The lavish pledges which Francis had given in an interview during the preceding summer may have aided to spur the king to a decisive step which closed the long debate.

At the opening of 1533 Henry was privately married to Anne Boleyn.

The match however was carefully kept secret while the Papal sanction was being gained for the appointment of Cranmer to the See of Canterbury which had become vacant by Archbishop Warham's death in the preceding year.

But Cranmer's consecration at the close of March was the signal for more open action, and Cromwell's policy was at last brought fairly into play.

The new primate at once laid the question of the king's marriage before the two Houses of Convocation, and both voted that the licence of Pope Julius had been beyond the Papal powers and that the marriage which it authorized was void.