History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of Elizabeth Volume III Part 31

"How say you, my lord?" the king said. "Is it not as I told you? Say what they will, she is nothing fair. The personage is well and seemly, but nothing else." Cromwell attempted faintly to soothe him by suggesting that she had "a queenly manner." The king agreed to that;[545] but the recommendation was insufficient to overcome the repugnance which he had conceived; and he could resolve on nothing. A frail fibre of hope offered itself in the story of the pre-contract with the Count of Lorraine. Henry caught at it to postpone the marriage for two days; and, on the Sunday morning he sent for the German suite who had attended the princess, and requested to see the papers connected with the Lorraine treaty. Astonished and unprepared, they requested time to consider. The following morning they had an interview with the council, when they stated that, never antic.i.p.ating any such demand, they could not possibly comply with it on the instant; but the engagement had been nothing. The instrument which they had brought with them declared the princess free from all ties whatever. If the king really required the whole body of the doc.u.ments, they would send to Cleves for them; but, in the meantime, they trusted he would not refuse to accept their solemn a.s.surances.

[Sidenote: Monday, January 5.]

[Sidenote: He exhibits his reluctance to the lady, but in vain.]

[Sidenote: He must put his neck into the yoke,]

[Sidenote: And marries Tuesday, January 6]

Cromwell carried the answer to Henry; and it was miserably unwelcome. "I have been ill-handled," he said. "If it were not that she is come so far into England, and for fear of making a ruffle in the world, and _driving her brother into the Emperor and French king's hands, now being together_, I would never have her. But now it is too far gone; wherefore I am sorry."[546] As a last pretext for hesitation, he sent to Anne herself to desire a protest from her that she was free from contracts; a proof of backwardness on the side of the king might, perhaps, provoke a corresponding unwillingness. But the impa.s.sive const.i.tution of the lady would have been proof against a stronger hint. The protest was drawn and signed with instant readiness. "Is there no remedy," Henry exclaimed, "but that I must needs, against my will, put my neck into this yoke?"

There was none. It was inevitable. The conference at Paris lay before him like a thunder-cloud. The divorce of Catherine and the crimes of Anne Boleyn had already created sufficient scandal in Europe. At such a moment he durst not pa.s.s an affront upon the Germans, which might drive them also into a compromise with his other enemies. He gathered up his resolution. As the thing was to be done, it might be done at once; delay would not make the bitter dose less unpalatable; and the day remained fixed for the date of its first postponement--Tuesday, the 6th of January. As he was preparing for the sacrifice, he called Cromwell to him in the chamber of presence: "My lord," he said openly, "if it were not to satisfy the world and my realm, I would not do that I must do this day for none earthly thing."

[Sidenote: His dislike increases to aversion, and his hope of children is frustrated.]

The marriage was solemnized. A last chance remained to the Privy Seal and to the eager prelates who had trembled in the storm on Barham Down, that the affection which could not precede the ceremony might perhaps follow it. But the tide had turned against the Reformers; and their contrivances to stem the current were not of the sort which could be allowed to prosper. Dislike was confirmed into rooted aversion. The instinct with which the king recoiled from Anne settled into a defined resolution. He was personally kind to her. His provocations did not tempt him into discourtesy; but, although she shared his bed, necessity and inclination alike limited the companions.h.i.+p to a form; and Henry lamented to Cromwell, who had been the cause of the calamity, that "surely he would never have any more children for the comfort of the realm."[547]

[Sidenote: The results of the disappointment not immediately visible.]

[Sidenote: Theological controversy in London between Gardiner and the Protestants,]

[Sidenote: Who are protected by Cromwell.]

The union of France and the Empire, which had obliged the accomplishment of this unlucky connexion, meanwhile prevented, so long as it continued, either an open _fracas_ or an alteration in the policy of the kingdom.

The relations of the king and queen were known only to a few of the council. Cromwell continued in power, and the Protestants remained in security. The excitement which had been created in London by the persecution of Dr. Watts was kept alive by a controversy[548] between the Bishop of Winchester and three of the Lutheran preachers: Dr.

Barnes, for ever unwisely prominent; the Vicar of Stepney, who had shuffled over his recantation; and Garrett, the same who had been in danger of the stake at Oxford for selling Testaments, and had since been a chaplain of Latimer. It is difficult to exaggerate the audacity with which the orators of the moving party trespa.s.sed on the patience of the laity. The disputes, which had been slightly turned out of their channel by the Six Articles, were running now on justification,--a sufficient subject, however, to give scope for differences, and for the full enunciation of the Lutheran gospel. The magistrates in the country attempted to keep order and enforce the law; but, when they imprisoned a heretic, they found themselves rebuked and menaced by the Privy Seal.

