Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/716

 6io Outlines of European History But Wolsey was not long to be permitted to put his enlightened ideas in practice. His fall and the progress of Protestantism in England are both closely associated with the notorious divorce case of Henry VHI. Henry VI IPs It will be remembered that Hemy had married Catherine divorce case ^^ ^ragon, the aunt of Charles V. Only one of their children, Mary, survived to grow up. As time went on Henry was very anxious to have a son and heir, for he was fearful lest a woman might not be permitted to succeed to the throne. Moreover, he had tired of Catherine, who was considerably older than he. Catherine had first married Henry's older brother, who had died almost immediately after the marriage. Since it was a violation of the rule of the Church to marry a deceased brother's wife, Henry professed to fear that he was commit- ting a sin by retaining Catherine as his wife and demanded to be divorced from her on the ground that his marriage had never been legal. His anxiety to rid himself of Catherine was greatly increased by the appearance at court of a black-eyed girl of sixteen, named Anne Boleyn, with whom the king fell in love. Clement VII Unfortunately for his case, his marriage with Catherine had divorce been authorized by a dispensation from the Pope, so that Henry Clement VH, to Whom the king appealed to annul the mar- riage, could not, even if he had been willing to run the risk of angering the queen's nephew, Charles V, have granted Henry's request. Fall of Wolsey's failure to induce the Pope to permit the divorce Wolscv 1 • excited the king's anger, and with rank ingratitude for his minister's great services, Henry drove him from office (1529) and seized his property. From a life of wealth which was fairly regal, Wolsey was precipitated into extreme poverty. An imprudent but innocent act of his soon gave his enemies a pretext for charging him with treason ; but the unhappy man died on his way to London artd thus escaped being beheaded as a traitor.