All that came of this conference was a summons to Pole to proceed to Rome forthwith, to answer the charges brought against him by the Inquisition, and a protest from Mary, that his trial should take place in England, while Peto, invested with all the powers hitherto exercised by Pole, was to take his place at once.
In order not to place herself in open opposition to the Pope, and yet not to yield in a matter which appeared to her to involve the most serious consequences, Mary had recourse to a diplomatic quibble, not unprecedented in history. She gave orders that every courier from the continent should be detained, and searched, on his arrival at any English port, and when the Papal messenger reached Calais, on his way to England, he was arrested and deprived of his despatches. In this way, although Mary knew, from private letters, of Peto’s appointment and of Pole’s recall, she never received the official notification of either. The Papal brief addressed to Pole disappeared at the same time, while Peto never received the bull which appointed him legate. But the Cardinal ceased to exercise his functions as legate a latere, although he retained those of legatus natus, which belonged to the Archbishopric of Canterbury. He sent his chancellor Ormanetto to Rome to represent him. Ormanetto arrived just as peace was being concluded between Philip and the Holy See, and was kindly received; but the case was referred by the Pope to his nephew Cardinal Caraffa, Papal Nuncio at Brussels. Caraffa required that both Pole and Peto should be allowed to go to Rome, the one to clear himself from the charge of heresy, the other, that he might aid the Pope with his counsel. But Mary refused to let Pole go, and the situation thus constituted only ceased to exist at the death, a few months later, of every one concerned in it.[683] The charge against Pole appears to have been of the flimsiest nature. It was never substantiated, but it served the purpose of the moment, to oppose an additional barrier to public peace and concord. It has in no way affected his reputation for orthodoxy, and he stands out in history as the model of a devout, loyal, upright Englishman.
FOOTNOTES:
[626] Michiel’s Report on England; Cotton MS., Nero B. vii., Brit. Mus.
[627] Cobbett, History of the Reformation, edited by the Rev. F. A. Gasquet, O.S.B., p. 193.
[628] Burnet, History of the Reformation, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 495.
[629] Lingard, vol. v., p. 494.
[630] De Noailles, Ambassades, vol. iii., p. 217.
[631] Sorranzo to the Doge, Ven. Cal., vol. vi., pt. i., 619.