Their prison doors were opened, they were exposed to vexatious suits for loss or injury to the property of the discharged offenders, and their authority and persons were treated with disrespect and contumely.[549]

The Reformers had outshot their healthy growth. They required to be toned down by renewed persecution into that good sense and severity of mind without which religion is but as idle and unprofitable a folly as worldly excitement.

[Gardiner preaches a Popish sermon at Paul's Cross.]

[Sidenote: Foolish insolence of Dr. Barnes.]

[Sidenote: Gardiner complains to the king.]

In London, on the first Sunday in Lent, the Bishop of Winchester preached on the now prominent topic at Paul's Cross: "A very Popish sermon," says Traheron, one of the English correspondents of Bullinger, "and much to the discontent of the people."[550] To the discontent it may have been of many, but not to the discontent of the ten thousand citizens who had designed the procession to Lambeth. The Sunday following, the same pulpit was occupied by Barnes, who, calling Gardiner a fighting-c.o.c.k, and himself another, challenged the bishop to trim his spurs for a battle.[551] He taunted his adversary with concealed Romanism. Like the judges at Fouquier Tinville's tribunal, whose test of loyalty to the republic was the question what the accused had done to be hanged on the restoration of the monarchy, Barnes said that, if he and the Bishop of Winchester were at Rome together, much money would not save his life, but for the bishop there was no fear--a little entreatance would purchase favour enough for him.[552] From these specimens we may conjecture the character of the sermon; and, from Traheron's delight with it, we may gather equally the imprudent exultation of the Protestants.[553] Gardiner complained to the king. He had a fair cause, and was favourably listened to. Henry sent for Barnes, and examined him in a private audience. The questions of the day were opened. Merit, works, faith, free-will, grace of congruity, were each discussed,--once mystic words of power, able, like the writing on the seal of Solomon, to convulse the world, now mere innocent sounds, which the languid but still eager lips of a dying controversy breathe in vain.

Barnes, too vain of his supposed abilities to understand the disposition with which he was dealing, told the king, in an excess of unwisdom, that he would submit himself to him.

[Sidenote: Interview between Barnes and Henry.]

[Sidenote: Barnes affects to recant.]

Henry was more than angry: "Yield not to me," he said; "I am a mortal man." He rose as he spoke, and turning to the sacrament, which stood on a private altar in the room, and taking off his bonnet,--"Yonder is the Master of us all," he said; "yield in truth to Him; otherwise submit yourself not to me." Barnes was commanded, with Garrett and Jerome, to make a public acknowledgment of his errors; and to apologize especially for his insolent language to Gardiner. It has been already seen how Jerome could act in such a position. An admirer of these men, in relating their conduct on the present occasion, declared, as if it was something to their credit, "how gaily they handled the matter, both to satisfy the recantation and also, in the same sermon, to utter out the truth, that it might spread without let of the world."

Like giddy night-moths, they were flitting round the fire which would soon devour them.

[Sidenote: Confident in the German alliance, the king provokes a quarrel with the Emperor.]

[Sidenote: He instructs Wyatt to reproach Charles with ingrat.i.tude.]

In April, parliament was to meet--the same parliament which had pa.s.sed the Six Articles Bill with acclamation. It was to be seen in what temper they would bear the suspension of their favourite measure. The bearing of the parliament, was, however, for the moment, of comparative indifference. The king and his ministers were occupied with other matters too seriously to be able to attend it. A dispute had arisen between the Emperor and the Duke of Cleves, on the duchy of Gueldres, to which Charles threatened to a.s.sert his right by force; and, galling as Henry found his marriage, the alliance in which it had involved him, its only present recommendation, was too useful to be neglected. The treatment of English residents in Spain, the open patronage of Brancetor, and the haughty and even insolent language which had been used to Wyatt, could not be pa.s.sed over in silence, whatever might be the consequences; and, with the support of Germany, he believed that he might now, perhaps, repay the Emperor for the alarms and anxieties of years. After staying a few days in Paris, Charles had gone on to Brussels. On the receipt of Wyatt's despatch with the account of his first interview, the king instructed him to require in reply the immediate surrender of the English traitor; to insist that the proceedings of the Inquisition should be redressed and punished; and to signify, at the same time, that the English government desired to mediate between himself and the king's brother-in-law. Nor was the imperiousness of the message to be softened in the manner of delivery.

