ar with England about Katharine, for the French were busily drawing
towards the Pope, whose niece, Katharine de Medici, was to be betrothed to
the son of Francis; and the imperial agents in Rome ceased to insist so
pertinaciously upon a decision of the matrimonial suit.

Katharine alone clamoured unceasingly that her "hell upon earth" should be
ended by a decision in her favour from the Sovereign Pontiff. Her friends
in England were many, for the old party of nobles were rallying again to
her side, even Norfolk was secretly in her favour, or at least against
the King's marriage with his niece Anne, and Henry's new bold step against
the Papacy, taken under bureaucratic influence, had aroused much fear and
jealousy amongst prelates like Fisher and jurists like More, as well as
amongst the aristocratic party in the country. Desperate efforts were made
to prevent the need for further action in defiance of the Papacy by the
decision of the matrimonial suit by the English Parliament; and early in
June 1531 Henry and his Council decided to put fresh pressure upon
Katharine to get her to consent to a suspension of the proceedings in
Rome, and to the relegation of the case to a tribunal in some neutral
territory. Katharine at Greenwich had secret knowledge of the intention,
and she can hardly have been so surprised as she pretended to be when, as
she was about to retire to rest, at nine o'clock at night, to learn that
the Dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk, and some thirty other nobles and
prelates, sought audience of her. Norfolk spoke first, and in the King's
name complained bitterly of the slight put upon him by the Pope's
citation. He urged the Queen, for the sake of England, for the memory of
the political services of Henry to her kin, and his past kindness to her,
to meet his wishes and consent to a neutral tribunal judging between them.
Katharine was, as usual, cool and contemptuous. No one was more sorry than
she for the King's annoyance, though she had not been the cause of it; but
there was only one judge in the world competent to deal with the case.
"His Holiness, who keeps the place, and has the power, of God upon earth,
and is the image of eternal truth." As for recognising her husband as
supreme head of the Church, that she would never do. When Dr. Lee spoke
harshly, telling her that she knew that, her first marriage having been
consummated, her second was never legal, she vehemently denied the fact,
and told him angrily t