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slovenly, with occasional interlineations, and but little attention to orthography or grammar. There was then no uniform system of punctuation: the full stop occurs after some of the words; slanting strokes are frequent, but neither placed so as to aid the sense, or mark the regular divisions of the sentences. They are nearly all signed " Henry the King," which is expressed in two ciphers. The first was written after Anna Boleyn's retirement from court in consequence of the popular clamor arising from the expectation of Campeggio, which was some time in May (1528), the last after his arrival at Paris, which was late in the September following. They were among the Mss. which the French carried away to Paris from the Vatican, but after the peace were restored with other spoliations."

In them is involved one of the most important events in the annals of this country- the recovered independence of its religious establishment.

In offering them to the public, an historical introduction has been deemed requisite; and though little novelty was to be expected in a path so repeatedly traced, yet the wish to adduce no fact without all attainable proof, has occasioned a research, by which errors have been discovered, that having had their commencement in insufficiency and prejudice, indolence and inadvertency have perpetuated. In addition to our national stores of information, assiduity has also been rewarded by examining the epistolary correspondence of distinguished foreigners, who were either individually interested or officially employed in the affairs of the period they refer to, and in which they have delivered to posterity an estimate of their own views and characters. Should these adventitious accompaniments injudiciously overpower the text, it is hoped the reader will attribute that objection to the cause above expressed.

I The Italians, and particularly those of the sixteenth century, have ever been disposed to collect and publish the letters of their more distinguished countrymen. These have issued from the presses of their different capitals, though from none more abundantly than Venice. Of these some are trifling and verbose; others are elegant and important. The most correct list of them is to be found in the Biblioteca of Fontanini, which, illustrated by his notes and the commentaries of Apostolo Zeno, occupy more than 80 closely printed pages in quarto. Those which have proved most useful on the present occasion, and of which specimens are given in the appendix, are the "Lettere di Principi,” &c. (T. 3. Venet. 1573. 4to.), written between the years 1468 and 1571, the title of which expresses the rank of the personages between whom they passed; and the "Lettere edici nomini illustri," (Venet. 1564, duod.) in which are found the private instructions from Rome to Cardinal Campeggio, while on his journey to England. This collection was made by the celebrated Dionigi Atanagi, a citizen of Cagli by birth, and of Rome by privilege, (Mazzuchelli Scrit, d'Italia). They were

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.

It was not till late in the 15th century that the powers of Europe embraced that extensive system of policy, the due counterpoise of which has in subsequent times received the appellation of the balance of power. This confederacy, so diversified in its effects, so salutary in its influence, has proved the greatest source of national prosperity, of individual ease and security, and hence have resulted those mild and civilised manners, which so happily distinguish modern Europe.

Consistently with this plan, our Henry the VII. (1490), engaged in a strict alliance with Ferdinand King of Spain, for the protection of their respective territories, by repressing the formidable power of France. By an article of the treaty, Catherine, the fourth daughter of Ferdinand, then eight years old, was affianced to Arthur, Prince of Wales, who was born 1486. From the youth of the parties, the marriage was for some years delayed, and when it took place (Nov. 14, 1501,) the union was not propitious, for Arthur sickened and died a few months after (April 2, 1502). The same motives which prescribed the alliance urged the continuance of it; and Henry, now Prince of Wales, and 12 years of age, was affianced to his sister-in-law. To silence doubts that might arise as to the legality of a marriage contracted within the degrees prohibited, a dispensation was obtained from the Pope (1503), though in opposition to the opinion of many of the Cardinals.1 The reigning pontiff, (Julius the 2d) however, who in sagacity and address yielded to no contemporary prince, had his designs on Henry in the wars then begun in Italy, and made no great difficulty to grant it. (Herbert, p. 4. Acta Regia p. 332.) But whether from his own conviction or some other cause, an aversion from the match seems to have taken deep root in the mind of the King. From the Apomaxis of Moryson we learn, that Henry, falling into infirm health, and being further affected by the death of his Queen (1503), considered these visitations as a judgment from heaven, for having married his son to his brother's widow...

published at Rome in octavo, 1554, and licensed by the reigning pontiff, who forbade their being printed elsewhere-a prohibition, however, not attended to, for they were reprinted at Venice in the course of the same year, and with additions repeatedly afterwards.