More than once Henry had implied that Charles was under obligations to England for the Empire. Wyatt was instructed to allude pointedly to these and other wounding memories, and particularly, and with marked emphasis, to make use of the word "ingrat.i.tude." The object was, perhaps, to show that Henry was not afraid of him; perhaps to express a real indignation which there was no longer reason to conceal.

[Sidenote: Indignation of the Emperor.]

The directions were obeyed; and Wyatt's English haughtiness was likely to have fulfilled them to the letter. The effect was magical. The Emperor started, changed colour, hesitated, and then burst in anger. "It is too much," he said, "to use the term ingrate to me. The inferior may be ingrate to the greater. The term is scant sufferable between like."

Perhaps, he added, as Wyatt was speaking in a foreign language, he might have used a word which he imperfectly comprehended. Wyatt a.s.sured him placidly that there was no error: the word was in his instructions, and its meaning perfectly understood. "The king took it so." "Kings'

opinions are not always the best," Charles replied. "I cannot tell, sir," the amba.s.sador answered, "what ye mean by that; but if ye think to note the king my master of anything that should touch him, I a.s.sure you he is a prince to give reason to G.o.d and the world sufficient in his opinions." Leaving the word as it stood, he required an answer to the material point.

[Sidenote: He will not surrender Brancetor.]

[Sidenote: If English merchants dislike the Inquisition, they had better avoid Spain.]

[Sidenote: Henry makes overtures to Francis.]

[Sidenote: He accuses Charles of aiming at universal empire,]

[Sidenote: And suggests a coalition which may end in his capture and imprisonment.]

If Henry was indifferent to a quarrel, the Emperor seemed to be equally willing; Wyatt gathered from his manner, either that he was careless of consequences, or that he desired to provoke the English to strike the first blow. He answered as before, that Brancetor had committed no crime that he knew of. If the King of England would be more explicit in his accusations, he would consider them. His dispute with the Duke of Cleves he intended to settle by himself, and would allow of no interference; and as to the merchants, he had rather they should never visit his countries at all, than visit them to carry thither their heresy.[554]

Irritation is a pa.s.sion which it is seldom politic to excite; and a message like that of Wyatt had been better undelivered, unless no doubt existed of being able to support it by force. A fixed idea in Cromwell's mind, which we trace in all his correspondence, was the impossibility of a genuine coalition between Charles and Francis. Either misled by these impressions, or deceived by rumours, Henry seems to have been acting, not only in a reliance on the Germans, but in a belief that the Emperor's visit to Paris had closed less agreeably than it had opened, that the Milan quarrel had revived, and that the hasty partners.h.i.+p already threatened a dissolution. Some expectations of the kind he had unquestionably formed, for, on the arrival of Wyatt's letter with the Emperor's answer, he despatched the Duke of Norfolk on a mission into France, which, if successful, would have produced a singular revulsion in Europe. Francis was to be asked frankly how the Italian question stood. If the Emperor was dealing in good faith with him, or if he was himself satisfied, nothing more need be desired; if, on the contrary, he felt himself "hobbled with a vain hope," there was now an opportunity for him to take fortune prisoner, to place his highest wishes within his grasp, and revenge Pavia, and his own and his children's captivity. The ingrat.i.tude story was to be repeated, with Charles's overbearing indignation; redress for the open and iniquitous oppression of English subjects had been absolutely refused; and the Emperor's manner could be interpreted only as bearing out what had long been suspected of him, that he "aspired to bring Christendom to a monarchy;" that "he thought himself superior to all kings," and, "by little and little," would work his way to universal empire. His insolence might be punished, and all dangers of such a kind for ever terminated, at the present juncture. A league was in process of formation, for mutual defence, between the King of England, the Duke of Cleves, the Elector of Saxony, the Landgrave, and other princes of the Empire. Let Francis join them, and "they would have the Emperor in such a pitfall, that percase it might be their chance to have him prisoner at their pleasure, his being so environed with them, and having no way to start."[555]

[Sidenote: Henry's proposal is communicated to the Emperor.]

