The death of Anne Boleyn caused a great sensation in Europe, as that of Fisher and More had done before it. Her innocence, which Henry (it is said) acknowledged on his death-bed,[357] was denied by some and maintained by others; but all men of principle expressed a feeling of horror when they heard of her punishment. The protestant princes and divines of Germany had not a doubt that this cruel act was the pledge of reconciliation offered to the pope by Henry VIII., and renounced the alliance they were on the point of concluding with England. 'At last I am free from that journey,' said Melanchthon, whom Anne Boleyn's death, added to that of Sir Thomas More, had rendered even less desirous of approaching the prince who had struck them. 'The queen,' he continued, 'accused, rather than convicted, of adultery, has suffered the penalty of death, and that catastrophe has wrought great changes in our plans.'[358] Somewhat later the protestants ascribed Anne's death especially to the pope: 'That blow came from Rome,' they cried; 'in Rome all these tricks and plots are contrived. Even Petrarch had long since called that city Nido di tradimenti, in cui si cuova Quanto mal per lo mondo hoggi si spande.'[359] In this I suspect there is a mistake. The plots of the Roman court against Elizabeth have caused it to be accused of similar designs against the mother of the great protestant queen. The friends of that court in England were probably no strangers to the crime, but the great criminal was Henry. [313] 'The saying was that he was grievously racked.'—_Archéologie_, xxiii. p. 164. [314] 'No man will confess anything against her.'—Kingston's _Letters_, p. 458. [315] Kingston's _Letters_, p. 458. [316] 'The vain hope of this changeable world.'—_Histoire d'Anne de Boleyn_, by Crespin, p. 140. [317] 'Avecque Dieu lors plus se fortifie.'—_Ibid._ p. 190. [318] 'Speaking like a mistress to these lords.' [319] A copy of this letter was found among the papers of Cromwell, at that time the king's chief minister. 'It is universally known,' says Sir Henry Ellis, 'as one of the finest compositions in the English language.'—_Original Letters_, ii. p. 53. [320] Burnet, _Records_, book iii. No. 49. The original is in the Cotton Library. [321] Froude. [322] Baga de Secretis, pouch 8. [323] Meteren, _Histoire des Pays-Bas_. [324] Godwin's _Annals_, p. 139.—Queen Elizabeth raised his son to the peerage, and four of his grandsons were among the greatest of England's captains during the reign of Anne Boleyn's daughter. [325] Burnet, _Addenda_, vol. i. [326] _Ibid._ Baga de Secretis, pouch 8. [327] 'On vit la reine au jugement venir, Qui ne se veut que de Dieu souvenir; Ne faisant cas de chose qui la touche; Mais plus se tient constante qu'une souche, Qui ne craint grêle ou vent impétueux.'