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Catherine in her speech to the Legate and Wolsey, said her father obtained the dispensation “after a long suit and great cost and charge." (Hall, fol. 180.)

As his danger increased, he convened the prince and several of his nobles to attend him, to whom he imparted his scruples. The son renounced the contract, and a deed was prepared, expressing this determination. It was formally signed, sealed, and witnessed by those present. The material part of Moryson's assertion is corroborated by the following circumstance. During the sitting of the legantine court (1529), a deed was produced, which in substance agreed with that now described, and was apparently the same. Of its authenticity no doubt can be entertained; for Bishop West, who was one of the witnesses, was present, and acknowledged his own signature; and Warham, in his examination declared, that he believed such a protestation was made.

Upon the demise of Henry (April 22, 1509), Ferdinand invested his ambassador with powers to renew the treaty of alliance made with the late King, and to demand the confirmation of the article relative to the marriage of his daughter with prince Henry, now King of England. The Spanish minister having presented his memorial, it was deliberated in council whether the King ought to confirm his marriage with Catherine? Opinions were divided. Those of two of the prelates present comprise the arguments on both sides. Warham boldly declared, that the union was against the laws of God, and therefore indispensable by human authority; while Fox, Bishop of Winchester, insisted on the boundless power of the vicar of Christ; affirming, that no person on earth could limit, or even inquire into the papal authority. The arguments of the latter, the state of public affairs, and the King's particular interest, preponderated. Henry and Catherine were married June 3d, 1509, and crowned the 23d of the same month. Whatever might be the private sentiments of the young King, or whatever scruples he might harbour in his bosom, they were concealed from the world. The injunctions of his father, and the deed executed in compliance with them, were never urged in his extenuation, when the lawfulness of his marriage was publicly discussed. During that interval he never treated the queen with unkindness, but, on the contrary, with every mark of dignified and respectful attention. Several children were the issue of the union, all of whom died young, except Mary (born 1516), who afterwards succeeded to the crown of England. They lived constantly together till after the opening of the legantine court.

This was the situation of the king's family; and from the improbability of further issue, Mary was created princess of Wales'—a

This fact, though generally asserted, will admit of doubt. Heylin, in his "Help to English History," has this passage-" Edward the IId, who had been summoned by his father to the parliament by the name of Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, summoned his eldest son (Edw. III.) by no

presumption that the repudiation of Catherine was not then in contemplation.

Ferdinand died Jan. 1516, and was succeeded by his grandson Charles, the fifth of that name. The first public exception to the lawfulness of Henry's marriage seems to have originated with Charles himself. By the 4th article of the treaty of Windsor, so denominated from having been signed there in 1522, (Charles being in England that year) it was stipulated that the Emperor should espouse the Princess Mary, when marriageable. Pending this treaty, the Scots (December, 1524) solicited Mary for the consort of their King, but Charles interposing, asserted a prior claim;-(Herbert p. 63) a proof that he then considered this article in force, and that the objection of illegitimate birth, which he urged some years after, was not the real cause.

The battle of Pavia (February 1525) was fatal to the French; their King was taken prisoner; the politics of Europe were thereby changed, and Francis became the future ally of England.

2

In March an embassy was sent from England to Spain, in which the completion of the 4th article of the treaty of Windsor above-mentioned, was demanded; when Charles' council raised objections to the incestuous birth of Mary (Hall 149)-excuses were made for preferring Isabella, the Infanta of Portugal, whom Charles espoused early in the following year; and our historians remark, that he could not be greatly scandalized by Henry's other name than Earl of Chester and Flint. Edward III. first used the ceremony of creation by letters patent and investiture, which has since continued; and for want of which, Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, however in their turns they may have been called Princes and Princesses of Wales, were not truly such.

