f Essex and Great Chamberlain of
England in the following week.

But the struggle in the Council, and around the King, continued unabated.
Henry was warned by Cromwell's enemies of the danger of allowing religious
freedom to be carried too far, and of thus giving the Catholic powers an
excuse for executing the Pope's decree of deprivation against him. He was
reminded that the Emperor and Francis were still friends, that the latter
was suspiciously preparing for war, and that Henry's brother-in-law the
Duke of Cleves' quarrel with the Emperor might drag England into war for
the sake of a beggarly German dukedom of no importance or value to her. On
the other hand, Cromwell would point out to Henry the disobedience and
insolence of the Catholics who questioned his spiritual supremacy, and
cause Churchmen who advocated a reconciliation with Rome to be imprisoned.
Clearly such a position could not continue indefinitely, and Norfolk
anticipated Cromwell by playing the final trump card--that of arousing
Henry's personal fears. The word treason and a hint that anything could be
intended against his person always brought Henry to heel. What the exact
accusation against Cromwell was no one knows, though it was whispered at
the time that the nobles had told Henry that Cromwell had amassed great
stores of money and arms, and maintained a vast number of dependants (1500
men, it was asserted, wore his livery), with a sinister object; some said
to marry the Princess Mary and make himself King; and that he had received
a great bribe from the Duke of Cleves and the Protestants to bring about
the marriage of Anne. Others said that he had boasted that he was to
receive a crown abroad from a foreign potentate (_i.e._, the Emperor), and
that he had talked of defending the new doctrines at the sword's
point.[207] No such accusations, however, are on official record; and
there is no doubt that the real reason for his arrest was the animosity of
the aristocratic and Catholic party against him, acting upon the King's
fears and his desire to get rid of Anne of Cleves.

On the 9th June Parliament was still sitting, discussing the religious
question with a view to the settlement of some uniform doctrine. The Lords
of the Council left the Chamber to go across to Whitehall to dinner before
midday; and as they wended their way across the great courtyard of
Westminster a high wind carried away Cromwell's flat cap from his head. It
was the custom when