e was married to Henry at Hampton
Court.[1134] Catherine was small in stature, and appears to have made
little impression by her beauty; but her character was beyond
reproach, and she exercised a wholesome influence on Henry during his
closing years. Her task can have been no light one, but her tact
overcame all difficulties. She nursed the King with great devotion,
and succeeded to some extent in mitigating the violence of his (p. 411)
temper. She intervened to save victims from the penalties of the
Act of Six Articles; reconciled Elizabeth with her father; and was
regarded with affection by both Henry's daughters. Suspicions of her
orthodoxy and a theological dispute she once had with the King are
said to have given rise to a reactionary plot against her.[1135] "A
good hearing it is," Henry is reported as saying, "when women become
such clerks; and a thing much to my comfort to come in mine old days
to be taught by my wife!" Catherine explained that her remarks were
only intended to "minister talk," and that it would be unbecoming in
her to assert opinions contrary to those of her lord. "Is it so,
sweetheart?" said Henry; "then are we perfect friends;" and when Lord
Chancellor Wriothesley came to arrest her, he was, we are told, abused
by the King as a knave, a beast and a fool.

[Footnote 1134: _D.N.B._, ix., 309.]

[Footnote 1135: Foxe, ed. Townsend, v., 553-61.]

* * * * *

The winter of 1543-44 and the following spring were spent in preparations
for war on two fronts.[1136] The punishment of the Scots for repudiating
their engagements to England was entrusted to the skilful hands of
Henry's brother-in-law, the Earl of Hertford; while the King himself
was to renew the martial exploits of his youth by crossing the Channel
and leading an army in person against the French King. The Emperor was
to invade France from the north-east; the two monarchs were then to
effect a junction and march on Paris. There is, however, no instance
in the first half of the sixteenth century of two sovereigns (p. 412)
heartily combining to secure any one object whatever. Charles and
Henry both wanted to extract concessions from Francis, but the
concessions were very different, and neither monarch cared much for
those which the other demanded. Henry's ultimate end related to
Scotland, Charles's to Milan and the Lutherans. The Emperor sought to
make Francis re