Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/419

 AT PETERBOROUGH. .'555 considerable time in suspense, and the whole nation had become full of anxiety whether she was to be divorced or not. The foreign universities were consulted. The Vice- Chancellor called together that of Cambridge, which decided, as Oxford did afterwards, that "such marriages were still forbidden Christians by the law of God and nature." The death of Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, removed another obstacle, and Henry, long since both satisfied in liis own mind, and determined what to do, separated himself from Queen Katharine of Arragon, and married in 1532 Anne Boleyn. As the last step to stamp the new alliance with the semblance of legality, Cranmer pronounced the first union null and void, and Katharine was for the future left to maintain a hopeless struggle Avith neglect, poverty and oppression. The view taken of Henry's second marriage by Pope Clement, greatly accelerated the religious differences then subsisting betwixt the nation and the Court of Rome, and caused the King to take vigorous measures for extir- pating the papal power in England. But we need not enter upon this question, nor pursue the remainder of Henry's vicious reign. After the separation, Katharine still insisted upon retaining the title of Queen, notwithstanding the order made for styling her only the Dowager, or late consort of Prince Arthur. Much uneasiness arose in consequence of her per- tinacity. In all the official documents this title only was acknowledged, and in the one that will be shortly brought under review, she is merely named as late wife to the noble and excellent Prince Arthur, brother to our Sovereign Lord Henry VHT. For some months after her separation from the king she resided at Greenwich and the neighbourhood of London, but being so near the Court was inconvenient and embarrassing to him, and she was removed, under gentle, but unequivocal restraint, to Buckden, the ancient palace of the Bishops of Lincoln. Here she passed her brief solitude in the exercise of devotion and devout contemplation. But she was not long permitted to enjoy the privilege of this healthy retire- ment, being soon transferred to Fotheringhay Castle. Katharine, with much show of reason, objected to remaining here, since, from its constituting a part of the dower settled at her marriage, her residence might, by implication, seem VOL. XI. 3 A