ABSTRACT
WI-IEN Henry VIII, a fe\v months after his accession,married Catherine of Aragon, he married his brother's\vidow: in the momentous story of I-Ienry's first divorce this is almost the only·statement one can make \vithout fear of contradiction from some quarter. Catherine's previous marriage had put her into a prohibited degree of relationship \vith her second hu~band, and the contracting parties had therefore obtained a dispensation from Pope Julius II. Since this original dispensation was so badly phrased as to leave room for much doubt, Julius allegedly satisfied further questions from Spain \vith an additional letter or brief in \vhich he resolved the doubtful points. The dispensation was not nearly so matter of course as is sometimes assumed; it was a difficult point of theology and canon law whether the pope could in fact dispense in this particular case. For the authority of Holy Writ was involved: Henry's n1arriage contravened Leviticus xx. 21, which verse declared that a man who marries his brother's widow shall be childless.1 It is, however, likely that the papal dispensation would never have been questioned but for the events that followed.