The temptation was so well adjusted to the temperament of Francis that it seemed as if he felt an excuse necessary to explain his declining the combination. The French chancellor told Norfolk that his master was growing old, and that war had lost its charm for him. But, in fact, the proposal was, based upon a blunder for which Cromwell's despair was probably responsible. Francis, at the moment, was under the influence of the Cardinal of Ferrara, who had come from Rome on a crusading expedition; and, so far from then desiring to quarrel with Charles, he simply communicated to him Henry's suggestions; while the Queen of Navarre gave a warning to Norfolk that, if the Anglo-German league a.s.sumed an organized form, it would be followed by an alliance as close and as menacing between France and the Empire.[556]

[Sidenote: The Germans back out also,]

Cromwell had again failed; and another and a worse misadventure followed. The German princes, for whose sake the Privy Seal had incurred his present danger, had their own sense of prudence, and were reluctant to quarrel with the Emperor, so long as it was possible to escape.

Experience had taught Charles the art of trifling with their credulity, and he flattered them with a hope that from them he would accept a mediation in behalf of the Duke of Cleves, which he had rejected so scornfully when offered by England.

[Sidenote: And the foreign policy of Cromwell, as well as the domestic, fails equally.]

[Sidenote: The Bishop of Chichester is sent to the Tower,]

[Sidenote: And is almost followed by Tunstall.]

Thus was Henry left alone, having been betrayed into an att.i.tude which he was unable to support, and deserted by the allies for whom he had entangled himself in a marriage which he detested. Well might his confidence have been shaken in the minister whose fortune and whose sagacity had failed together. Driven forward by the necessity of success or destruction, Cromwell was, at the same time, precipitating the crisis in England. Gardiner, Tunstall, and Sampson the Bishop of Chichester, were his three chief antagonists. In April Sampson was sent to the Tower, on a charge of having relieved "certain traitorous persons" who had denied the king's supremacy.[557] The two others, it is likely, would soon have followed: the Bishop of Chichester accused them of having been the cause of his own misconduct, to such extent as he admitted himself to have erred;[558] and although Tunstall equivocated, he at least would not have escaped imprisonment, had the Privy Seal remained in power, if imprisonment had been the limit of his sufferings.[559] To the eyes of the world, the destroyer of the monasteries, the "hammer of the monks," remained absolute as ever. No cloud, as yet, was visible in the clear sky of his prosperity, when the moment came, he fell suddenly, as if struck by lightning, on the very height and pinnacle of his power. If events had been long working towards the catastrophe, it was none the less abrupt, surprising, unlooked for.

[Sidenote: April 12. Parliament meets.]

[Sidenote: Cromwell opens the session with a speech on unity of opinion.]

On the 12th of April, amidst failure abroad and increased discontent at home, parliament a.s.sembled. After the ordinary address from the chancellor, Cromwell rose to speak a few words on the state of the kingdom.

"The King's Majesty," he said, "knowing that concord is the only sure and true bond of security in the commonwealth, knowing that if the head and all the members of the body corporate agree in one, there will be wanting nothing to the perfect health of the state, has therefore sought, prized, and desired concord beyond all other things. With no little distress, therefore, he learns that there are certain persons who make it their business to create strife and controversy; that in the midst of the good seed tares also are growing up to choke the harvest.

The rashness and carnal license of some, the inveterate corruption and obstinate superst.i.tion of others, have caused disputes which have done hurt to the souls of pious Christians. The names of Papist and heretic are bandied to and fro. The Holy Word of G.o.d, which his Highness, of his great clemency, has permitted to be read in the vulgar tongue, for the comfort and edification of his people this treasure of all sacred things--is abused, and made a servant of errour or idolatry; and such is the tumult of opinion, that his Highness ill knows how to bear it. His purpose is to shew no favour to extremes on either side. He professes the sincere faith of the Gospel, as becomes a Christian prince, declining neither to the right hand nor to the left, but setting before his eyes the pure Word of G.o.d as his only mark and guide. On this Word his princely mind is fixed; on this Word he depends for his sole support; and with all his might his Majesty will labour that errour shall be taken away, and true doctrines be taught to his people, modelled by the rule of the Gospel. Of forms, ceremonies, and traditions he will have the reasonable use distinguished from the foolish and idolatrous use. He will have all impiety, all superst.i.tion, abolished and put away. And, finally, he will have his subjects cease from their irreverent handling of G.o.d's book. Those who have offended against the faith and the laws shall suffer the punishment by the laws appointed; and his first and last prayer is for the prevailing of Christ--the prevailing of the Word of Christ--the prevailing of the truth."[560]

[Sidenote: Cromwell is created Earl of Ess.e.x.]