pe showed him proper respect he might retain
his lawful authority, "otherwise he knew what he would himself do."[146]

The last words were explained in another letter in which Chapuys said that
the Lady Anne was supporting the Lutherans. They had been treated to
prison and stake while More had held the seals. On More's retirement they
were now to have an easier time of it. Between them and the King there was
the link of a common enemy in the Pope, and the King was showing a
disposition to protect them. The revival of the Praemunire created
embarrassments of many kinds. The Pope had officials of his own in
England and Ireland, whom he appointed himself, and could not realise the
extent of the change which he had brought on. It is amusing to find him in
the midst of the storm peacefully soliciting Henry for help against the
Turks, and the Nuncio paying friendly visits to the palace. Henry told him
that he had made a final appeal to Rome and was waiting to see the result.
The Pope might excommunicate him if he pleased; he cared nothing for his
excommunication; the Emperor might, no doubt, hurt him; but he was not
sure that the Emperor desired to hurt him, or, if it came to that, he
could defend himself and the realm. Norfolk was equally decided. They
knew, he said, that the Queen and the Emperor were pressing the Pope for
sentence, but it was time lost. If the Pope issued ten thousand
excommunications, no notice would be taken of them. The Archbishop and not
the Pope was the lawful judge in English causes. Chapuys expressed a hope
that a day would come when the King would listen to his true friends
again, etc. "You will see before long," replied the Duke, "that the
Emperor will repent of not having consented to the divorce."[147]

In fact, the Emperor had begun to repent already, or, if not to repent,
yet to be perplexed with the addition which his action had brought upon
him to his many burdens. The Praemunire and the successful establishment of
the authority of the Crown over the clergy had startled all Europe. The
King and Parliament, it had been universally supposed, would yield before
a threat of excommunication. When it appeared that they were as careless
of the Pope's curses as Luther and the Elector of Saxony, the affair wore
another aspect. Even the Imperialist Cardinals in the Consistory came
round to the Pope's own view and wished to let the cause rest for two or
three years. Mai feared that such a course might l