CHAPTER 14

THE SORRY MESS and confusion born of the King's infatuation, while giving sadness to many, provided opportunity for an unscrupulous, clever and ambitious man who was rapidly assuming a role of importance at the Court. Thomas Cromwell, former agent of Wolsey, had transferred his services to Henry, and such was his talent that he climbed fast, securing the confidence of the King and earning the dubious distinction of being named as the real author of the English Reformation. He was a shadowy figure, emerging from the shadows, and utilizing shadows throughout his devious career. Without formal education, without influential friends, without money, he had made his own way, until he could now whisper schemes in the Royal ear. He was the son of a small tavern keeper in Putney. In his youth, as a military vagabond, he had wandered to Italy. There he learned the language and there he read Machiavelli, whose disciple he was to remain all his life. Somehow, he managed to accumulate some money on the shores of the Mediterranean, and there branched out as a money-lender. Plying this occupation, he learned something of the law, and on his return to his native land, he managed to insinuate himself into the service of Wolsey. When the Cardinal suppressed some of the smaller monasteries in order to use their revenues for his great new college at Oxford, Cromwell was the instrument that he used. The wily man of business did his work well. He set a pattern that would one day result in the gigantic robbery of all the monasterial establishments in England.

From the very beginning Cromwell was unpopular at the Court, but little he cared, seeking only to win the King's favour. On meeting him one day, Thomas More offered him some advice: "Master Cromwell, you are now entered into the service of a most noble, wise and liberal Prince, if you will follow my poor advice, you shall, in your counsel giving unto his grace, ever tell him what he ought to do, but never tell him what he is able to do; so shall you show yourself a true faithful servant and a right worthy councillor. For if a Lion knew his own strength, hard were it for any man to rule him.''[1]

Perhaps Cromwell remembered More's warning when m after years Henry was to send him in his turn to the scaffold, but at this stage he was confident of his abilities to guide and control the King. His targets included divorce, schism, and possession of the Church's property in England. Eventually he lost his head, but not before he had succeeded in his ambition. He was able to endow his nephew, also a tavern keeper's son, with no less than thirteen monastic estates. This man's son built his major residence upon the ruins of a nunnery, and his grandson was Oliver Cromwell.

Since Henry's attempts to cast aside his wife were becoming increasingly unpopular throughout England he made, in the spring of 1580, a new effort to secure the approval of the Pope. With a glaring lack of tact he appointed as emissary Anne Boleyn's father, the newly created Earl of Wiltshire. At Bologna, the Englishman met with both Pope and Emperor, and while he made a great presence of talking about peace amongst European nations and an alliance against the Turks, he brazenly opened up the business of the divorce. It was only natural that he should have no success with the Emperor. The Pope was equally emphatic. In fact, he made use of Wiltshire's presence to summon Henry to come to Rome and appear before the Rota.

Meanwhile Cranmer's plan concerning the opinions of the universities, was bearing fruit. The replies, many of them favourable, most of them subsidized, were coming in, and Henry decided they should be presented at a meeting of Parliament. Thus the Lord Chancellor, in fulfillment of his duties, was forced to lead twelve spiritual and temporal Peers to the House of Commons, and there to deliver the following address:

"You, of this worshipful House, I am sure be not so ignorant, but you know well that the King, our Sovereign Lord, hath married his brother's wife; for she was both wedded and bedded by his brother Prince Arthur, and therefore you may surely say that he hath married his brother's wife if this marriage be good-as so many clerks do doubt. Wherefore the King, like a virtuous Prince willing to be satisfied in his conscience, and also for the surety of his realm, hath with great deliberation consulted with great clerks, and hath sent my Lord of London here present to the chief Universities of all Christendom, to know their opinions and judgment in that behalf. And although the universities of Oxford and Cambridge had been sufficient to discuss the cause, yet they being in his realm, and to avoid all suspicion of partiality, he hath sent mto the realm of France, Italy, the Pope's dominions, and the Venetians, to know their judgment in that behalf, which have concluded, written and sealed their determinations according as you shall hear read."

