d and
his army defeated. The papal secretary wrote, "Decide nothing, for
the Emperor is victorious, and we cannot afford to provoke him." There
was nothing more to be done.

While the Court was sitting in London, the Pope made his peace with
Charles; Catharine appealed to him from his legates in England, and he
was obliged to call the case before him. The queen's friends demanded
the strongest measures, and Aleander wrote that if you resisted Henry
VIII he became as gentle as a lamb. Such persuasions did not
influence the Pope, who put off action as long as he could, knowing
that a breach would inevitably follow. The French Chancellor warned
him that he would be known to be acting under pressure of the Emperor,
that the censure of Henry would be resented as the victory of Charles.
The French defeat in Italy was the ruin of Wolsey, who had caused the
breach with Spain without any advantage. A year later, when Campeggio
prorogued the Legatine Court, and the divorce had to be given up, he
was dismissed.

One further step had to be taken before settling the matter in
England. By advice of a Cambridge Don the universities were
consulted. They gave various replies, but those that helped the king
were not convincing, for they cost him more than L100,000 and he
obliged the clergy to give him that sum. As it was obvious for what
purpose Henry was arming himself with these opinions, Charles V
conceived serious scruples, and thought for a moment that to give way
might be the lesser evil. At the same time he sent 450,000 ducats to
Rome to facilitate matters; for the divorce was the one pending
question which delayed the conclusion of that treaty of Barcelona
which laid Italy for centuries at the feet of Spain. The uncertainty
in the policy of Rome as the power of the Emperor rose and fell, the
open avowal that so much depended on political considerations, besides
the strange proposal in respect of two wives, led to a belief in
England that the cause was lost by the pressure of interest and fear,
not by principle. Therefore, the establishment of the Spanish
dominion over Italy was quickly followed by the rejection of papal
supremacy in favour of the English state. The bishops themselves were
impressed with the danger of allowing the spiritual power to be
influenced through the temporal power by an enemy of this country, so
that they made no resistance. England broke with the Papacy on these,
and not on strictly relig