dered as
the cause of the strife and of the insult offered to the imperial house.
To the Emperor the Cardinal could not again turn. Henry, moreover, was no
longer the obedient tool he had been before Anne was by his side to
stiffen his courage; and Wolsey knew that, notwithstanding the favourite's
feline civilities and feigned dependence upon him, it would be the turn of
his enemies to rule when once she became the King's wedded wife. He was,
indeed, hoist with his own petard. The divorce had been mainly promoted,
if not originated, by him, and the divorce in the present circumstances
would crush him. But he had pledged himself too deeply to draw back
openly; and he still had to smile upon those who were planning his ruin,
and himself urge forward the policy by which it was to be effected.

In the meanwhile Katharine stood firm, living under the same roof as her
husband, sitting at the same table with him with a serene countenance in
public, and to all appearance unchanged in her relations to him. But
though her pride stood her in good stead she was perplexed and lonely.
Henry's intention to divorce her, and his infatuation for Anne, were of
course public property, and the courtiers turned to the coming
constellation, whatever the common people might do. Mendoza, the Spanish
ambassador, withdrew from Court in the spring after the declaration of
war, and the Queen's isolation was then complete. To the Spanish Latinist
in Flanders, J. Luis Vives, and to Erasmus, she wrote asking for counsel
in her perplexity, but decorous epistles in stilted Latin advising
resignation and Christian fortitude was all she got from either.[59] Her
nephew the Emperor had urged her, in any case, to refuse to recognise the
authority of any tribunal in England to judge her case, and had done what
he could to frighten the Pope against acceding to Henry's wishes. But even
he was not implacable, if his political ends were served in any
arrangement that might be made; and at this time he evidently hoped, as
did the Pope most fervently, that as a last resource Katharine would help
everybody out of the trouble by giving up the struggle and taking the
veil. Her personal desire would doubtless have been to adopt this course,
for the world had lost its savour, but she was a daughter of Isabel the
Catholic, and tame surrender was not in her line. Her married life with
Henry she knew was at an end;[60] but her daughter was now growing into
girlhood, and her