forthcoming—at least not in the near future. The king was bound to be disappointed, and his disappointment might be turned to rage by Wolsey's enemies. The cardinal tried to make his master see what he saw, and to retreat from his position. But Henry only "used terrible language" to Wolsey and went on with his book, leaving Wolsey anxious and distraught. Should the king's suit turn out as he expected he would bear much of the blame. It would take "a terrible alchemy and dexterity," he told Du Bellay, to overcome the assaults of those ranged against him.*^

As the summer advanced the sweat receded, until by the end of August "little or nothing was heard thereof in any place." Henry and Anne were apart once again—a nod to discretion in honor of the coming of the papal legate Campeggio who, the lovers hoped, would clear the way for their union. Henry sent Anne news of Campeggio's progress on the long journey from Rome. "The legate which we most desire arrived at Paris on Sunday or Monday last past," he wrote, "so that I trust by the next Monday to hear of his arrival in Calais; and then I trust within a while to enjoy that which I have so longed for, to God's pleasure, and our both comforts.

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