s known to favour the
Queen. He admitted under Wolsey's pressure that she had sent to him,
though he pretended not to know why, and "greatly blamed the Queen, and
thought that if he might speak to her he might bring her to submission."
But Wolsey considered this would be dangerous, and bade the bishop stay
where he was. And so, with the iniquitous plot temporarily shelved by the
unforeseen opposition, personal and political, Wolsey and his great train,
more splendid than that of any king, went on his way to Dover, and to
Amiens, whilst in his absence that happened in England which in due time
brought all his dignity and pride to dust and ashes.

CHAPTER IV

1527-1530

KATHARINE AND ANNE--THE DIVORCE

Enough has been said in the aforegoing pages to show that Henry was no
more a model of marital fidelity than other contemporary monarchs. It was
not to be expected that he should be. The marriages of such men were
usually prompted by political reasons alone; and for the indulgence of
affairs of the heart kings were forced to look elsewhere than towards the
princesses they had taken in fulfilment of treaties. Mary, the younger
daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and wife of William Carey, was the King's
mistress for some years after her marriage in 1521, with the result that
her father had received many rich grants from the crown; and in 1525 was
created Lord Rochford. As treasurer of the household Lord Rochford was
much at Court, and his relationship with the Howards, St. Legers, and
other great families through his marriage with Lady Elizabeth, daughter of
the Duke of Norfolk, naturally allied him with the party of nobles whose
traditions ran counter to those of the bureaucrats in Henry's Council. His
elder daughter Anne, who was born early in 1503, probably at Hever Castle
in Kent,[44] had been carefully educated in the learning and
accomplishments considered necessary for a lady of birth at Court, and she
accompanied Mary Tudor to France in 1514 for her fleeting marriage with
the valetudinarian Louis XII., related in an earlier chapter.[45] On Queen
Mary's return to England a few months afterwards with her second husband,
Charles Brandon, the youthful Anne Boleyn remained to complete her courtly
education in France, under the care of the new Queen of France, Claude,
first wife of Francis I.

When the alliance of the Emperor and England was negotiated in 1521, and
war with France threatened, Anne was recalled home;