ABSTRACT
The divorce of Catherine of Aragon was only one of the means suggested for avoiding the difficulty. Catherine of Aragon’s friends in England were furious; they cursed Charles for being so slack in her defence, and they cursed especially the Pope for expediting Cranmer’s bulls and delaying the sentence in Catherine’s favour. On or about St. Paul’s Day, 25 January, Henry and Anne were privately married; but that was not enough without an authoritative declaration of the nullity of the King’s previous union with Catherine of Aragon. Catherine of Aragon’s friends in England were furious; they cursed Charles for being so slack in her defence, and they cursed especially the Pope for expediting Cranmer’s bulls and delaying the sentence in Catherine’s favour. It is impossible to avoid the use of the term “divorce” in spite of its obvious inaccuracy. From neither of the two conflicting points of view was there any divorce at all.
