no parties to the political intrigue of which
Jane was probably the unconscious tool. She was carefully indoctrinated by
Anne's enemies, especially Sir Nicholas Carew, how she was to behave. She
must, above all, profess great devotion and friendship to the Princess
Mary, to assume a mien of rigid virtue and high principles which would be
likely to pique a sensual man like Henry without gratifying his passion
except by marriage. Many of the enemies of the French connection, which
included the great majority of the nation, looked with hope towards the
King's new infatuation as a means of luring back England to the comity of
Catholic nations and friendship with the Emperor; though there was still a
section, especially in the north of England, which believed that their
best interests would be served by an open rebellion in the interests of
Mary, supported from Flanders by her cousin the Emperor. All this was, of
course, well known to Cromwell. He had been one of the first to counsel
defiance of the Pope, but throughout he had been anxious to avoid an open
quarrel with the Emperor, or to pledge England too closely to French
interests; and now that even the French had turned against Anne, Cromwell
saw that, unless he himself was to be dragged down when she fell, he must
put the break hard down upon the religious policy that he had initiated,
and make common cause with Anne's enemies.

In a secret conference that he held with Chapuys at the Austin Friars,
which in future was to be his own mansion, Cromwell proposed a new
alliance between England and the Emperor, which would necessarily have to
be accompanied by some compromise with the Pope and the recognition of
Mary's legitimacy.[141] He assured the imperial ambassador that Norfolk,
Suffolk, and the rest of the nobles formerly attached to France were of
the same opinion as himself, and tried earnestly to convince his
interlocutor that he had no sympathy with Anne, whom he was ready to throw
overboard to save himself. When Charles received this news from his
ambassador, he took a somewhat tortuous but characteristic course. He was
willing to a great extent to let bygones be bygones, and to forget the
sufferings, and perhaps the murder, of his aunt Katharine, if Henry would
come to terms with the Papacy and legitimise the Princess Mary; but,
curiously enough, he preferred that Anne should remain at Henry's side,
instead of being repudiated. Her marriage, he reasoned, was obviou