[156] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., xii. 2, 231. [157] Henne, vii. 263, 267. [158] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., xiii. 1, 35. [159] Carteggio Diplomatico, 1537-38, Archivio di Stato, Milan. [160] State Papers, xiii. 1, 8; Record Office, viii. 27, 29. [161] L. Pastor, "Reise des Kardinal Luigi d'Aragona," 116. L. Guicciardini, "Paesi-Bassi," 74. [162] "Œuvres," xii. 107. [163] State Papers, Henry VIII., Record Office, viii. 16. BOOK VI THE COURTSHIP OF HENRY VIII. 1537-1539 I. The Widow of Milan's fate still hung in the balance. While Mary of Hungary had not yet lost all hope of marrying her to the Duke of Cleves, and Queen Eleanor was no less anxious to see her the wife of a French Prince, fresh proposals reached Brussels from an unexpected quarter. This new suitor was none other than the Emperor's _bel oncle_, King Henry of England. This monarch, who had openly defied the laws of the Church, and after divorcing Charles's aunt, had pronounced Queen Katherine's daughter to be illegitimate, could hardly expect to find favour in the eyes of the Regent. Mary's own opinion of Henry's character is frankly given in a very interesting letter which she wrote to her brother Ferdinand in May, 1536, when the King of England had sent Anne Boleyn to the block and made Jane Seymour his third wife. [Sidenote: MAY, 1536] HENRY VIII. AND HIS WIVES] "I hope," she wrote, "that the English will not do us much harm now we are rid of the King's mistress, who was a good Frenchwoman, and whom, as you have no doubt heard, he has beheaded; and since no one skilful enough to do the deed could be found among his own subjects, he sent for the executioner of S. Omer, in order that a Frenchman should be the minister of his vengeance. I hear that he has married another lady, who is said to be a good Imperialist, although I do not know if she will remain so much longer. He is said to have taken a fancy to her before the last one's death, which, coupled with the fact that neither the poor woman nor any of those who were beheaded with her, saving one miserable musician, could be brought to acknowledge her guilt, naturally makes people suspect that he invented this pretext in order to get rid of her.... It is to be hoped--if one can hope anything from such a man--that when he is tired of this wife he will find some better way of getting rid of her. Women, I think, would hardly be pleased if such customs became general, and with good reason; and although I have no wish to expose myself to similar risks, yet, as I belong to the feminine sex, I, too, will pray that God may preserve us from such perils."[164]