The Pilgrims believed that they had won their object; the King’s reply showed that they had lost it. In the very first clause the King spoke once again of the “light tales”; this always annoyed his opponents. They might ask, was it a light tale that the monasteries were being suppressed? Was it a light tale that the Pope’s name was omitted from the service and the King’s substituted? The King proceeded to outrage the feelings of the conservatives still further by asking, when they spoke of the maintenance of the Church, what Church they meant? The very idea that there could be more than one Church was a horrible innovation. The King went on to talk about his own Church, of which he was the Supreme Head, and to declare that this was an affair in which the commons had no right to interfere. He implies that as they had nothing to do with the government of the Church in the Pope’s days, so they had nothing to do with it now. Their part was to believe its doctrines and bow to its authority, whoever wielded it. But if a layman might be Supreme Head of the Church, it seemed only reasonable that other laymen might express their opinion on the subject, especially as many of them believed the choice between King and Pope so vital as to affect their eternal welfare. The King’s defence of his Council was mere quibbling. Norfolk, Exeter and Sandys might be nominal members of the Privy Council, but their advice was never followed, and the King’s policy was determined by their chief enemy, Thomas Cromwell. Although the King boasted that the rest of his realm was loyal, the northern men had good reason to believe that a great part of the south sympathised with them. This was afterwards admitted by Henry’s panegyrist William Thomas, who said that the King was forced to treat with the rebels because he had such difficulty in mustering troops[170]. While the King was goading the commons to further rebellion, he was drugging the gentlemen with gracious promises. Aske was most flatteringly received at court. The Spanish Chronicler gives an account of his reception which, though unreliable in details, represents the King’s general attitude in a picturesque manner:—