Henry's Failure To Obtain An Annulment Of His Marriage To Catherine By 1529.

Do you agree with the view expressed in source three that the diplomatic situation was the main reason for Henry’s failure to obtain an annulment of his marriage to Catherine by 1529?
It is obvious that there is more than one reason behind Henry’s failure to obtain an annulment of his marriage to Catherine by 1529. It is however possible to identify that the diplomatic situation did not help his case in getting an annulment and was most certainly a hindrance. The diplomatic status was of great concern to Henry because at this time the Pope was under the influence of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Henry would require the Pope to allow his marriage to be annulled but due to the circumstances Charles would have a large input into the decision. Henry was greatly in love with Anne Boleyn by this time and desperately wanted to get married to her to produce a male heir to the throne. Source 3 argues that this diplomatic situation was key to Henry’s failed attempts at gaining an annulment. …show more content…
Wolsey’s great problem was that he was now a very unpopular figure in England and that he had lost his influence amongst the courtiers and that they no longer felt obliged to conform to his wishes. This meant that many refused to work for him and when it came to the trial of Blackfriars he had very a very limited range of people he could rely on for information and their backing, this meant it was very hard for him to convince Campeggio that an annulment was warranted. A further weakness of Wolsey was that he had poor relations with the papacy, this meant that any talks with them would be much tougher than for other people. This poor relationship stemmed from 1518 when Wolsey was appointed as a papal legate instead of Campeggio. This left Campaggio fuming and created a resentment of Wolsey on his behalf. This bitter relationship meant that Wolsey and Campaggio would not talk direct and instead of a quick process that it should have been meant he had to go through various other figures such as diplomats and in the time it took Charles managed to capture and detain Clement. This shows that Wolsey’s ineffectiveness as it was possible to sort out the annulment quickly however due to certain problems caused by him he wasn’t able to do so. Source 2 says that Wolsey had to try and turn the people on …show more content…
It is important to remember that it was not just her determined effort to oppose an annulment that had still prevented an annulment by 1529 she was also part of a strong bloodline with influential people related to her. Catherine had gathered a large amount of support from influential figures by 1529 and still remained convinced that her marriage to Henry was legitimate as she had not consummated whilst in her marriage to Arthur. Catherine’s reluctance to accept the annulment meant that the Pope was under a lot of pressure from Charles to make sure he did not grant an annulment, this was because Catherine was the aunt of Charles and he wanted to protect her. Source 1 further enhances the stance that Catherine had against the annulment, it is a letter from Cardinal Campeggio to the Pope in which Campeggio reassures the Pope that she was committed to the marriage and that ‘she intended to live and die in matrimony’. It also reveals that she believed the marriage was legitimate as she made ‘a profession of chastity setting before her all the reasons which could be urged on that head, she assured me she would never do so’ this shows that she believes she didn’t break what Leviticus