erview with the King--Chapuys advises the King's
excommunication--Position of the English clergy--Statute of Provisors--The
clergy in a Praemunire--Remonstrances of the Nuncio--Despair of Catherine--
Her letter to the Pope--Henry prepares for war--The introduction of briefs
from Rome forbidden--Warnings given to the Spanish Ambassador and the
Nuncio.

The question whether the Pope had power to license marriages within the
forbidden degrees affected interests immeasurably wider than the domestic
difficulties of Henry VIII. Innumerable connections had been contracted,
in reliance upon Papal dispensations, the issue of which would be
illegitimate if the authority was declared to be insufficient. The Emperor
himself was immediately and personally concerned. Emmanuel of Portugal had
been three times married. His first wife was Isabel, daughter of Ferdinand
and Isabella, Catherine's sister and Charles's aunt. His second wife was
her sister Maria; his third, Charles's sister Eleanor. Charles's own
Empress was the child of the second of these marriages, and they had all
been contracted under dispensations from Rome. A sudden change of the law
or the recognition in a single instance that the Pope's authority in such
matters might be challenged would create universal disturbance; and it was
not for Catherine's sake alone that the Emperor had so peremptorily
resisted Henry's demand. The difficulty would have been evaded had
Catherine agreed to take the vows; and Henry himself, when Catherine
refused, had been so far conscious of the objection that he had hitherto
based his demand on the irregularity of the original Bull of Pope Julius.
Clement had said often that a way could be found if Charles would consent;
but Charles had not consented. In England, the marriage having been once
challenged, a decision of some kind was necessary to avoid a disputed
succession, and larger issues had now to be raised. The Emperor having
dismissed the English Embassy at Bologna with scant courtesy, the Pope, as
we have seen, had fallen back secretly on his old wish that Henry would
take the matter into his own hands, disregard the inhibition, and marry as
he pleased, without throwing the responsibility on himself. Henry,
however, after the assurances which the Pope had given him, was determined
that he should not escape in this way. He had gained or extorted a
favourable opinion from his own learned corporations. Francis had assisted
him to a simil