r the sake of the Queen, although the
Queen and Princess were as a mother and a sister to him. He went through
the case; he said their statutes were void in themselves, and, even if
valid, could not be retrospective. The Archbishop had been just sworn to
the Pope. He had broken his oath, and was under excommunication,[228] and
was, therefore, disqualified to act. He reminded the Council of the Wars
of the Roses, and told them they were sharpening the thorns for fresh
struggles.

Doctor Foxe (the King's Almoner, afterwards bishop) replied that the King
could not live with his brother's wife without sin, and therefore left
her. It was a fact accomplished, and no longer to be argued. To challenge
the action of the Archbishop was to challenge the law of the land, and was
not to be allowed. The Pope had no authority in England, spiritual or
temporal. The introduction of bulls or briefs from Rome was unlawful, and
could not be sheltered behind immunities of ambassadors. Chapuys was the
representative of the Emperor, not of the Pope, and Foxe cautioned him
against creating disturbances in the realm.

To this Chapuys quietly answered that he would do his duty, let the
consequences be what they might. Being again warned, he said he would wait
for two or three days, within which he looked for a satisfactory reply
from the King.

In leaving the council-room, he said, in imperious fashion, as if he was
addressing a set of criminals, that reports were current about the Emperor
which he desired to notice. Some declared that he had consented to the
marriage with the Lady Anne. Others that he meant to make war. Both
allegations alike were false and malicious. So far from wishing to injure
England, the Emperor wished to help and support it, and could not believe
that he would ever be obliged to act otherwise; and as to consenting to
the divorce, if the Pope declared for it he would submit to the Pope's
judgment; otherwise the world would not turn him from the path which he
meant to follow. He was acting as the King's best friend, as the King
would acknowledge if he could forget his passion for the Lady and consider
seriously his relations with the Emperor. He begged the Council,
therefore, to prevent such rumours from being circulated if they did not
wish Chapuys to contradict them himself.

The Ambassador was keeping within the truth when he said that Charles was
not meditating war. Chapuys's instructions when first sent to England