The king and council first expressed their surprise at her obstinacy in persisting, in spite of all presumptions to the contrary, that she had been a maid when she married him. To this she replied by affirming it all the more strongly, and calling God to witness its truth. Secondly, she was told that her reliance on the sentence given at Rome was a mistake. It was delivered after the king had appealed to a general council; moreover the 'bishop of Rome' had no authority in England. She answered that she would hold by the pope's sentence. Thirdly, as to the request that her Spanish servants should be restored to her on swearing fealty to the king and herself 'and no other woman,' she must express herself more definitely; for the king could by no means allow them to swear to her as queen, though he might possibly consent to let them swear to her as princess dowager.
The strict imprisonment in which both she and her daughter were kept, and the harsh refusal to each of the natural comfort of the other's company, was intended to break down their opposition to the king piecemeal. For the same reason Chapuys, whom Catherine had desired to come to her, remained for weeks soliciting in vain license of the king to go, till he at length went of his own accord, setting out with sixty horses in his company through the whole length of London, and taking care that his object should be known as widely as possible. Even then he was met by messengers who told him that an interview could not be allowed; but he and his company went on and presented themselves before the place, where the queen and her suite, to the great satisfaction of all the country people, spoke to them from the battlements and windows.
Of sympathy there was no lack; several lords expressed their disappointment that the emperor did not send an expedition to England to vindicate the rights of his aunt and cousin. But the emperor was engaged in other matters. Cromwell was not ashamed to hint to the imperial ambassador that it was a pity the friendly relations between Henry and Charles should be in any danger from the regard of the latter for two ladies, who after all were mortal, seeing that if they were removed there could be no obstacle to cordiality. 'You may be sure,' writes Chapuys to Granville, 'they think day and night of getting rid of these good ladies.' In March 1535 the queen again determined to keep a maundy, and messengers were despatched in haste to court to know whether it should be allowed, on which the council determined that she might do so as princess dowager, but not as queen, which of course was to Catherine practical prohibition.
There seemed little wanting to fill up the cup of Catherine's misery. And yet the relentless course of the king's tyranny in 1535 inspired her with a new terror. First the Carthusian monks were dragged to execution for denying the king to be supreme head of the church of England; then Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More suffered the same fate. Till now she had never realised to herself how far her husband would dare to outrage the common feelings of all Christendom, or how he could even do so with impunity. The whole civilised world was shocked, and the pope fulminated a sentence against Henry to deprive him of his kingdom; but no relief came to Catherine.
About the beginning of December 1535 she became seriously unwell, and though she recovered for a time, she had a relapse the day after Christmas. She was believed then to be on the point of death, and the fact being intimated to Chapuys, he obtained the king's permission to visit her. He arrived on the morning of New-year's day, and was at once admitted to her presence; after which she desired him to rest, and thought she could sleep a little herself, for she had not had more than two hours' sleep altogether during the previous six days. On the evening of that same day a devoted countrywoman of her own found means to be admitted to her presence without a passport. It was Lady Willoughby, formerly Maria de Salinas, one of her maids of honour, who came with her from Spain, now mother-in-law to Henry VIII's favourite, the Duke of Suffolk. She appeared before the gates of Kimbolton Castle, saying she had travelled in haste fearing she would be too late to see Catherine again alive. She begged leave at once to come in and warm herself, as she suffered bitterly from the cold, and also from a fall from her horse. It was impossible to disoblige a lady of such high social position. She was admitted to the hall, and even to Catherine's chamber; and once there, she remained with her old mistress to the end. 'We neither saw her again, nor beheld any of her letters,' wrote Bedingfield, who, under the name of steward, was Catherine's custodian (Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, i. pt. i. 372).
Chapuys stayed four days at Kimbolton, during which time he had an audience of Catherine every day. Her spirits revived, she took better rest and nourishment, and her physician thought her out of immediate danger. Chapuys accordingly took leave of her on Tuesday night, 4 Jan., and left
