Six Wives (61 page)

    The last time anything like this had been tried was Wolsey's ill-fated mission to France in 1527. But then the diplomatic situation had turned against Wolsey; he was also fatally undercut at home. Wiltshire would have better luck. The fate, which had made Charles V absolute master of Europe, slowly began to turn. And Wiltshire could also relax on the home front: his daughter Anne would see to that.

* * *

Wiltshire's first port of call was Paris, the seat of the Sorbonne. This was the most prestigious faculty of theology in Christendom. A favourable verdict from the Sorbonne would go far to establish Henry's case; a negative one would destroy it. Henry had high hopes, since Francis I of France had thrown his weight behind the campaign for the Divorce. But Henry's approaches to the faculty, which had begun the previous November, had run into immediate difficulties. The first obstacle was the formidable Noel Béda, principal of the collège de Montaigu and the scourge of the proto-Protestant
Cercle de Meaux
. Béda was rigorously orthodox, too, on the question of Papal authority, which, he correctly perceived, was challenged by Henry VIII's claims. He was therefore implacable in his opposition. And, thanks to his authority, obstinacy and almost infinite deviousness, he waged a highly effective campaign. He was not short of allies either, whether in the
parlement
of Paris or in the substantial group of Spanish scholars in the Sorbonne. The latter were led by Dr Garay, who, with very little help from Charles V, conducted a freelance guerrilla war on Catherine's behalf.

    It was like Cambridge, only worse.

    Wiltshire was informed of the situation in a letter from his client Stokesley, one of the two English agents in Paris. The letter, dated 16 January, probably reached the Earl en route. It detailed the machinations of Béda and 'the unlearned Spanish Doctor Pedro Garay', and the steps which the English had taken to counter the 'authority' of the former and the 'fury' of the latter. But finally, Stokesley made plain, everything depended on direct intervention by the French King.

    Anne's brother George, the other English agent, had ridden off in post to the Court at Dijon to try to procure it. But Stokesley was not optimistic. For Francis I's two sons, surrendered as hostages for the fulfilment of his treaty with his captor Charles V, were still in Spanish hands. Till they were released, the French would do nothing openly, 'for that they feared that thereby the Emperor might make a colour [pretext] to delay the deliverance of the . . . King's children.' Montmorency, the chief French minister, and De Langey, Du Bellay's brother, had been quite open about this, Stokesley reported: only let the Princes be in French hands 'and we should have of . . . them all aid and furtherance that we would desire'. But were they, he wondered, as sincere as they seemed? Would it not be wiser to continue to press ahead while the French were so dependent on the English for co-operation in the complex negotiations with the Emperor?
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    Wiltshire seems to have endorsed Stokesley's advice. He then continued towards his own rendezvous with Francis.

    The meeting had been fixed to take place at Moulins in the Auvergne on 18 February. The town had been chosen because it was convenient both for Wiltshire's journey south, towards the Italian frontier, and for the French King, who was still at Dijon. But Wiltshire, hastening towards Bologna, arrived three days early, on the 15th. Luckily Du Bellay was there to meet him. He immediately set himself to roll out the red carpet for Wiltshire, since, as he knew from his experiences in England, the feelings of the future father-in-law of the King of England ruffled easily. Wiltshire should be lodged in the
château
, he recommended. The French King should send Court officials to wait on him. Above all, Francis I should come to meet him himself. 'You know the man', Du Bellay advised Montmorency, 'he only wants to stay here till tomorrow!'
²⁸

    In the event, the King of France
did
come to meet the Earl of Wiltshire – though since Francis only arrived in Moulins on the 19th, Wiltshire had to stay three or four extra days.

    Wiltshire then resumed his journey south. At Roanne, he heard that the Pope and Emperor were planning to leave Bologna soon after the forthcoming coronation on 24 February. Appalled at the risk of missing his goal, Wiltshire tried to ride post. But his constitution was not up to the strain, and at Lyon he was so 'broken' that he had to abandon the plan. But (as might be expected of Anne's father) what he lacked in strength he made up for in determination. 'If I know him', Du Bellay remarked, 'as soon as he's recovered, he'll make the best speed he can.' He did so and arrived in Bologna on 14 March, with a few days to spare before the Emperor's departure on the 22nd.
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    Wiltshire had his first, formal audience with the Emperor on the 15th but the substantive discussions continued over the following few days. The courtesies were observed but high words were exchanged on both sides. As Wiltshire sought to recapitulate Henry's arguments on the Divorce, Charles cut him short and 'went very far with him'. 'He was not to be believed in this case', the Emperor said, 'as he was a party.' Despite this assault from the greatest ruler of Christendom, Wiltshire more than stood his ground. 'What he did', he replied, 'was not as a father but as a subject and servant of his master.' The English King, he continued, would have been delighted if the Emperor had been willing to understand and accept his conscientious objections to his marriage, 'nevertheless his pleasure would not hinder the execution of his intention'.

    There was now a mutual stand-off.

    At this point, as the attempt to broker a settlement had failed, Wiltshire was instructed to pull from the hat the rabbit of Cranmer's argument. The issue was one, he said, of the authority of Scripture versus the authority of the Pope. And there could be no contest between the two. Scripture was clear in it, so too were the canons and decretals (here Wiltshire cited the precise chapter). Finally, Wiltshire explained, Henry had received a sort of prophetic support:

This 'wonderfully virtuous and wise man', whose judgement Henry so much depended on, can only have been Cranmer.

