moned to forbear intelligence with
the Turk, to satisfy the demands of the Emperor and the King of England in
the many old claims they had against him, and no peace was to be made with
France by either ally, unless the other's claims were satisfied. The
claims of Henry included the town and county of Boulogne, with Montreuil
and Therouenne, his arrears of pension, and assurance of future payment:
and the two allies agreed within two years to invade France together, each
with 20,000 foot and 5000 horse.[232] This secret compact was signed on
the 11th February 1543; and the diplomatic relations with France were at
once broken off. At last the repudiation of Katharine of Aragon was
condoned, and Henry was once more the Emperor's "good brother";--a fit
ally for the Catholic king, the champion of orthodox Christianity. As if
to put the finishing touch upon Henry's victory, Charles held an interview
with the Pope in June 1543 on his way through Italy, and succeeded in
persuading him that the inclusion of the King who defied the Church in the
league of militant Catholics was a fit complement to the alliance of
France and enemies of all Christianity; and would secure the triumph of
the Papacy and the return of England into the fold.

Whilst the preparations for war thus went busily forward on all sides,
with Chantonnay in England and Thomas Seymour in Germany and Flanders
arranging military details of arms, levies, and stores, and the Emperor
already clamouring constantly for prompt English subsidies and contingents
against his enemies, Henry, full of importance and self-satisfaction at
his position, contracted the only one of his marriages which was not
promoted by a political intrigue, although at the time it was effected it
was doubtless looked upon as favouring the Catholic party. Certainly no
lady of the Court enjoyed a more blameless reputation than Katharine Lady
Latimer, upon whom the King now cast his eyes. A daughter of the great and
wealthy house of Parr of Kendal, allied to the royal blood in no very
distant degree, and related to most of the higher nobility of England, she
was, so far as descent was concerned, quite as worthy to be the wife of a
king as the unfortunate daughters of the house of Howard. Her brother,
Lord Parr, soon to be created Earl of Essex and Marquis of Northampton, a
favourite courtier of the King and a very splendid magnate,[233] had been
one of the chief enemies of Cromwell; who had in his last