ight be allowed two
wives."

The sanction for the marriage with Anne Boleyn was obtained without great
difficulty--but it was to be subject to the divorce from Katharine being
ratified. Thus the King was faced with another obstacle. At this moment
began the struggle for supremacy at Rome between English and Spanish
influence. The Pope had to choose between the two; Charles V. was the
victor, whereupon Henry cut the Gordian knot by throwing over the
jurisdiction of Rome. Wolsey was in a position of tragic perplexity. He
was torn by his allegiance to the King, and his zeal for the preservation
of the Church. He wrote: "I cannot reflect upon it and close my eye, for I
see ruin, infamy and subversion of the whole dignity and estimation of the
See Apostolic if this course is persisted in." But Pope Clement dared not
offend the Emperor Charles, who was his best, because his most powerful
ally, and had he not proved his power by sacking Rome? The Pope, although
quite ready to grant dispensations for a marriage of Princess Mary and her
half-brother, the Duke of Richmond, though he was ready to grant
Margaret's divorce, could not afford to stultify the whole Papal dignity
by revoking the dispensation he had originally given that Henry should
marry his brother's wife. Truly an edifying embroglio! Henry was desirous
of shifting the responsibility on God through the Pope--the Pope was
sufficiently astute to wish to put the responsibility on the devil through
Henry. There was one other course open--that course the Pope took.

In 1528 he gave a Commission to Wolsey and Cardinal Campeggio to try the
case themselves, and pronounce sentence. Back went the embassy to England.
Wolsey saw through the device, for the Pope was still free to revoke the
Commission. Indeed Clement's attitude towards Henry was dictated entirely
by the fluctuating fortune of Charles V., Emperor of Spain. Meanwhile,
Charles won another battle against the French, and the Pope at once gave
secret instructions to Campeggio to procrastinate, assuring Charles that
nothing would be done which should be to the detriment of Katharine. The
wily Campeggio (emissary of the Pope) at first sought to persuade Henry to
refrain from the divorce. Henry refused. Thereupon he endeavoured to
persuade Katharine voluntarily to enter a nunnery. Among all these
plotters and intriguers, Katharine, adamant in her virtue, maintained her
position as lawful wife and Queen.

When Wolsey and