    Charles V listened to Wiltshire's exposition with a mixture of impatience and incomprehension. He then announced his definitive position. He intended that the affair would be determined by the ordinary course of justice at Rome. 'If the marriage with his aunt be found to be null, he will not maintain it, but if it is pronounced valid, he will.'
³⁰

    And he refused to hear Wiltshire further.

* * *

Wiltshire had to endure another embarrassment. So far, Henry had managed to avoid being served with the citation to appear in Rome for the trial of his marriage. But, taking advantage of the presence of Spanish troops in Bologna, Catherine's proxy served the summons on Wiltshire as Henry's accredited representative. Wiltshire blustered. But, so long as Charles was in Bologna, there was nothing he could do.

    The moment the Emperor left, however, he complained vigorously to the Pope of the indignity, and demanded a six-month delay, on condition that Henry did not act unilaterally. The Pope refused to act without consulting the Emperor. But when Charles V made no objection the compromise was agreed.

    The English were greatly helped in this damage-limitation exercise by the French envoy to the Curia, the Bishop of Tarbes. Wiltshire was properly grateful, as Tarbes informed Francis I: the events at Bologna, Wiltshire said, 'will create a stronger affection towards you, in himself and his master'. And Francis would have a more potent ally still. 'He told me yesterday', Tarbes continued, 'he was sure, if his daughter came to be Queen, she would be all her life your very humble servant, well knowing that all their weal depends on you only.'
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    The language is extravagant, but there was a sober reality behind it. Anne's preferences were French, not only in culture, language and religion but, crucially, in foreign policy too. It was, after all, no more than a recognition of mutual interests.

* * *

In his despatches home, written on the 18th and 19th as events were still unfolding, Wiltshire made no attempt to gloss his failure with Charles. The Emperor, he wrote, was both resolute and immovable: 'stiffly . . . set in the contrary part of Your Grace's Great Matter and earnest . . . in it'. He was primed by Chancellor Gattinara. And Gattinara's influence was equally malign on Chapuys, 'the Emperor's ambassador being resident with your Grace in England', since he was, Wiltshire suspected, 'by many likelihoods . . . much led and guided by the Chancellor'. Finally, the Pope was and would remain in the Emperor's pocket: 'he is led by the Emperor, so that he neither will nor dare displease him.'

    The enemy, in short, was now fully known and unmasked.

    The courier made excellent time to England and the letters were in Henry's hands by the time of his audience with the French ambassador at the beginning of April. His worst fears were confirmed. 'The King', the ambassador reported, 'is so displeased with the Emperor's haughtiness that he has a great mind to recall his ambassador; which he adds, he is the more induced to do, as he believes it would lead the Emperor to withdraw his, for he is little satisfied with the Imperial ambassador here.' Henry also speculated openly on an English solution to the Divorce, 'by the advice of his Council and Parliament'. The Pope was 'simoniacal and ignorant', and other kingdoms, he was convinced, would follow his lead in refusing to recognise Rome.

    All this suggests that historians have misunderstood the effects of the Bologna meeting. It was not a defeat for Wiltshire, as the Duke of Norfolk, already jealous of Boleyn power, was eager to insinuate to Chapuys. On the contrary, it demonstrated that the Boleyn strategy on the Great Matter had been correct. Anne and her father had long argued that, since Rome neither could nor would grant a Divorce, alternative means must be found. Now they stood vindicated by Charles's intransigence.
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    Cranmer, it was clear, was right. The Boleyns as his patrons were right. There was no alternative. And this in turn meant that the canvass of university opinion became more important than ever.

* * *

The original intention had been for Wiltshire to remain in Italy till the canvass was complete: he would then present the 'determinations' to the Pope, who would stand confounded; the Pope might even yield . . .

    Bologna challenged this cosy assumption. Now Wiltshire was instructed to return to France, to hold a watching brief on the political situation there. To replace him, Cranmer was given the day-to-day charge of the Italian canvass. He proved exceptionally successful, and, within a few months, favourable verdicts had been obtained from the four leading universities: Padua, Pavia, Ferrara and Bologna. This is the more remarkable since the English were operating in 'enemy' territory. It was 'serious', the Imperial ambassador to Venice reported, that the faculty in the Pope's own city of Bologna should find for Henry, since 'they are subjects of the Pope'. But find they did. The means used were not pretty – on either side. English money was met with Imperial and Papal threats. Academics intrigued, deceived and shamelessly changed their minds. Inevitably, there were crises, in which Richard Croke, the most active and excitable English agent, appealed beyond Cranmer and invoked the Boleyns themselves. 'Advertise my Lord [of Wiltshire] or the King or else all will be lost', he wrote in one letter. 'I pray you', he implored Cranmer in another, 'to move my Lord of Wiltshire and my Lady Boleyn to move the King to be good to me, and that I may have money and authority of an ambassador.' Then his task would be easy.
³³

* * *

    But, reluctant and half-hearted as it was, De Langey's intervention was far from satisfying the English and three days later, on the 15th, they wrote to Wiltshire, who was being entertained royally at the French Court at Angoulême, to complain. De Langey was showing them one set of letters to Francis but actually sending other, milder ones, they grumbled. And they reported in horror the sort of language which Henry's opponents had used in the debates. Béda had exhorted his colleagues, they wrote, to remain fast, 'trusting that there were left many yet
qui non flexerunt genua Simulacro Baal
[who would not bend the knee to the Idol of Baal]'. 'Signifying', they continued, 'that the King our master and the French King were the idol of Baal, and all that followed their desires committed idolatry'.
³⁵

    Finally, events broke the deadlock. On I July, Francis's sons were handed over at the Spanish frontier. And on 2 July, certain that the release would take place, De Langey extorted the required verdict from the Faculty.
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