Continent by the Papal and Imperial party. The Pope had spoken of his censures being enforced, and Francis had revealed to Henry the nature of the dangerous overtures which had been made to himself. The Lutheran princes had hurriedly declined to connect themselves in any kind of alliance with England; and on the 25th of September, Stephen Vaughan had reported that troops were being raised in Germany, which rumour destined for Catherine's service.[1] Ireland, too, as we shall hear in the next chapter, was on the verge of an insurrection, which had been fomented by Papal agents.
Nevertheless, there was no real danger from an invasion, unless it was accompanied with an insurrection at home, or with a simultaneous attack from Scotland; and while of the first there appeared upon the surface no probability, with Scotland a truce for a year had been concluded on the 1st of October.[2] The King, therefore, had felt himself reasonably secure. Parliament had seemed unanimous; the clergy were submissive; the nation acquiescent or openly approving;[3] and as late as
- ↑ I hear of a number of Gelders which be lately reared; and the opinion of the people here is that they shall go into England. All men there speak evil of England, and threaten it in their foolish manner.—Vaughan to Cromwell: State Papers, vol. vii. p. 511.
- ↑ Rymer, vol. vi. part 2, p. 189.
- ↑ Parties were so divided in England that lookers-on who reported any one sentiment as general there, reported in fact by their own wishes and sympathies. D'Inteville, the French ambassador, a strong Catholic, declares the feeling to have been against the revolt. Chastillon, on the other hand, writing at the same time from the same place (for he had returned from France, and was present with D'Inteville at the last interview), says, 'The King has made up his mind to a complete separation from Rome; and the lords and the majority of the people go along with him.'—Chastillon to the Bishop of Paris: The Pilgrim, p. 99.
