gle against Rome, or be driven by fear of war to take a conciliatory
course, and in any of these cases he must needs pay for France's aid; but
now that his divorce and remarriage were as valid as a duly authorised
Archbishop could make them, the utility of Anne as an aid to French
foreign policy disappeared. The actual marriage therefore deprived her of
the sympathies of the French party in the English Court, which had
hitherto sided with her, and the effects were immediately seen in the
attitude of Francis.

Before Norfolk could reach the south of France news came to him that the
Pope, coerced by the Emperor, had issued a brief declaring all of Henry's
proceedings in England to be nullified and he and his abettors
excommunicated, unless of his own accord he restored things to their
former condition before September.[105] It was plain, therefore, that any
attempt at the coming interview to reconcile Clement with Henry's action
would be fruitless. Norfolk found Francis also much cooler than before,
and sent back his nephew Rochford post haste to England to beg the King's
instructions. He arrived at Court in early August, at a time when Henry's
perplexity was at its height. He had learnt of the determination of
Francis to greet the Pope and carry through the marriage between the Duke
of Orleans and Katharine de Medici, whether the King of England's demands
were satisfied by Clement or not. He now knew that the dreaded sentence of
excommunication pended over him and his instruments. If he had been left
to his own weakness he would probably have given way, or at least have
sought compromise. If Norfolk had been at his elbow, the old aristocratic
English party might also have stayed the King's hand. But Cromwell, bold
and astute, and Anne, with the powerful lever of her unborn child, which
might be a son, knew well that they had gone too far to return, and that
defiance of the Papacy was the only road open to them. Already at the end
of June Henry had gone as far as to threaten an appeal from the Pope to
the General Council of the Church, the meeting of which was then being
discussed; but now that he knew that Francis was failing him, and the Pope
had finally cast down the gage, he took the next great step which led to
England's separation from Rome. Norfolk was recalled, and Gardiner
accredited to Francis only with a watching brief during the Papal
interview at Nice, whilst Henry's ambassadors in Rome were recalled, and
Engl