That was indeed the best way of treating the affair; the nuncio had found the joint in the armour, and the king was for a moment staggered; but the pope's conduct restored his confidence. Rome began to proceed against Henry VIII. as she had formerly done against kings in the middle ages. This proceeding, so offensive to the royal dignity, drew Francis towards the Reformation. If there is danger towards royal power, it exists on both sides, he thought. He believed even that the danger was greater on the side of Rome than of Germany, since the protestants of that country showed their princes the most loyal submission, and the most religious and profound respect. He had observed, that while the pope desired to deprive the King of England of his states and release his subjects from their obedience, the reformation which that prince had carried out had not prejudiced one of his rights; that there was a talk, indeed, of insurrections against Henry VIII., but they were got up by Rome and her agents. Enlightened men suggested to Francis, that while popery kept the people in slavery, and caused insurrection and rebellion against the throne, the Reformation would secure order and obedience to kings, and liberty to the people. He seems to have been convinced ... for the moment at least. 'England and I,' he said, 'are accustomed to keep together and to manage our affairs in harmony with each other, and we shall continue to do so.'[695] This new movement on the part of Francis emboldened the evangelicals. They hoped that he would go on to the end, and would not leave the pope even the little place which he intended to reserve for him. If a prince like Louis IX. maintained the rights of the Gallican Church in the thirteenth century; if a king like Charles VII. restored ecclesiastical liberty in the fifteenth; shall we not see in this universal revival of the sixteenth century a monarch like Francis I. emancipating France from the Roman yoke? At a great sacrifice he has just done much for Wurtemberg, and will he do nothing for his own kingdom? The friends of the Reformation encouraged one another to entertain the brightest hopes. 'What a noble position!' they said.[696] Whenever they met, whether in the university, in the country, or in the town, they exchanged congratulations.[697] In their opinion, old things had passed away. [Sidenote: UNEASINESS OF THE REFORMERS.]