The History of England, Volume III Henry VIII Henry applies to the pope for a divorce.
by David Hume
That he might not shock the haughty claims of the pontiff, he resolved not to found the application on any general doubts concerning the papal power to permit marriage in the nearer degrees of consanguinity; but only to insist on particular grounds of nullity in the bull, which Julius had granted for the marriage of Henry and Catherine. It was a maxim in the court of Rome, that, if the pope be surprised into any concession, or grant any indulgence upon false suggestions, the bull may afterwards be annulled; and this pretence had usually been employed, wherever one pope had recalled any deed, executed by any of his predecessors. But Julius’s bull, when examined, afforded abundant matter of this kind; and any tribunal, favourable to Henry, needed not want a specious colour for gratifying him in his applications for a divorce. It was said in the preamble, that the bull had been granted upon his solicitation; though it was known, that, at that time, he was under twelve years of age: It was also affirmed, as another motive for the bull, that the marriage was requisite, in order to preserve peace between the two crowns; though it is certain, that there was not then any ground or appearance of quarrel between them. These false premises in Julius’s bull seemed to afford Clement a sufficient reason or pretence for annulling it, and granting Henry a dispensation for a second marriage.h
[The pope favourable.] But though the pretext for this indulgence had been less plausible, the pope was in such a situation, that he had the strongest motives to embrace every opportunity of gratifying the English monarch. He was then a prisoner in the hands of the emperor, and had no hopes of recovering his liberty on any reasonable terms, except by the efforts of the league, which Henry had formed with Francis and the Italian powers, in order to oppose the ambition of Charles. When the English Secretary, therefore, solicited him in private, he received a very favourable answer; and a dispensation was forthwith promised to be granted to his master.i Soon after, the march of a French army into Italy, under the command of Lautrec, obliged the Imperialists to restore Clement to his liberty; and he retired to Orvietto, where the Secretary, with Sir Gregory Caffali, the king’s resident at Rome, renewed their applications to him. They still found him full of high professions of friendship, gratitude, and attachment to the king; but not so prompt in granting his request as they expected. The emperor, who had got intelligence of Henry’s application to Rome, had exacted a promise from the pope, to take no steps in the affair before he communicated them to the Imperial ministers; and Clement, embarrassed by this promise, and still more overawed by the emperor’s forces in Italy, seemed willing to postpone those concessions desired of him by Henry. Importuned, however, by the English ministers, he at last put into their hands a commission to Wolsey, as legate, in conjunction with the archbishop of Canterbury, or any other English prelate, to examine the validity of the king’s marriage, and of Julius’s dispensation:k He also granted them a provisional dispensation for the king’s marriage with any other person; and promised to issue a decretal bull, annulling the marriage with Catherine. But he represented to them the dangerous consequences, which must ensue to him, if these concessions should come to the emperor’s knowledge; and he conjured them not to publish those papers, or make any further use of them, till his affairs were in such a situation as to secure his liberty and independance. And his secret advice was, whenever they should find the proper time for opening the scene, that they should prevent all opposition, by proceeding immediately to a conclusion, by declaring the marriage with Catherine invalid, and by Henry’s instantly espousing some other person. Nor would it be so difficult, he said, for himself to confirm these proceedings, after they were passed, as previously to render them valid, by his consent and authority.l
[1528.] When Henry received the commission and dispensation from his ambassadors, and was informed of the pope’s advice, he laid the whole before his ministers, and asked their opinion in so delicate a situation. The English counsellors considered the danger of proceeding in the manner pointed out to them. Should the pope refuse to ratify a deed, which he might justly call precipitate and irregular, and should he disavow the advice which he gave in so clandestine a manner, the king would find his second marriage totally invalidated; the children, which it might bring him, declared illegitimate; and his marriage with Catherine more firmly rivetted than ever.m And Henry’s apprehensions of the possibility, or even probability, of such an event, were much confirmed when he reflected on the character and situation of the sovereign pontiff.
Clement was a prince of excellent judgment, whenever his timidity, to which he was extremely subject, allowed him to make full use of those talents and that penetration with which he was endowed.n The captivity, and other misfortunes, which he had undergone, by entering into a league against Charles, had so affected his imagination, that he never afterwards exerted himself with vigour in any public measure; especially if the interest or inclination of that potentate stood in opposition to him. The Imperial forces were, at that time, powerful in Italy, and might return to the attack of Rome, which was still defenceless, and exposed to the same calamities with which it had already been overwhelmed. And besides these dangers, Clement fancied himself exposed to perils, which threatened, still more immediately, his person and his dignity.
[h] Collier, Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. p. 25. from the Cott. Lib. Vitel. p. 9.
