or God's sake, to procrastinate the matter in
England somehow, and not throw upon his shoulders in Rome the
responsibility of giving judgment; whilst Campeggio, though professing a
desire to please Henry in everything--in the hope of getting the promised
rich See of Durham, his enemies said--was equally determined not to go an
inch beyond the Pope's written instructions, or to assume responsibility
for the final decision. The churchmen indeed were shuffling and lying all
round, for the position was threatening, with Lutheranism daily becoming
bolder and the Emperor growing ever more peremptory, now that he had
become reconciled to the Pope.

By the end of May Henry had had enough of dallying, especially as rumours
came from Rome that the Pope might revoke the commission of the Legates;
and the great hall of the Monastery of Blackfriars was made ready for the
sittings of the Legatine Court. On a raised dais were two chairs of state,
covered with cloth of gold, and on the right side of the dais a throne and
canopy for the King, confronted by another for the Queen. The first
sittings of the Legates were formal, and the King and Queen were summoned
to appear before the tribunal on the 18th June 1529. Early in the morning
of the day appointed the hall was full to overflowing with bishops,
clerics, and councillors, and upon the crowd there fell the hush of those
who consciously look upon a great drama of real life. After the Bishops of
Bath and Lincoln had testified that citations to the King and Queen had
been delivered, and other formal statements had been taken, an usher stood
forth and cried: "Henry, King of England, appear." But Henry was at
Greenwich, five miles away, and in his stead there answered the
ecclesiastical lawyer, Dr. Sampson. Then "Katharine, Queen of England"
rang out, and into the hall there swept the procession of the Queen,
herself rustling in stiff black garments, with four bishops, amongst them
Fisher of Rochester, and a great train of ladies. Standing before the
throne erected for her, she made a low obeisance to the Legates; and then,
in formal terms, protested against the competence of the tribunal to judge
her case, consisting, as it did, of those dependent upon one of the
parties, and unable to give an impartial judgment. She appealed from the
Legates to the Sovereign Pontiff, who, without fear or favour of man,
would decide according to divine and human law. Then with another low
obeisance Kathar