Sir Brian Tuke opened the box and read aloud the opinions, all favourable to Henry. Again the Lord Chancellor spoke: "Now you of this Common House may report in your countries what you have seen and heard and then all men shall perceive that the King hath not attempted this matter of will or pleasure as some strangers report, but only for the discharge of his conscience, and the security of the succession of his realm. This is the cause of our repair hither to you, and now we will depart."[2]

The dilemma was becoming increasingly difficult for More. He confided in no one, going about his business, but the words of Christ must have haunted him: "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God, the things that are God's."

The issues involved were not so clear as they seem today. Many learned and good men were in all sincerity for the King's cause. And, too, there was the magnetic charm and undeniable authority of the consecrated person of the Monarch who, after prorogation of Parliament, pressed More for his private opinion. On one of these occasions the Lord Chancellor fell on his knees and begged Henry to revive in his memory the admonishment he had given More on the day he had bestowed the Great Seal: "First look upon God, and after God upon me."

As yet the Pope had given no absolute or final decision. Procrastination was the Papal policy. Clement had wanted to placate the powerful English sovereign. Was not Henry the Defender of the Faith? Besides, the Emperor had asked no more than justice. So he had entertained Henry's petition, then hesitated, and finally professed his inability to conclude the matter. Henry became impatient and sent a violent message to the Pope accusing him of being a servant of the Emperor Soon after, Clement, in a Papal Brief, renewed a previous Edict and threatened ecclesiastical punishment for Henry and any woman who should attempt wedlock with him while the case was in the hands of the Rota. After the issuance of this Brief there was little hope in Henry's mind that he could force the Pope to his wishes. Urged by Cromwell, he now undertook the first major and drastic move in the separation of England and the Holy See. A general Convocation of the English clergy was called and the dread charge of praemunire was hurled at them, the same accusation that had destroyed Wolsey. In acknowledging his legatine authority, they too, it was charged, had been guilty of treason. Papal jurisdiction had trespassed upon the sovereignty of England.

The air was heavy with intimidation and threat. Submissive and terrified, the clergy volunteered to pay a fine of 160,000 crowns. The King rejected the offer. They advanced the tribute by another 400,000 crowns. Again they were refused, unless, with the money, they would accept him as the Supreme Head of the Church. Timid though they were, and even though they owed their benefices and appointments to him, the clergy made no haste to grant what was almost a command. For three sessions they pondered. To give in to the King would surrender that which St. Thomas a Becket had died for, freedom of the Church from secular control. Courageous John Fisher gave warning and voiced his defiance, but finally suggested that the King could have the title providing the words were added, "so far as law of God allows." The Archbishop of Canterbury, weak in his old age and desperately striving for conciliation, then said that it would not be in error to salute the King as "their singular protector, only and Supreme Lord, and so far as the law of Christ allows, even Supreme Head."[3] There was a great silence at his suggestion, and the Archbishop tremulously stated that "as silence signified consent, the new title should become fact."

"It is not intended to infringe the authority of the Pope," declared Henry, "provided His Holiness will pay due regard to me; otherwise I know what to do."

His Queen had an answer for him. "The Pope," she said, "is the only true sovereign and vicar of God who has power to judge of spiritual matters of which marriage is one."

With Cranmer to assist, Henry now exercised his own brand of theology. "If a man be excommunicated because he cloth that is good, or wil1 not do that is ill, the sentence of excommunication is none . . . The Church of God hath its foundation set upon a firm and steadfast stone of truth through faith, and not upon the mutable and wilful pleasure of Peter's successors."[4]

The silence of the Lord Chancellor could only have one meaning and was highly dangerous at this anxious fume. The alert Spanish Ambassador wrote to the Emperor that More was in danger of being dismissed from the Chancellorship and that when Henry had forced the clergy to acknowledge him as Supreme Head of the English Church, More had wished to resign. Grateful that England's Lord Chancellor was in sympathy with Catherine, Charles sent a letter to him in care of the Spanish Ambassador. But More, ever loyal to his conscience and to his office, refused to accept the letter and told the Ambassador that if the letter were given him, he must pass it on to his sovereign.

