On 11 Pope Clement VII declared that Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn was null, as was the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and threatened the King with excommunication if he did not abandon the pregnant Anne and return to Catherine.
Also on this day in history…
- 1536 – Death of Desiderius Erasmus, the famous Humanist scholar, from dysentery at Basel during the night of the 11th/12th July. He was buried in the cathedral at Basel on 18th July. His works included Novum Instrumentum omne (a Latin translation of the epistles and gospel), The Praise of Folly, De Copia, Adagia and The Education of a Christian Prince.
- 1564 – The plague hit Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire. The epidemic lasted six months and killed over 200 people, around a fifth of the population. William Shakespeare was born in April of that year, and his family were fortunate in escaping the plague.
Yes Henry get thee gone back to your true wife. Henry by now was so desperate for the son Anne Boleyn was meant to be carrying, there was no way that he cared about a decision that had come to late. He should have waited, not married Anne, but he had declared in his head that he already believed his first marriage to be unlawful, he was free to marry, Anne’s pregnancy forced the issue and he had Cranmer hold a hearing in April that made his marriage to Anne a done deal, declaring his first marriage unlawful. Technically Cranmer did not have that authority as the case had been sent to Rome. The new decision was the final decision from the Curia, but not surprisingly it reversed the decisions of Cranmers court at Dunstable. Henry had made his bed and was going to lie in it, hoping that Anne was carrying his son, his mind was made up, he could not go back now, not after all he had gone through to get this far. For Catherine of course, her cause was vindicated, even if she could do nothing about it.