Characteristics of Women: Moral, Poetical, and HistoricalJameson, Mrs. (Anna)
History
Characteristics of Women: Moral, Poetical, and Historical
Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Characters -- Women; Women and literature -- England -- History -- 16th century
Poor Katherine! we are not surprised to read that when she understood
what was intended against her, "she labored with all those passions
which jealousy of the king's affection, sense of her own honor, and the
legitimation of her daughter, could produce, laying in conclusion the
whole fault on the Cardinal." It is elsewhere said, that Wolsey bore the
queen ill-will, in consequence of her reflecting with some severity on
his haughty temper, and very unclerical life.
The proceedings were pending for nearly six years, and one of the causes
of this long delay, in spite of Henry's impatient and despotic
character, is worth noting. The old Chronicle tells us, that though the
men generally, and more particularly the priests and the nobles sided
with Henry in this matter, yet all the ladies of England were against
it. They justly felt that the honor and welfare of no woman was secure
if, after twenty years of union, she might be thus deprived of all her
rights as a wife; the clamor became so loud and general, that the king
was obliged to yield to it for a time, to stop the proceedings, and to
banish Anna Bullen from the court.
Cardinal Campeggio, called by Shakspeare Campeius, arrived in England in
October, 1528. He at first endeavored to persuade Katherine to avoid the
disgrace and danger of contesting her marriage, by entering a religious
house; but she rejected his advice with strong expressions of disdain.
"I am," said she, "the king's true wife, and to him married; and if all
doctors were dead, or law or learning far out of men's minds at the time
of our marriage, yet I cannot think that the court of Rome, and the
whole church of England, would have consented to a thing unlawful and
detestable as you call it. Still I say I am his wife, and for him will I
pray."
About two years afterwards, Wolsey died, (in November, 1530;)--the king
and queen met for the last time on the 14th of July, 1531. Until that
period, some outward show of respect and kindness had been maintained
between them; but the king then ordered her to repair to a private
residence, and no longer to consider herself as his lawful wife. "To
which the virtuous and mourning queen replied no more than this, that to
whatever place she removed, nothing could remove her from being the
king's wife. And so they bid each other farewell; and from this time the
king never saw her more."[100] He married Anna Bullen in 1532, while the
decision relating to his former marriage was still pending. The sentence
of divorce to which Katherine never would submit, was finally pronounced
by Cranmer in 1533; and the unhappy queen, whose health had been
gradually declining through these troubles of heart, died January 29,
1536, in the fiftieth year of her age.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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