The Last White Rose by Desmond Seward Read Free Book Online Page B

useful contacts who might advance his career, spared so much time talking with such a little known figure – he recognized ability when he saw it.
    Aware of the quality of his cousin’s mind and his growing reputation in academic circles, the king hoped to make use of his gifts. Reginald had gone to Paris in 1529 to study at the university, and the following year he was asked to obtain – with the help of hard cash – judgments from the canon lawyers at the Sorbonne that Henry’s marriage to Katherine was invalid. Although Pole obeyed his instructions, securing helpful ammunition for the king, privately he did not agree with the Sorbonne’s interpretation.
    Soon after Reginald returned to England, the king sent the Duke of Norfolk to offer him the archbishopric of York, insuccession to Wolsey who had just died. When he declined, he was summoned to an audience with Henry, who received him alone in a private gallery at York House and asked his opinionon the divorce. Pole had come full of answers in favour, but instead found himself arguing against it. This was not surprising as his mother was the queen’s best friend. He recalled how the king grew red with fury and clapped his hand on his dagger, then left the gallery, banging the door. Afterwards, Henry said he had been so angry that he thought of killing him there and then.
    Some months later Reginald wrote a letter to Henry, in which he explained as tactfully as he could, why he did not think the royal marriage invalid. He pointed out that the king’s father, Henry VII, and the queen’s father, Ferdinand of Aragon, had both approved of it. Another reason he gave was that if Henry had heirs by different wives it might lead to the same sort of rivalry that had existed between York and Lancaster – the Lady Mary was extremely popular in England and the emperor was certain to support his niece’s claim. The king showed the letter to a new adviser, an obscure Cambridge don called Thomas Cranmer (who had recently gained the royal favour by arguing that the marriage was invalid. ‘This man, I trow, has got the right sow by the ear,’ Henry commented delightedly when he heard his argument.) Cranmer warned him that Pole’s letter must never be made public because it made such a good case for Katherine.
    During the spring of 1532 Reginald left England again, still on friendly terms with the king and still being paid an income from his English benefices. He was just in time to avoid the dangers that threatened every critic of Henry’s break with Rome. Had he stayed, he would almost certainly have ended on the scaffold like Thomas More and John Fisher. Before setting off, Reginald had a meeting with another kinsman, the Marquess of Exeter, of which he was to give an account in a letter to Exeter’s son in 1553. ‘Lord Cousin Pole, your departure from the realm at this present time shows in what a miserable state we find ourselves,’ the marquess told him. ‘It is to the universal shame of all us nobles, who allow you to absent yourself when we ought most to avail ourselves of your presence, but beingunable to find any other remedy for this we pray God to find it himself.’ 3 The note of deference is revealing – Exeter saw him as a leader.
    After a year at Avignon, Reginald returned to Padua where he became a distinguished theologian, joining a circle of gifted young clerics whose plans to renew the Church led to the Counter-Reformation. Meanwhile, he and his friends tried to build bridges with the Lutherans and understand their point of view. Years later, his preference for compromise and lack of ambition showed themselves when he failed to be elected pope by one vote, then forbade his supporters to arrange a second round of voting that would have secured his election. These were not the best qualities for a new White Rose.
    Master of the King’s Jewels in 1532 and Principal Secretary in 1534, then Lord Privy Seal in 1536, Thomas Cromwell became Henry’s first