struggle that was the talk of Europe, we can only speculate. Eventually, she would have to take sides, but that inescapable burden was postponed by the protracted nature of the dispute.The arcane and tendentious arguments used by the ranks of academics, theologians and lawyers who wallowed in its detail but carefully avoided swift decisions spurred her father’s eventual determination that he would break permanently with Rome, never to be maddened by its double-dealing again. He also became increasingly convinced of the need to reform the English Church, not on the Lutheran model, but to rid it of corruption and the effects of superstition and idolatry. 3 But for Mary, her decision was based on purely personal considerations. She came to see her mother as the wronged party, a great European princess and queen of England who had been despicably treated. But, tellingly, it was not until her own status was directly threatened that she publicly opposed her father. She knew that her mother had fought vigorously for what was right and was inspired by her example to do the same. The consequences of such an approach she did not adequately foresee because Mary, like Katherine, had failed to appreciate the extent of the changes in her father’s personality.
This was not just naivety on Mary’s part, the hopeless strategy of a spirited but pampered girl who loved her mother but could not grasp reality. For the first four years of the struggle, she had seldom been far from her parents and she had seen their civilised behaviour towards each other in public, almost exaggerated courtesies that utterly amazed foreign observers. The Venetians could not hide their perplexity. Why, if Henry and Katherine were involved in a dispute that was rocking Christendom, did they still continue to attend functions together, to dine together in public and to behave, with their daughter present, as if nothing was going on at all? In June 1530, the Signory in Venice were told that Henry and Katherine were together at Hampton Court, where
they pay each other … the greatest possible attention … as if there had never been any dispute whatever between them; yet has the affair not slackened in the least, although at this present but little is being done here, as both parties are collecting votes in France, Italy and several other places, but it is not yet known with what success. At any rate, this most virtuous Queen maintains strenuously that all her king and lord does, is done by him for true and pure conscience’ sake and not for any wanton appetite. 4
Maybe this is the line that Katherine took with Mary, absolving her husband of blame, emphasising that conscience was the key to the difficulties that Henry faced. It would certainly explain Mary’s otherwise misguided confidence in her father, whose conscience was actually one of the most self-serving and self-pitying in history. At an impressionable age, Mary learned that conscience was the most important justification for behaviour that anyone could make. It became her guiding principle - a clear conscience was what you owed to yourself and God - and the cause of much of her unhappiness.
The Venetian ambassador had remarked on the air of unreality that hung over the English royal family in the year 1530, but he also noted that there were strong currents flowing underneath. Katherine may have wanted to believe the king’s protestations that if the pope found that his marriage was lawful, no one would be more delighted than he, but the sensible side of her knew otherwise. Nevertheless, she began her own process of seeking learned counsel as soon as she was officially informed by her husband of his intent; she was committed to the intellectual side of the fight every bit as much as Henry. Katherine was not going to let tears get in the way of producing a robust case to bolster her position, and she would give her daughter the example of how educated women could defend themselves, using the
This was not just naivety on Mary’s part, the hopeless strategy of a spirited but pampered girl who loved her mother but could not grasp reality. For the first four years of the struggle, she had seldom been far from her parents and she had seen their civilised behaviour towards each other in public, almost exaggerated courtesies that utterly amazed foreign observers. The Venetians could not hide their perplexity. Why, if Henry and Katherine were involved in a dispute that was rocking Christendom, did they still continue to attend functions together, to dine together in public and to behave, with their daughter present, as if nothing was going on at all? In June 1530, the Signory in Venice were told that Henry and Katherine were together at Hampton Court, where
they pay each other … the greatest possible attention … as if there had never been any dispute whatever between them; yet has the affair not slackened in the least, although at this present but little is being done here, as both parties are collecting votes in France, Italy and several other places, but it is not yet known with what success. At any rate, this most virtuous Queen maintains strenuously that all her king and lord does, is done by him for true and pure conscience’ sake and not for any wanton appetite. 4
Maybe this is the line that Katherine took with Mary, absolving her husband of blame, emphasising that conscience was the key to the difficulties that Henry faced. It would certainly explain Mary’s otherwise misguided confidence in her father, whose conscience was actually one of the most self-serving and self-pitying in history. At an impressionable age, Mary learned that conscience was the most important justification for behaviour that anyone could make. It became her guiding principle - a clear conscience was what you owed to yourself and God - and the cause of much of her unhappiness.
The Venetian ambassador had remarked on the air of unreality that hung over the English royal family in the year 1530, but he also noted that there were strong currents flowing underneath. Katherine may have wanted to believe the king’s protestations that if the pope found that his marriage was lawful, no one would be more delighted than he, but the sensible side of her knew otherwise. Nevertheless, she began her own process of seeking learned counsel as soon as she was officially informed by her husband of his intent; she was committed to the intellectual side of the fight every bit as much as Henry. Katherine was not going to let tears get in the way of producing a robust case to bolster her position, and she would give her daughter the example of how educated women could defend themselves, using the
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