ng a mistress at his
Court. The Pope rationally answered that there was no evidence of mortal
sin. "It was the custom in England for Princes to converse intimately with
ladies. He could not prove that, in the present case, there was anything
worse, and the King might allege his conscience as a reason for not
treating the Queen as a husband."[187] Ortiz insisted that the devil had
got hold of the King in the shape of that woman, and unless the Pope
obliged him to put her away, the Pope would be damned. But it was an
absurdity to excommunicate the King and declare him to have forfeited his
crown when the original cause of the quarrel was still undecided. The King
might prove after all to be right, as modern law and custom has in fact
declared him to have been.

Charles himself felt that such a position could not be maintained. Henry
was evidently not frightened. There was no sign that the English people
were turning against him. If a bull of excommunication was issued, Charles
himself would be called on to execute it, and it was necessary to be sure
of his ground.

Ortiz raged on. "I told his Holiness," he wrote, "that if he did not
excommunicate the King I would stand up at the day of judgment and accuse
him before God."[188] Charles was obliged to tell Ortiz that he must be
more moderate. A further difficulty had risen in Rome itself. If the cause
was tried at Rome, was it to be tried before the Cardinals in consistory
or before the court of the Rota? The Cardinals were men of the world.
Micer Mai's opinion was that from the Rota only a judgment could be with
certainty expected in the Queen's favour.[189] "The winds are against us,"
he wrote to Secretary Covos; "what is done one day is undone the next. The
Cardinals will not stir, but quietly pocket the ducats which come from
the Emperor, and the larger sums which come from the English, who are
lavish in spending. The Pope will not break with France. He says he has so
many ties with the Kings of France and England that he must pretend
goodwill to the latter for fear they both break off from the Church, as
they have threatened to do."[190]

CHAPTER XII.

Henry advised to marry without waiting for sentence--Meeting of Henry and
Francis--Anne Boleyn present at the interview--Value of Anne to the French
Court--Pressure on the Pope by the Agents of the Emperor--Complaints of
Catherine--Engagements of Francis--Action of Clement--The King
conditionally excommunicated