go down to Parliament and defend herself in person. On the 10th she
was removed to the Tower, being dressed in black velvet and treated
with "as much honour as when she was reigning".[1122] Three days later
she was beheaded on the same spot where the sword had severed the fair
neck of Anne Boleyn.

[Footnote 1116: _L. and P._, xvi., 1334.]

[Footnote 1117: Herbert, _Life and Reign_, ed.
1672, p. 534.]

[Footnote 1118: _Ibid._, xvi., 1403.]

[Footnote 1119: _Ibid._, xvi., 1426.]

[Footnote 1120: _Lords' Journals_, pp. 171, 176.]

[Footnote 1121: _L. and P._, xvii., 124.]

[Footnote 1122: _Ibid._]

Thus ended one of the "good things" which had come out of the
repudiation of Anne of Cleves. Other advantages were more permanent.
The breach between Francis and Charles grew ever wider. In 1541 the
French King's ambassadors to the Turk were seized and executed by (p. 405)
the order of the imperial governor of Milan.[1123] The outrage brought
Francis's irritation to a head. He was still pursuing the shadow of a
departed glory and the vain hope of dominion beyond the Alps. He had
secured none of the benefits he anticipated from the imperial
alliance; his interviews with Charles and professions of friendship
were lost on that heartless schemer, and he realised the force of
Henry's gibe at his expectations from Charles. "I have myself," said
Henry, "held interviews for three weeks together with the Emperor."
Both sovereigns began to compete for England's favour. The French,
said Chapuys, "now almost offer the English _carte blanche_ for an
alliance";[1124] and he told Charles that England must, at any price,
be secured in the imperial interest. In June, 1542, Francis declared
war on the Emperor, and, by the end of July, four French armies were
invading or threatening Charles's dominions. Henry, in spite of all
temptations, was not to be the tool of either; he had designs of his
own; and the breach between Francis and Charles gave him a unique
opportunity for completing his imperialist projects, by extending his
sway over the one portion of the British Isles which yet remained
independent.

[Footnote 1123: _L. and P._, xvi., 984, 991, 1042.]

[Footnote 1124: _Ibid._, xvii., 124.]

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As in