Six Wives by David Starkey

Author:David Starkey
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Cranmer, it was clear, was right. The Boleyns as his patrons were right. There was no alternative. And this in turn meant that the canvass of university opinion became more important than ever.

* * *

The original intention had been for Wiltshire to remain in Italy till the canvass was complete: he would then present the 'determinations' to the Pope, who would stand confounded; the Pope might even yield . . .

Bologna challenged this cosy assumption. Now Wiltshire was instructed to return to France, to hold a watching brief on the political situation there. To replace him, Cranmer was given the day-to-day charge of the Italian canvass. He proved exceptionally successful, and, within a few months, favourable verdicts had been obtained from the four leading universities: Padua, Pavia, Ferrara and Bologna. This is the more remarkable since the English were operating in 'enemy' territory. It was 'serious', the Imperial ambassador to Venice reported, that the faculty in the Pope's own city of Bologna should find for Henry, since 'they are subjects of the Pope'. But find they did. The means used were not pretty – on either side. English money was met with Imperial and Papal threats. Academics intrigued, deceived and shamelessly changed their minds. Inevitably, there were crises, in which Richard Croke, the most active and excitable English agent, appealed beyond Cranmer and invoked the Boleyns themselves. 'Advertise my Lord [of Wiltshire] or the King or else all will be lost', he wrote in one letter. 'I pray you', he implored Cranmer in another, 'to move my Lord of Wiltshire and my Lady Boleyn to move the King to be good to me, and that I may have money and authority of an ambassador.' Then his task would be easy.33

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