"
* * * * *
Henry VIII was twelve years old when he was engaged to the widow of
his brother Arthur. At fourteen he protested against the marriage,
which was distasteful to him, but at eighteen he married Katherine,
the aunt of the Emperor Charles V. Cardinal Wolsey would have gladly
brought about a divorce, for he wished for a successor to the throne
in order to keep the power in his own hands. This power he had
misused to such an extent that the fact that there was such a thing
as Parliament had almost been forgotten. Wolsey wished to have the
King married to a powerful princess, and thought for a time of
Margaret of Valois, but under no circumstances did he wish to take a
wife for him from the English nobility. But when he aroused the
King's conscience with regard to his marriage with Katherine, he had
let loose a storm which he could not control, much less guide in the
desired direction, for the King's passion for Anne Boleyn was
now irresistible.
Then the Cardinal had recourse to plotting, and this brought about
his downfall. For six years negotiations went on, and the King was
true to Anne. He wrote letters which can still be read and which
display a great and honourable love. Most of them were signed "Henry
Tudor, Rex, your true and constant servant," and began "My mistress
and friend.
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