These which were so created, either by parliamentary writ or special charter, are these that follow-Among these, the first after 1504 was Henry Tuther, Duke of York, the second son of Henry VII., afterwards King Henry VIII.; after him was Henry Frederick Stuart, eldest son of James the I., monarch of Great Britain, 1610. (Wright's edition, 8vo. 1773.)

This reverse produced that league of which Henry, in vain, was solicited to be the protector; it was dignified by the name of Holy, because the Pope was at the head of it. Original correspondence relating to this confederacy and the previous steps to it, are to be found among the "Lettere di Principi," and comprise great part of the first and second volumes of that collection; those between Charles and Clement, in which they mutually develop their own characters, are very interesting. The Papal nuntii in England were, Ugo di Gambara, his prothonotary, and Giovanni Battista Sanga, one of his secretaries; their commission is dated September 18th, 1526.-(Acta Regia, p. 382.) There are several letters addressed to them while they were in this country.-Ibid.

2 Sir Francis Pointz, Knight, also was, on the 10th of this month delegated to Spain, where Dr. Edward Lee, and Hierome, Bishop of Worcester, (lately come from Rome) were residents on the part of our King.(Herbert, p. 83.)

divorce, since to evade a solemn engagement no longer his interest to observe, he married his own niece.

On the 5th of May, 1527, Rome was captured by the Imperialists, and the Pope imprisoned in the Castle of St. Angelo ;" and Charles himself, alarmed by a measure which struck the Christian world with horror, addressed the Princes of Europe, with the vain hope of exculpating himself in their opinion. On the 4th of July following, Wolsey, as ambassador to France,2 crossed the channel with a splendid train. He was met at Amiens by Francis, who received him with marks of the highest

⚫ Charles had frequently expressed an inclination to transport the Pope into Spain; but the fear of giving new offence to all Christendom, and filling his own subjects with horror, obliged him to forego that satisfaction. (Robertson, Charles V. v. iii. p. 8.) That Charles conceived such plan appears from an extract of a letter written by himself, dated August 3, 1527. (Lettere di Principi, T. i. p. 111.) The merit he assumed, of setting the Pope at liberty, while he was yet a prisoner, is expressed in the Appendix, No. 8.

2

Supposed to have been contrived by the Reforming party, to remove the Cardinal to a distance from the King." My Lord had with him such of the lordes and bishoppes, and other worthy persons as were not of the council or conspiracy." (Cavendish, p. 380.) His principal attendants are detailed in Grove, (V. iv. p. 131.) "After the Kings delivery out of the Emperors bondage, and his sons received in hostage for the Emperors and the King, our sovereigne lordes security of all such demands and requests as should be demanded of the French King, as well by the Emperor as our sovereigne lorde, the cardinall lamenting the French Kings calamity; and the Popes great adversity, who yet remained in the castle Angell, either as a prisoner or else for his defence against his enemies, travailed all that he could with the King and his council to take some order for the quietness of them bothe. At laste as ye have hearde here before, how divers of the great estates and lordes of the council with my Lady Anne lay but in await to espy a convenient time and occasion to take the cardinall in a brake, they thought it now a necessary time to cause him to take upon him the Kings commission to travell beyond the seas in this matter, and by his high wit to compass a perfect peace among these great princes and potentates. Their intent was none other, but, if they might, to get him from the King out of the realme; then might they sufficiently adventure by the help of their chief mistress, to deprave him unto the kings highness, and so in his absence to bring him in displeasure with the king, or at least to be of less estimation." These intrigues, in which the Cardinal bore so large a part, did not redound to the glory of his country. Our merry neighbours even then had begun to make our diplomatic inferiority the subject of their sport and ridicule. William Tindall, in his Practice of Popish Prelates, referring to these events, tells us, "The Frenchmen of late dayes made a play or disguising at Paris, in which the Emperor daunced with the Pope and the French King, and weried them, the King of England sitting on a hye bench, and looking on. And when it was asked why he daunced not, it was answered, that he sate there, but to pay the minstrels their wages only: as who should say, wee paid for all men's dauncing." (Tindall's Works, p. 375. A. O. 1572. Cavendish's Life of Wolsey and note. Eccles. Biography, V. i. p. 379.)

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