eking to destroy the
other. Henry let the factions fight till he thought the time was come
for him to intervene. In February, 1540, there was a theological encounter
between Gardiner and Barnes, the principal agent in Henry's dealings
with the Lutherans, and Barnes was forced to recant;[1090] in April
Gardiner and one or two conservatives, who had long been excluded from
the Council, were believed to have been readmitted;[1091] and it was
reported that Tunstall would succeed Cromwell as the King's
Vicegerent.[1092] But a few days later two of Cromwell's satellites,
Wriothesley and Sadleir, were made Secretaries of State; Cromwell
himself was created Earl of Essex; and, in May, the Bishop of
Chichester and two other opponents of reform were sent to the
Tower.[1093] At last Henry struck. On the 10th of June Cromwell was
arrested; he had, wrote the Council, "not only been counterworking the
King's aims for the settlement of religion, but had said that, if the
King and the realm varied from his opinions, he would withstand them,
and that he hoped in another year or two to bring things to that frame
that the King could not resist it".[1094] His cries for mercy evoked
no response in that hardened age.[1095] Parliament condemned him
unheard, and, on the 28th of July, he was beheaded.

[Footnote 1090: _L. and P._, xv., 306, 312, 334.]

[Footnote 1091: _Ibid._, xv., 486, 804.]

[Footnote 1092: _Ibid._, XIV., ii., 141.]

[Footnote 1093: _Ibid._, xv., 737.]

[Footnote 1094: Burnet, iv., 415-23; _L. and P._,
xv., 765-67.]

[Footnote 1095: Merriman, _Cromwell_, ii., 268,
273.]

Henry had in reality come to the conclusion that it was safe to (p. 395)
dispense with Anne of Cleves and her relatives; and with his will
there was easily found a way. His case, as stated by himself, was, as
usual, a most ingenious mixture of fact and fiction, reason and
sophistry. His "intention" had been defective, and therefore his
administration of the sacrament of marriage had been invalid. He was
not a free agent because fear of being left defenceless against
Francis and Charles had driven him under the yoke. His marriage had
only been a conditional form. Anne had never received a release from
her contract with the son of the Duke of Lorraine; Henry had only gone
through the ceremony on the a