Arizona republican., 1914-05-05
CATHERINE OF
 ARAGON

King Henry VIII of England, spent more time in the court room than any other sovereign has ever done And 1t was the unaristocratic divorce court. The first of the trials instituted by Henry to rid himself of a wife of whom he had grown tired, was his efforts to divorce himself from Catherine of Ara gon It required two long efforts. and the king became very much peeVed at the sloWness of the proceedings.
 Henry and Catherine had been mar ried on June II. 1909. She had preVl- ously been married to his brother and feeling that is was necessary as a pol icy of state to keep on good terms with Ferdinand of Spain, when his brother died he decided to marry his sister-ln- law. All writers agree that the first few years of their welded life were ex- trememly happy although the queen was six years Henry's senior, for he was only eighteen at the time of the marriage.
 At first Catherine exercised an enormous influence over Henry, and in fact. until the rise of Wolseley, Cath crime was the most powerful parsonage in the kingdom. The first trouble that came between them was due to the foxey Ferdinand, who inveigled his -in-law into d league with him against the French monarch. The re- suit was that after he had involved England he turned traitor and conclud- ed 9 treaty of peace with the French, in which Henry was entirely over looked. This was in 1913. Henry, nat urally, was angered, and the following year rumors of divorce began to be heard, but they smouldered for a long time Then Anne Boleyn appeared and the king was at her feet
 As Henry grew more and more at tached to Boleyn, he feigned remorse that ne should have been guilty of un- lawfully marrying his brothers widow It was not until 1895 that Henry began publicly to express his scruples regard | ing his wedding. To assist him to car | ry out his scheme he secured the ser vices of Cardinal Wolseley. The cardi-
 
 church of Rome to annul the wedding | but his efforts failed.
 Finally the king succeeded in the calling of the court of inquiry in Eng | land and the first trial was begun on | May 21, 1929 The sttings were held | in the parliament chamber of the con- vent of Blackfriars. After the com | mission had been read both Catherine and Henry came forward. The queen 1 prostrated herself at the kings feet and l all chroniclers agree that the speech of 1 the rejected wife was full of eloquence and true pathos. She reminded him 1 that she was a stranger in strange | country: she spoke of their children, and reminded him in piteous accents 1 that for eighteen years she had been a | loving, true and faithful wife.
 | The procedure of the acclesiastic
 court was always slow and instead of pushing the trial of the court merely | issued d citation for the two parties to
 appear on the 18th of June following | to state their case. The king, acting in precisely the same manner as an ordin- ary litigant in an ecclesiastical suit, eX- acted a power of attorney and appoint
 cd two proctors to act for him. Dr. Sampson and Dr. Ball.
 | The queen, on her side, was by no
 means without advice, for she selected | as her counsel the Archbishop of Can terbury and the Bishops of Ely | Rochester and St. Asaph. When the 18th of June arrived the king appeared | in person The queen refused to allow | in any way the jurisdiction of the le- | gatees and it was evident that she had made up her mind to fight the matter to the bitter end
 The case for the king was that by the law of the church marriage with a deceased brothers wife, was prohibi- tive Further. that such marriage
 was not permitted by the law of God
 In answer to this Catherine's friends
 admitted that the law of the Churcl was against the marriage. but that the
 Pope had power to dispense with the
 prohibition in any particular case, ant
 that in this case he had done so.
 Among those who testified as to be.
 ing present at the marriage of Henry:
 brother and Catherine. as well as tt
 other facts regarding the marriage
 were the Earl of Shrewsbury. Sil
 Arthur Poynes. the Marquis of Dorset
 the ViscOunt F'itzwater and the Duke.
 of Suffolk and Norfolk. The trial ir
 'very way was a sham, and finally the
 Pope summoned the king to Rome, bu
 Henry haughtily refused, to appear
 either in person or by deputy. and set
 ing the Pope at defiance he married