ubjects, and attempt by force to bring them back to their
allegiance.

The news of what had been done did not take him wholly by surprise. It was
known at Brussels at the end of April that the king had married. The queen
regent[595] spoke of it to the ambassador sternly and significantly, not
concealing her expectation of the mortal resentment which would be felt by
her brothers;[596] and the information was forwarded with the least
possible delay to the cardinals of the imperial faction at Rome. The true
purposes which underlay the contradiction of Clement's language are
undiscoverable. Perhaps in the past winter he had been acting out a deep
intrigue--perhaps he was drifting between rival currents, and yielded in
any or all directions as the alternate pressure varied; yet whatever had
been the meaning of his language, whether it was a scheme to deceive Henry,
or was the expression only of weakness and good-nature desiring to avoid a
quarrel to the latest moment, the decisive step which had been taken in the
marriage, even though it was nominally undivulged, obliged him to choose
his course and openly adhere to it. After the experience of the past, there
could be no doubt what that course would be.

On the 12th of May a citation was issued against the King of England,
summoning him to appear by person or proxy at a stated day. It had been
understood that no step of such a kind was to be taken before the meeting
of the pope and Francis; Bennet, therefore, Henry's faithful secretary,
hastily inquired the meaning of this measure. The pope told him that it
could not be avoided, and the language which he used revealed to the
English agent the inevitable future. The king, he said, had defied the
inhibitory brief which had been lately issued, and had incurred
excommunication; the imperialists insisted that he should be proceeded
against for contempt, and that the excommunication should at once be
pronounced. However great might be his own personal reluctance, it was not
possible for him to remain passive; and if he declined to resort at once to
the more extreme exercise of his power, the hesitation was merely until the
emperor was prepared to enforce the censures of the church with the strong
hand. It stood not "with his honour to execute such censures," he said,
"and the same not to be regarded."[597] But there was no wish to spare
Henry; and if Francis could be detached from his ally, and if the condition
of the rest of Chr