It was on the thirteenth day of July, 1530, that Henry dropped every presence and left his wife for all time. As far as he was concerned, she was not his wife nor his Queen any longer. If Rome continued to be stubborn and would not grant the divorce, then his own Church would oblige. But his purpose was so unpopular that he realized that he would have to proceed slowly, and as was his usual tactic, he utilized the instrument of mock legality to which was added a voluble and hypocritical piety.

When Anne Boleyn openly was installed in the apartments formerly belonging to Catherine, the Pope sent a Brief to Henry, deploring his conduct, and asking him to stay away from Anne Boleyn until a decision had been given by the Rota. The Brief had no effect upon the King's actions. Instead it provoked another attack upon the English clergy. "We thought that the clergy of our realm had been our subjects wholly," he declared, "but now we have well perceived that they be but half our subjects--yea, and scarce our subjects. For all the Prelates at their consecration, make an oath to the Pope, clean contrary to the oath that they make to us, so that they seem to be his subjects and not ours, the copy of both the oaths, I deliver here to you, requiring you to invent some order, that we be not thus deluded, of our Spiritual subjects."5

Parliament was uneasy. Already a deputation of members had asked for a dissolution. But Henry had further business for them. Following a plan conceived by Cromwell, the Commons, in the form of a supplication, complained of clerical abuses and begged for reform. Chapuys wrote the Emperor that "Churchmen will be of less account than shoemakers, who have the power of assembling and making their own statutes. The King also wishes bishops not to lay hands on persons accused of heresy.... The Chancellor and the Bishops oppose him. He is very angry, especially with the Chancellor and the Bishop of Winchester . . ."[6]

When the complaints of the Commons had been given to the clergy, Cromwell's scheme advanced to its next stage. He requested Parliament to abolish annates, the payment of his first year's revenue that was made to the Holy See by each newly appointed Bishop. There was such an unexpected resistance to the passing of this bill that the King came in person to observe the final vote. Needless to say, in his formidable presence, the act was passed. No more annates were to be sent to Rome unless at the King's pleasure. The Papal Nuncio was informed of Parliament's action, but it was also hinted to him that the payments would be commenced again if a proper understanding could be arrived at between His Holiness and the King.

There were several incidents at this time to give evidence of the general discontent. An angry mob hissed Anne Boleyn. Two Grey Friars of Greenwich delivered public sermons against the King. When one of these courageous monks was angrily told by a Court attendant that he should be sewed in a sack and thrown in the Thames, he gave the brave reply that "these threats are for courtiers. The way to Heaven is open as well by water as by land."

Parliament, smarting under the constant bullying of Henry, was addressed by More, who in his capacity as Lord Chancellor asked them to raise monies for troops to patrol the Scotch border. One member of the Commons named Temse bravely asserted that the danger was not with the Scots and that Henry should to asked to live with his rightful wife so that her nephew, who ruled both Spain and the Low Coumtries, would not be incited to enmity. The motion of Temse was carried with enthusiasm.

The unhappy clergy sought to temporize and compromise, but to no avail. The King, applying relentless pressure and threatening mass punishment, was determined that they surrender completely. All resistance soon vanished. In abject panic, they signed a document known as "the Submission of the Clergy." It was well named, for in it the Clergy swore to make no move in any manner without the Royal assent.

On May 15th, 1532, the Archbishop of Canterbury gave the document to Henry. The Church in England was now the property of the King. It was an historic event, the subjection of the Church to the temporal power.

The next day, Sir Thomas More surrendered his seals of office.

The Story of Thomas More, John Farrow
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