Henry however still shrank from any real union.

His aim was neither to complete the marriage, which would have alienated France, nor to wholly break it off and so alienate Spain.

A balanced position between the two battling powers allowed him to remain at peace, to maintain an independent policy, and to pursue his system of home-government.

He guarded his son's interests therefore by suggesting that he should enter a secret protest against the validity of his betrothal; and Catharine remained through the later years of his reign at the English court betrothed but unmarried, sick with love-longing and baffled pride.
[Sidenote: The Renascence] But great as were the issues of Henry's policy, it shrinks into littleness if we turn from it to the weighty movements which were now stirring the minds of men.

The world was passing through changes more momentous than any it had witnessed since the victory of Christianity and the fall of the Roman Empire.