ssed himself) the decision of the proceedings with
the Pope and with the Holy See--for he made a distinction between
them. The Pope inquired of him what, after this had ensued, would then
be done to carry it out. The Emperor answered, his Holiness should do
what justice pledged him to do, what he could not omit if he would
fulfil his duty to God and the world, and maintain his own importance;
this must come first, the Church must use all its own means before it
called in the temporal arm: but if the matter came to that point, he
would not fail to do his part; to declare himself explicitly
beforehand might excite religious scruples.[120] And however much the
policy of the Pope might waver, there could be no doubt about the
decision of the Rota. On the 23 March 1534 one of the auditors,
Simonetta, bishop of Pesaro, made a statement on the subject in the
consistory of the cardinals: there were only three among them who
demanded a further delay: all the rest joined without any more
consideration in the decision that Henry's marriage with Catharine was
perfectly lawful, and their children legitimate and possessed of full
rights. The Imperialists held this to be a great victory, they made
the city ring with their cries of 'the Empire and Spain':[121] yet
even then the French did not give up the hope of bringing the Pope to
another mind. But meanwhile in England the last steps were already
taken.

King Henry reckons it as honourable to himself that he had not yielded
to the offer of the Roman Court, made to him indirectly, to decide in
his favour, but had set himself against its usurped jurisdiction,
without being influenced by the proposal,[122] not for himself alone
but in the interest of all kings. Yet once more had he laid the
question before learned ecclesiastics, whether the Pope of Rome had
any authority in England by divine right; as the University of Oxford
declares, their theologians had searched for this through the books of
Holy Scripture and its most approved interpreters; they had compared
the places, conferred with each other on them and come at last to the
conclusion, to answer the King's question unreservedly in the
negative. The Cambridge scholars and both Convocations declared
themselves in the same sense. On this the Parliament had no scruple in
abrogating piece by piece the hierarchic-Romish order of things; it
was nothing but a revocable right which they had hitherto borne with.
The Annates were transfer