Reginald Pole was, as it were, the last link that united the royal pair. Thus far the king had continued to show the queen every respect; their mutual affection seemed the same, only they occupied separate rooms.[129] Henry now decided to take an important step. On the 14th of July a new deputation entered the queen’s apartment, one of whom informed her that as her marriage with Prince Arthur had been duly consummated she could not be the wife of her husband’s brother. Then after reproaching her with having, contrary to the laws of England and the dignity of the crown, cited his Majesty before the pope’s tribunal, he desired her to choose for her residence either the castle of Oking or of Estamsteed, or the monastery of Bisham. Catherine remained calm, and replied,—‘Wheresoever I retire, nothing can deprive me of the title which belongs to me. I shall always be his Majesty’s wife.’[130] She left Windsor the same day, and removed to the More, a splendid mansion which Wolsey had surrounded with beautiful gardens; then to Estamsteed, and finally to Ampthill. The king never saw her again; but all the papists and discontented rallied round her. She entered into correspondence with the sovereigns of Europe, and became the centre of a party opposed to the emancipation of England. Footnote 119: Lord Herbert, p. 353. Footnote 120: Hall, _Chron. of England_, p. 780. Footnote 121: Herbert, p. 354. Footnote 122: Bill against conjuration, witchcraft, sorcerers, &c. Henry VIII. cap. viii. Footnote 123: Burnet, i. p. 110. Footnote 124: ‘Omnium innocentissimum.’—Pole, _De Unitate_, p. 57. Footnote 125: ‘Ut nec rex pater principi filio majus dare possit.’—Pole, _De Unitate_, p. 85. Footnote 126: ‘Cum me audies, alumnum tuum audies.’—Pole, _De Unitate_, p. 3. Footnote 127: ‘Infra etiam belluarum vitam.’—Ibid. p. 55. Footnote 128: ‘The king standeth even upon the brink of the water; all his honor is drowned.’—Ibid. Footnote 129: ‘Had he not forborne to come to her bed.’—Lord Herbert, p. 335. Footnote 130: ‘To what place soever she removed, nothing could remove her from being the king’s wife.’—Herbert, p. 354. CHAPTER XI. THE BISHOPS PLUNDER THE CLERGY, AND PERSECUTE THE PROTESTANTS. (SEPTEMBER 1531 TO 1532.)