This alone did not satisfy Henry: in his reply to the archbishop, he marked still more strongly his intention not to have in England a primate independent of the crown: ‘Ye, therefore, duly recognizing that it becometh you not, being our subject, to enterprise any part of your said office _without our license obtained so to do_.... In consideration of these things, albeit we, being your king and sovereign, do recognize no superior upon earth but only God; yet, because ye be under us, by God’s calling and ours, the most principal minister of our spiritual jurisdiction, we will not refuse your humble request.’ This language was clear. Henry VIII. did not, however, claim the arbitrary authority to which the pope pretended: human and divine laws were to be the supreme rule in England; but he, the king, was to be their chief interpreter. Cranmer must understand that. ‘To these laws we, as a Christian king,’ wrote Henry, ‘have always heretofore submitted, and shall ever most obediently submit ourselves.’ The ecclesiastical system which Henry VIII. established in England in 1533 was not a free Church in a free State, and there is no reason to be surprised at it. Cranmer, having received the royal license, set out for Mortloke manor to prepare the act which, for six years, had kept England and the continent in suspense. Taking the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester and some lawyers with him, he proceeded quietly and without ostentation to the priory of Dunstable, five miles from Ampthill, where Queen Catherine was staying. He wished to avoid the notoriety of a trial held in London. [Sidenote: Ecclesiastical Court.]