Two women had for some time attracted the eyes of all England—the one who was ascending the throne, and the other who was descending from it. Nothing awakens the sympathy of generous souls more than misfortune, and particularly innocence in misfortune; and accordingly Catherine’s fate will always excite a lively interest, even in the ranks of protestantism. We must not forget, however, that Catherine’s cause was that of the old times and of the Roman papacy, and that Anne’s cause was identified with that light, liberty, and new life which have distinguished modern times. It is true, Catherine died in disgrace, but in peace, surrounded by her women, her officers, her faithful servants; while the youthful Anne, separated from her friends, alone on a scaffold, praying God to bless the prince who put her to death, had her head cruelly cut off by the hangman’s sword. If on the one side there was innocence and divorce, on the other there was innocence and martyrdom. The king, who had informed Catherine through Lord Mountjoy of the archiepiscopal sentence, officially communicated his divorce and marriage to the various crowned heads of Europe, and particularly to the King of France, the emperor, and the pope. The latter on the 11th of July annulled the sentence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, declared the king’s marriage with Anne Boleyn unlawful, and threatened to excommunicate both, unless they separated before the end of September. Henry angrily commanded his theologians to demonstrate that the bull was a nullity, recalled his ambassador, the Duke of Norfolk, and said that the moment was come for all monarchs and all Christian people to withdraw from under the yoke of the Bishop of Rome. ‘The pope and his cardinals,’ he wrote to Francis I., ‘pretend to have princes, who are free persons, at their beck and commandment. Sire, you and I and all the princes of Christendom must unite for the preservation of our rights, liberties, and privileges; we must alienate the greatest part of Christendom from the see of Rome.’[286] But Henry had scholastic prejudices, which made him fall into the strangest contradictions. While he was employing his diplomacy to isolate the pope, he still prayed him to declare the nullity of his marriage with Catherine.[287] It is not at the court of this prince that we must look for the real Reformation: we must go in search of it elsewhere. Footnote 258: ‘Multo, minus scandalosum fuisset, dispensare cum Majestate vestra super duabus uxoribus.’—Record Office MS. Footnote 259: Bossuet, _Hist. des Variations_, liv. vi. Footnote 260: ‘Compelled to lie in the straw.’—_State Papers_ (Henry VIII.), part vii. p. 394. Footnote 261: ‘Utterly resolve to do pleasure to your Highness.’—Benet to Henry VIII., _State Papers_, pp. 401, 402. Footnote 262: ‘He would it had cost him a joint of his hand.’—Ibid. Footnote 263: ‘Your Grace should give no credence thereto, for it is but dissimulation.—Ibid. p. 422.