Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

Chapter 6
The Divorce--Thomas Bilney,
the Martyr
WE left Clement VII in the dungeons of the
Castle of St. Angelo, with two kings kneeling at his
feet. The Pope, "who cannot err," contrives to
gratify both monarchs. He gives to the one a
promise that he will do as he desires, and grant the
divorce; he assures the other that he will act
conformably to his wishes, and withhold it.. It is
thus that the captive Pope opens his prison doors,
and goes back to his kingdom, lit was not without
great delay and much tortuosity, dissimulation, and
suffering that Clement reached this issue, so
advantageous at the moment, but so disastrous in
the end. His many shifts and make-believes; his
repeated interviews with the ambassadors of
Charles and Henry; the many angry midnight
discussions in his old palace at Orvieto; the, mutual
recriminations and accusations which passed
between the parties; the briefs and bulls which
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