[Henry VIII. by A. F. Pollard]@TWC D-Link bookHenry VIII. CHAPTER VIII 2/63
It is now denounced as an impudent fiction, mainly on the ground that no hint of these doubts occurs in the extant records of the negotiations. But unfortunately we have only one or two letters relating to this diplomatic mission.[554] There exists, indeed, a detailed (p.
196) narrative, drawn up some time afterwards by Claude Dodieu, the French secretary; but the silence, on so confidential a matter, of a third party who was not present when the doubts were presumably suggested, proves little or nothing.
Du Bellay, in 1528, reported to the French Government Henry's public assertion that Tarbes had mentioned these doubts;[555] the statement was not repudiated; Tarbes himself believed in the validity of Henry's case and was frequently employed in efforts to win from the Pope an assent to Henry's divorce.
It is rather a strong assumption to suppose in the entire absence of positive evidence that Henry and Wolsey were deliberately lying.
There is nothing impossible in the supposition that some such doubts were expressed; indeed, Francis I.had every reason to encourage doubts of Henry's marriage as a means of creating a breach between him and Charles V.In return for Mary's hand, Henry was endeavouring to obtain various advantages from Francis in the way of pensions, tribute and territory.
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