[590] Cal. x. 699. Mr. Friedmann points out that this quarrel of Henry and Cromwell about the Spanish alliance was intimately connected with the fate of Anne Boleyn. The Emperor, too cautious to express any indignation at the news of his aunt’s death, was still planning for the safety and, if possible, the succession of his cousin the Princess Mary. On hearing from Chapuys of the possibility of a renewal of cordial relations with England, he wrote back on March 28, 1536, a most diplomatic reply, in which he pointed out that it would be certainly for the interest of the Princess that Anne Boleyn should continue to be Henry’s wife; for should the King marry again, he might have male issue, which would succeed to the prejudice of Mary: there was, on the other hand, little probability that Anne would bear Henry another child, and the Emperor knew well that in the eyes of the nation his cousin’s right was far superior to that of Elizabeth. So, by a very extraordinary turn of affairs, the interests of Charles and of Anne had at least temporarily become identical. Cromwell probably had not perceived that this was the true state of affairs when he had his conversation with Chapuys; but the failure of his attempts to bring about a Spanish alliance must have opened his eyes to the fact that he had been working in the interests of one whose ruin had been certainly resolved on by this time. ‘He took to his bed out of pure sorrow’ for a few days as we are told; and when he returned to the Court, it was to labour with all his might for the ruin of Anne, which he saw was necessary to save his own credit with the King. Friedmann, Anne Boleyn, chapter xvi; Cal. x. 575, 700; also W. H. Dixon, History of Two Queens, vol. iv. pp. 262, 263.
[591] Letters, 170.
[592] Cal. xii. (i) 1310.
[593] Cal. xii. (ii) 1201.
[594] Cal. xii. (ii) 1053, 1285.
[595] Letters, 243. Cf. also Preface to vol. xiii. pt. i. of the Calendar, pp. 37–38.
[596] Cal. xiii. (i) 1355, 1405, 1451, 1496; xiii. (ii) 77, 232, 277.
[597] Cal. xiii. (i) 995, 1147, 1355.
[598] Letters, 244.
[599] Cal. xiii. (i) 1486.