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

with Francis, and smothering his disgust of the
emperor, he solicited his interest to secure the tiara
for him when it should become vacant. That
monarch, who could dissemble as well as Wolsey,
well knowing the influence of the cardinal with
Henry VIII, and his power in England, met this
request with promises and flatteries. Charles
thought he was safe in Promising the tiara to one
who was some years older than its present
possessor, for Leo was still in the prime of life. The
immediate result of this friendship, hollow on both
sides, was a war between Francis and the emperor.
Meanwhile Leo suddenly died, and the sincerity of
Charles, sooner than he had thought, was put to the
test. With no small chagrin and mortification,
which he judged it politic meanwhile to conceal,
Wolsey saw Adrian of Utrecht, the emperor's tutor,
placed in the Papal chair. But Adrian was an old
man; it was not probable that he would long
survive to sway the spiritual scepter of
Christendom, and Charles consoled the
disappointed cardinal by renewing his promise of
support when a new election, which could not be
distant, should take place.[15] But we must leave
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