ven. This, however, was a slow process, and of
doubtful efficacy after all; because, whilst the final decision on the
divorce lay with the Pope, the opinions of jurists and Universities, even
if they had been generally favourable to Henry, instead of the reverse,
could have had ultimately no authoritative effect.

Henry began to grow restive by the end of 1530. All his life he had seemed
to have his own way in everything, and here he found himself and his most
ardent wishes unceremoniously set aside, as if of no account. Other kings
had obtained divorces easily enough from Rome: why not he? The answer that
would naturally occur to him was that his affairs were being ineptly
managed by his ministers, and he again yearned for Wolsey. The Cardinal
had in the meanwhile plucked up some of his old spirit at York, and was
still in close communication with the French, and even with the Emperor's
ambassador. Again Norfolk became alarmed, and a disclosure of the intrigue
gave an excuse for Wolsey's arrest. It was the last blow, and the heart of
the proud Cardinal broke on his way south to prison, leaving Henry with no
strong councillor but the fair-faced woman with the tight mouth who sat in
his wife's place. She was brave; "as fierce as a lioness," the Emperor's
ambassador wrote, and would "rather see the Queen hanged than recognise
her as her mistress"; but the party behind her was a divided one, and the
greatest powers in Europe were united against her. There was only one way
in which she might win, and that was by linking her cause with that of
successful opposition to the Papacy. The Pope was a small Italian prince
now slavishly subservient to the Emperor: Luther had defied a greater
Sovereign Pontiff than he; why should Clement, a degenerate scion of the
mercantile Medicis, dare to dictate to England and her King?

CHAPTER V

1530-1534

HENRY'S DEFIANCE--THE VICTORY OF ANNE

The deadlock with regard to the validity of the marriage could not
continue indefinitely, for the legitimacy of the Princess Mary having been
called into question, the matter now vitally touched the succession to the
English crown. Katharine was immovable. She would neither retire to a
convent nor accept a decision from an English tribunal, and, through her
proctor in Rome, she passionately pressed for a decision there in her
favour. Norfolk, at the end of his not very extensive mental resources,
could only wish that both Katharine and Anne