; and already those at Court were saying that the Bishop of
Winchester "aimed at higher deer" than those that had already fallen to
his bow.[240]

Hardly had the ashes of the three martyrs cooled, than a mass of fresh
accusations was formulated by London against several members of the royal
household. The reports of spies and informers were sent to Gardiner by the
hand of Ockham, the clerk of the court that had condemned the martyrs, but
one of the persons accused, a member of Katharine's household, received
secret notice of what was intended and waylaid Ockham. Perusal of the
documents he bore showed that much of the information had been suborned by
Dr. London and his assistant Simons, and Katharine was appealed to for her
aid. She exerted her influence with her husband to have them both
arrested and examined. Unaware that their papers had been taken from
Ockham, they foreswore themselves and broke down when confronted with the
written proofs that the case against the accused had been trumped up on
false evidence with ulterior objects. Disgrace and imprisonment for the
two instruments, London and Simons, followed,[241] but the prelate who had
inspired their activity was too indispensable to the King to be attacked,
and he, firm in his political predominance, bided his time for yet another
blow at his enemies, amongst whom he now included the Queen, whose union
with the King he and other Catholics had so recently blessed.

Cranmer, secure as he thought in the King's regard and in his great
position as Primate, had certainly laid himself open to the attacks of his
enemies, by his almost ostentatious favour to the clergy of his province
who were known to be evading or violating the Six Articles. The chapter of
his own cathedral was profoundly divided, and the majority of its members
were opposed to what they considered the injustice of their Archbishop.
Cranmer's commissary, his nephew Nevinson, whilst going out of his way to
favour those who were accused before the chapter of false doctrine,
offended deeply the majority of the clergy by his zeal--which really only
reflected that of the Archbishop himself--in the displacing and
destruction of images in the churches, even when the figures did not
offend against the law by being made the objects of superstitious
pilgrimages and offerings. For several years past the cathedral church of
Canterbury had been a hotbed of discord, in consequence of Cranmer's
having appointed, app