ndulged as a divine command, there was
no incitement for the exhibition of the baser qualities that underlay the
big, popular manner, the flamboyant patriotism, and, it must be added, the
real ability which appealed alike to the gentle and simple over whom he
was called to rule. Like many men of his peculiar physique, he was never a
strong man morally, and his will grew weaker as his body increased in
gross flabbiness. The obstinate self-assertion and violence that impressed
most observers as strength, hid behind them a spirit that forever needed
direction and support from a stronger soul. So long as he was allowed in
appearance to have his own way and his policy was showy, he was, as one of
his wisest ministers said in his last days, the easiest man in the world
to manage. His sensuality, which was all his own, and his personal vanity,
were the qualities by means of which one able councillor after another
used him for the ends they had in view, until the bridle chafed him, and
his temporary master was made to feel the vengeance of a weak despot who
discovers that he has been ruled instead of ruling. In Henry's personal
character as sketched above we shall be able to find the key of the
tremendous political events that made his reign the most important in our
annals; and we shall see that his successive marriages were the outcome of
subtle intrigues in which representatives of various parties took
advantage of the King's vanity and lasciviousness to promote their own
political or religious views. That the emancipation of England from Rome
was the ultimate result cannot fairly be placed to Henry's personal
credit. If he could have had his own way without breaking with the Papacy
he would have preferred to maintain the connection; but the Reformation
was in the air, and craftier brains than Henry's led the King step by step
by his ruling passions until he had gone too far to retreat. To what
extent his various matrimonial adventures served these intrigues we shall
see in the course of this book.

That Henry's marriage with Katharine soon after his accession was
politically expedient has been shown in the aforegoing pages; and the
King's Council were strongly in favour of it, with the exception of the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Chancellor Warham, who was more purely
ecclesiastical than his colleagues, and appears to have had doubts as to
the canonical validity of the union. As we have seen, the Pope had given a
dispensa