laimed that "the Great Devil was dead." Henry knew better than his
Minister that "the Great Devil" was not this or that pontiff, but the
Papacy itself. He had liberated his kingdom; he did not mean to lead it
back into bondage. "Let no man," he said to Norfolk, "try to persuade me
to such a step. I shall account no more of the Pope than of any priest in
my realm."[297] Farnese undoubtedly expected that Henry would make
advances to him, and was prepared to meet them; he told Casalis that he
had taken a legal opinion as to whether his predecessor's judgment in the
divorce case could be reopened, and a decision given in the King's favour;
the lawyers had assured him that there would be no difficulty, and the
Pope evidently wished the King to believe that he might now have his way
if he would place himself in the Pope's hands. Henry, however, was too
wary to be caught. He must have deeds, not words, he said. If the Pope was
sincere he would revoke his predecessor's sentence of his own accord.
Francis, by whose influence Farnese had been elected, tried to bring Henry
to submission, but to no purpose. The King was no longer to be moved by
vague phrases like those to which he had once trusted to his cost.
Surrounded by treachery though he knew himself to be, he looked no longer
for palliatives and compromises, and went straight on upon his way. The
House of Commons was with him, growing in heartiness at each succeeding
session. The Peers and clergy might conspire in secret. In public, as
estates of the realm, they were too cowardly to oppose.

Parliament met in November. The other Acts which were passed by it this
year are relatively unimportant, and may be read elsewhere. The great
business of the session, which has left its mark on history, was to pass
the Act of Supremacy, detailing and explaining the meaning of the title
which Convocation two years previously had conferred upon the King.
Unentangled any longer with saving clauses, the sovereign authority under
the law in all causes, ecclesiastical and civil, was declared to rest
thenceforward in the Crown, and the last vestiges of Roman jurisdiction in
England were swept off and disappeared. No laws, no injunctions, no
fancied rights over the consciences of English subjects were to be pleaded
further as a rule to their conduct which had not been sanctioned by Crown
and Parliament. No clergy, English or foreign, were to exercise
thenceforward any power not delegated to them a