Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II CRANMER AND THE DIVORCE OF CATHERINE OF ARAGON OF all the incidents affecting Cranmer's life the most important is the divorce of Catherine of Aragon.1 That divorce and its ramifications were the web into which the threads of Cranmer's life were woven. Through it he first attracted the notice of Henry VIII.; to his services in that cause he owed his elevation to the See of Canterbury, the part he played in the history of the English Reformation, and, finally, his martyrdom. It therefore becomes imperative to indicate as briefly as may be the origin of that episode and its influence on the Reformation in which Cranmer lived and moved and had his being. Without some such introduction it is impossible to weigh Cranmer's character in the balance, or to estimate the effect of his career on English history. 1 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. The Anglican view was that Henry VIII. and Catherine had never been legally married, and the so-called divorce was really a declaration of nullity. Roman Catholics, on the other hand, declared that they were legally married and as the Pope gave sentence to that effect, there was no legal " divorce." Hence Harpsfield's treatise on the subject is entitled " The Pretended Divorce." Nor, indeed, does the canon law recognise such a thing as divorce at all; there may be separation a mensa et toro, but that does not destroy the marriage-bond at all; or there may be a declaration that a marriage has been null and void from the beginning. These declarations were common in the early sixteenth century, the complexities of the canon law affording considerable facilities...