[203] Cromwell to Henry. (Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 14.)
[204] Cromwell’s statement. (Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 15, p. 391.)
[205] Wriothesley’s deposition. (Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 15.)
[206] The King got a double grant of four fifteenths and tenths, payable by instalments in four years; a shilling in the pound on all lands, and sixpence in the pound on personal property; aliens paying double; besides the confiscation of the great revenues of the Order of St. John. Such taxation was almost without precedent in England, and certainly added to Cromwell’s unpopularity, already very great, owing to the oppressiveness of his religious policy with regard to the religious houses and his personal harshness.
[207] The Spanish Chronicle Of Henry VIII., edited by the present writer. In this record, Seymour, Earl of Hertford, is made to take a leading part in the fall of Cromwell in the interests of his nephew the Prince of Wales (Edward VI.), but I can find no official confirmation of this.
[208] Memo. in Gardiner’s handwriting, Record Office. (Henry VIII. Calendar, vol. 15.)
[209] She does not appear to have done so, however, until the King had received a letter from the Duke of Cleves, dated 13th July, couched in somewhat indignant terms. She then wrote to her brother that she “had consented to the examination and determination, wherein I had more respect, as beseemed me, to truth than to any worldly affection that might move me to the contrary, and did the rather condescend thereto for that my body remaineth in the integrity which I brought into this realm.” She continues that the King has adopted her as a sister and has treated her very liberally, more than she or her brother could well wish. She is well satisfied. The King’s friendship for her brother, she says, will not be impaired for this matter unless the fault should be in himself (i.e. Cleves). She thinks it necessary to write this, and to say that she intends to live in England, lest for want of true knowledge her brother should take the matter otherwise than he ought. The letter is signed “Anna Duchess, born, of Cleves, Gulik, Geldre and Berg; your loving sister.” The English and German drafts are in the Record Office, the former abstracted in Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 15. The King instructed Wotton and Clerk, his envoys at Cleves, to deal with the Duke in the same spirit, holding out hopes of reward if he took the matter quietly, and to assume a haughty tone if he seemed threatening.
[210] Within a week of this—to show how rapid was the change of feeling—Pate wrote to the King and to the Duke of Norfolk saying how that “while Thomas Cromwell ruled, slanders and obloquies of England were common,” but that now all was changed. The brother of the Duke of Ferrara had sent to him to say that he was going to visit the King of England, for “the Emperor these years and days past often praised the King’s gifts of body and mind, which made him the very image of his Creator.” This praise had “engendered such love in the stomach” of Don Francesco d’Este that he could no longer defer his wish to see such a paragon of excellence as Henry, and he rejoices “that so many gentlemen belonging to the Emperor” are doing likewise. This was even before the marriage with Anne was declared invalid. (12th July, Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 15.) Chapuys, the Emperor’s ambassador, was again sent to England immediately, and cordial relations were promptly resumed. (Spanish Calendar, vol. 6, part 1.)
[211] Richard Hilles, the Protestant merchant, writing to Bullinger in Latin (Zurich Letters, Parker Society), says that for some weeks before the divorce from Anne of Cleves, Henry was captivated by Katharine Howard, whom he calls “a very little girl”; and that he frequently used to cross the Thames from Westminster to Lambeth to visit, both by night and day, the Bishop of Winchester (Gardiner) providing feasts for them in his palace. But at that time Katharine was, Hilles tells us, looked upon simply as Henry’s mistress—as indeed she probably was—rather than his future wife.
[212] Hilles to Bullinger (Parker Society, Zurich Letters) gives voice to bitter complaints, and Melancthon wrote (17th August, etc.) praying that God might destroy “this British Nero.” (Calendar Henry VIII., vol. 15.)