e, it was more than adequately compensated by the answering
pressure which was brought to bear in England and in France on the opposite
side. Under the allied sovereigns, the royal authority was openly exercised
to compel such expressions of sentiment as the courts of London and Paris
desired; and the measures which were taken oblige us more than ever to
regret the inventive efforts of Cranmer's genius. For, in fact, these
manoeuvres, even if honestly executed, were all unrealities. The question
at issue was one of domestic English politics, and the metamorphosis of it
into a question of ecclesiastical law was a mere delusion. The discussion
was transferred to a false ground, and however the king may have chosen to
deceive himself, was not being tried upon its real merits. A complicated
difficulty vitally affecting the interests of a great nation, was laid for
solution before a body of persons incompetent to understand or decide it,
and the laity, with the alternative before them of civil war, and the
returning miseries of the preceding century, could brook no judgment which
did not answer to their wishes.

The French king, contemptuously indifferent to justice, submitted to be
guided by his interest; feeling it necessary for his safety to fan the
quarrel between Henry and the emperor, he resolved to encourage whatever
measures would make the breach between them irreparable. The reconciliation
of Herod and Pontius Pilate[270] was the subject of his worst alarm; and a
slight exercise of ecclesiastical tyranny was but a moderate price by which
to ensure himself against so dangerous a possibility.

Accordingly, at the beginning of June, the University of Paris was
instructed by royal letters to pronounce an opinion on the extent to which
the pope might grant dispensations for marriage within the forbidden
degrees. The letters were presented by the grand master, and the latter in
his address to the faculty, maintained at the outset an appearance of
impartiality. The doctors were required to decide according to their
conscience, having the fear of God before their eyes; and no open effort
was ventured to dictate the judgment which was to be delivered.

The majority of the doctors understood their duty and their position, and a
speedy resolution was anticipated, when a certain Dr. Beda, an energetic
Ultramontane, commenced an opposition. He said that, on a question which
touched the power of the pope, they were not at liberty