ady. The date of his marriage with Anne
Boleyn is even now a matter of conjecture.[822] Cranmer repudiated (p. 296)
the report that he performed the ceremony.[823] He declares he did not
know of it until a fortnight after the event, and says it took place
about St. Paul's Day (25th January). A more important question was the
individuality of the archbishop who was to pronounce the nullity of
Henry's marriage with Catherine of Aragon. He must obviously be one on
whom the King could rely. Fortunately for Henry, Archbishop Warham had
died in August, 1532. His successor was to be Thomas Cranmer, who had
first suggested to Henry the plan of seeking the opinions of the
universities on the divorce, and was now on an embassy at the
Emperor's Court. No time was to be lost. Henry usually gathered a rich
harvest during the vacancy of great bishoprics, but now Canterbury was
to be filled up without any delay, and the King even lent Cranmer
1,000 marks to meet his expenses.[824] But would the Pope be so
accommodating as to expedite the bulls, suspecting, as he must have
done, the object for which they were wanted?

[Footnote 820: _L. and P._, v., 1633.]

[Footnote 821: _Ibid._, v., 1579.]

[Footnote 822: Cranmer, _Works_, ii., 246. The
antedating of the marriage to 14th November, 1532,
by Hall and Holinshed was doubtless due to a desire
to shield Anne's character; Stow gives the correct
date.]

[Footnote 823: See the present writer's _Cranmer_,
p. 60 _n._]

[Footnote 824: _L. and P._, vi., 131.]

For this contingency also Henry had provided; and he was actually
using the Pope as a means for securing the divorce. An appearance of
friendship with Clement was the weapon he now employed with the
greatest effect. The Pope was discussing with the French ambassadors a
proposal to remit the divorce case to some neutral spot, such as
Cambrai, and delaying that definite sentence in Catherine's favour
which imperialists had hoped that his interview with Charles would (p. 297)
precipitate;[825] the papal nuncio was being feasted in England,
and was having suspiciously amicable conferences with members of
Henry's council. Henry himself was writing to Clement in the most
cordial terms; he had instructed his ambassadors in 1531 to "use all
gentleness tow