The Wives of Henry the Eighth and the Parts They Played in History — David Hume — John Shaqi
The Wives of Henry the Eighth and the Parts They Played in History
David Hume · en
All through the summer of 1532 the coming and going of French agents to
England puzzled the Queen and her foreign friends; but suddenly, late in
July, the truth came out. Henry and Anne had gone with a great train on a
hunting tour through the midlands in July; but only a few days after
starting they suddenly returned to London. The quidnuncs whispered that
the people on the way had clamoured so loudly that the Queen might be
recalled to Court, and had so grossly insulted Anne, that the royal party
had been driven back in disgust; and though there was no doubt some ground
for the assertion, the real reason for the return was that the interview
between Henry and the French king, so long secretly in negotiation, had at
last been settled. To enlist Francis personally on the side of the
divorce, and against the clerical influence, was good policy; for the
Emperor could not afford to quarrel both with France and England for his
aunt, and especially as the meeting arranged between Francis and the Pope
at Nice for the betrothal of the Duke of Orleans with Katharine de Medici
was already in contemplation, and threatened the Emperor with a
combination of France, England, and perhaps the Papacy, which would be
powerful enough to defy him. The policy was Cromwell's, who had inherited
from his master, Wolsey, a leaning for the French alliance; but Norfolk
and the rest of Henry's advisers were heavily bribed by France, and were
on this occasion not inimical. The people at large, as usual, looked
askance at the French connection. They dreaded, above all things, a war
with Spain and Flanders, and recollected with apprehension the fruitless
and foolish waste in splendour on the last occasion of the monarchs of
France and England meeting. An attempt was made to provide that the
preparations should be less costly and elaborate than those for the Field
of the Cloth of Gold, but Henry could not forego the splendour that he
loved, and a suite of 3000 or 4000 people were warned to accompany the
King across the Channel to Boulogne and Calais.
[Illustration: _ANNE BOLEYN_
_From a portrait by_ LUCAS CORNELISZ _in the National Portrait Gallery_]