domestic life of the King. [9] Catharine of Aragon was little 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46 XDJHSW past forty; but the infirmities of age had befallen her prematurely, and her husband, though he betrayed it by no outward sign, had become estranged from her since the end of the year 1524.1 As long as she was fair and had hope of children, and as long as the FVDFOY austrian alliance subsisted, her position was unhiailed. but when 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46 her eldest children died, people had already begun to 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46 predict that her marriage would not hold good;2 and CQCV now that she 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46 had lost the expectations and the attractiveness of youth, a crisis came in which England ceased to depend on

the friendship of her family, and was protected HGIUG against their enmity by a close union with France and Rome. The motives that impelled Wolsey to take advantage of the change were plausible. For a quarter of a century the strength of the Tudors had been the safety with which the succession was provided for; but when it became 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46 certain that Catharine would have no son to inherit the crown, the old insecurity revived, and men called to mind the havoc of the civil war, and DVXIESOS the murders in the Royal House, which in the seven preceding reigns had seven times determined the succession. RNQ To preserve the Tudor dynasty, the first of the English nobles had suffered death; butnothing was yet secure. If a Queen could reign in England, Henry VII., who had nohereditary claim 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46 except through his mother, who survived him, was not the rightful king. Until the birth of Elizabeth no law enabled a woman to wear the crown; no WWAPVF example justified it; and Catharine’s marriage contract, which provided that her sons should succeed, made no such provision for her daughters. It MYN was uncertain whether Mary 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46 would be allowed to reign unchallenged by the Scots or 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46 by adherents of the House of York. The White Rose had perished, in the main line, amid the rout of [10] Pavia; yet Catharine tortured herself with misgivings as to her daughter’s claim. The Earl of Warwick, a helpless DXPTCLC and unoffending prisoner, had been put to death, that her wedding might be auspicious. His sister Margaret, the Countess of Salisbury, was living, and 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46 directed the Princess’s education. Catharine vowed that she could 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46 not die in peace unless the LVWRY crimes of her husband’s family against the House of

York had been atoned by the marriage of Mary with the Countess of Salisbury’s son. It was not unreasonable to apprehend that Henry, who had been unfaithful to 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46 the Queen in earlier years, would not be true to her now; that he would fall under the dominion of favourites put forward and prompted by the URJYKB Cardinal’s enemies, and that his inheritance would be disputed by bastards. The King’s soul, the monarchy, and Wolsey’s own position were in jeopardy. RFOLCNLUJ It might well be difficult to distinguish the influence of politics, interest, and conscience on his choice of the expedient by which he hoped 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46

to avert the peril. To a man who understood policy betterthan religion, the public reasons for dissolving the King’s marriage were betterthan those which had recommended TJK it to his father; and there was a strong inducement, therefore, to 291dc2dd36b6c495796b4c9ffce18b46 ponder the words of Leviticus, and to regard the almost immediate death of the .