343.  The King’s Anxiety for a Successor; Anne Boleyn.

No woman had yet ruled in her own right, either in England or in any prominent kingdom of Europe, and Henry was anxious to have a son to succeed him.  He could not bear the thought of being disappointed; in fact he sent the Duke of Buckingham to the block for casually saying, that if the King died without issue, he should consider himself entitled to receive the crown.

It was while meditating this question of the succession, that Henry became attached to Anne Boleyn, one of the Queen’s maids of honor; she was a sprightly brunette of nineteen, with long black hair and strikingly beautiful eyes.

The light that shone in those eyes, though hardly that “Gospel light” which the poet calls it,[1] was yet bright enough to effectually clear up all difficulties in the royal mind.  The King now declared that he felt conscientiously moved to obtain a divorce from his old wife, and to marry a new one.  In that determination lay most momentous consequences, since it finally separated England from the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome.

[1] “When love could teach a monarch to be wise,
     And Gospel light first dawned from Bullen’s [Boleyn’s] eyes.” 
                                        —­Gray.

344.  Wolsey favors the Divorce from Catharine.

Cardinal Wolsey, Henry’s chief counselor,—­the man who thought that he ruled both King and Kingdom,[2]—­lent his powerful aid to bring about the divorce, but with the expectation that the King would marry a princess from France, and thus form an alliance with that country.  If so, his own ambitious schemes would be forwarded, since the united influence of the two kingdoms might elevate him to the Papacy.

[2] The Venetian ambassador in a dispatch to his government, wrote of Cardinal Wolsey:  “It is he who rules both the King and the entire Kingdom.  At first the Cardinal used to say, `His Majesty will do so and so’; subsequently he went on, forgetting himself, and commenced saying, `We shall do so and so’; at present (1519) he has reached such a pitch that he says, `I shall do so and so.’”

When Wolsey learned that the King’s choice was Anne Boleyn (S343), he fell on his knees, and begged him not to persist in his purpose; but his entreaties had no effect, and the Cardinal was obliged to continue what he had begun.

345.  The Court at Blackfriars (1529).

The King had applied to the Pope to annul the marriage with Catharine (S342) on the ground of illegality; but the Emperor Charles V, who was the Queen’s nephew, used his influence in her behalf.  Vexatious delays now became the order of the day.  At last, a court composed of Cardinal Wolsey and Cardinal Campeggio, an Italian, as papal legates, or representatives, was convened at Blackfriars, London, to test the validity of the marriage.

Henry and Catharine were summoned.  The first appeared and answered to his name.  When the Queen was called she declined to answer, but throwing herself at Henry’s feet, begged him with tears and sobs not to put her away without cause.  Finding him inflexible, she left the court, and refused to attend again, appealing to Rome for justice.