Mary Tudor - Anna Whitelock [22]
ON MAY 31, 1529, the public trial of the king’s marriage was held in the Parliament Chamber of the Dominican Friary of London, Black-friars.21 Both parties were required to answer their summons on Friday, June 18, but though Henry sent proxies, Katherine unexpectedly appeared in person. She entered the chamber accompanied by four bishops and “a great company” of ladies and gentlewomen. Then, “sadly and with great gravity,” she read out a written statement protesting the cardinal’s jurisdiction to hear the case.22 The court was adjourned to consider her appeal and was reassembled on the Monday morning. Katherine arrived first, followed by Wolsey, Campeggio, and finally the king himself. Henry spoke briefly, asking for a quick decision “to determine the validity or nullity of his marriage, about which he has from the beginning felt a perpetual scruple.” Wolsey spoke next, assuring the court, and in particular Katherine, that the case would be judged fairly. After Campeggio rose to formally reject Katherine’s protestation and reassert the judges’ jurisdiction, the court crier called, “Katherine, queen of England, come into court!”
Once again Katherine rejected the authority of the court and appealed directly to Rome: how could she, a foreigner, expect justice in England? She then turned to Henry. Though her address was public and in the austere setting of Campeggio’s court, her words were intimate and imploring. Why did he now raise these scruples? she asked; “it was not the time to say this after so long silence.”
In the face of Katherine’s personal appeal, Henry was forced to respond. He had, he said, remained silent only because of “the great love he had and has for her”; he desired more than anything else that the marriage should be declared valid. Her appeal to Rome was unreasonable, “considering the Emperor’s power there,” but she had “the choice of prelates and lawyers.” England was “perfectly secure for her,” and that was where the case should be decided.23 Suddenly the queen left her dais, walked across the courtroom, and knelt down at the king’s feet. Twice Henry tried to raise her up, but she continued to kneel. Then, as Campeggio reported, “in the sight of all the court and assembly,” she spoke “in broken English.”
[She begged] him to consider her honour, her daughter’s and his; that he should not be displeased at her defending it, and should consider the reputation of her nation and relatives, who will be seriously offended; in accordance with what she had said about his goodwill, she had throughout appealed to Rome, where it was reasonable that the affair should be determined, as the present place was open to suspicion and because the cause is already [begun] at Rome.24
Katherine had turned Henry’s protestations of love against him. How could he, if he was so keen for their marriage to be declared valid, object to her appeal to Rome? Katherine got to her feet, curtsyed to the king, and left the court ignoring calls for her to return.25
On July 31, Campeggio announced that the pope had adjourned the court.26 While Henry immediately began petitioning for the court to be reconvened, Katherine and the Habsburgs urged Pope Clement to return a favorable verdict. And so events proceeded: high politics and diplomacy in London and Rome conducted alongside the personal reality of a marriage unraveling.
CHAPTER 10
THE KING’S GREAT MATTER
The Queen writes that such are the King’s disappointment and passion at not being able to carry out his purpose that the Cardinal will inevitably be the victim of his rage.1
—MENDOZA TO THE EMPEROR, JULY 25, 1529
WITH THE DIVORCE CASE REFERRED TO ROME, THERE SEEMED little prospect of Henry securing a favorable judgment. By the Treaty of Cambrai, Francis, Charles, and the pope had come to terms and ended French military efforts in Italy. France could no longer be used to put pressure on the emperor. While in Charles’s custody, the pope had promised the emperor “not to grant unto any act that might be preparative, or otherwise, to divorce to be made to the