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bride; but, as his trusted counsellors could devise no plan of escape,
he consented with bad grace to go through the ceremony of marriage
(6th Jan., 1540). Henry was displeased and made no secret of his
displeasure. Cromwell, whom he blamed specially for this matrimonial
misfortune, felt himself in considerable danger, though at the same
time he resolved not to yield without a struggle. The contest between
Cranmer, backed by the Lutheran party in the council, and Gardiner,
the Duke of Norfolk, and the conservatives was sharp though by no
means decisive. The king appeared at one time to favour one side, at
another the other side, unwilling to commit himself definitely to
either, especially as Cromwell was still reaping a rich harvest from
the suppression of the Knights of St. John and from the taxes imposed
on the clergy.

Parliament met again in April 1540. To the surprise of many Cromwell
was created Earl of Essex (17th April), while a little later Bishop
Sampson was arrested as a supporter of the Pope. The hopes of Cromwell
and of the reforming party rose rapidly, and they believed that
victory was within their grasp. The committee of bishops was at work
considering the sacraments, but as both the old and the new clung
tenaciously to their opinions no progress could be made. Suddenly on
the 10th June an officer appeared in the council chamber and placed
Cromwell under arrest. The long struggle was at last ended, and the
men who had followed Gardiner had won the day. The war clouds, that
had driven Henry to negotiate with the heretical princes of Germany,
had blown over, and Cromwell, who had taken a leading part in the
German negotiations, must be sacrificed to satisfy his enemies at home
and Catholic opinion on the Continent. He was committed to the Tower
to await the sentence of death which he knew to be inevitable, but,
before handing him over to the executioner, Henry insisted that he
should perform for him one last service. As Cromwell had involved him
in an undesirable marriage with Anne of Cleves, he should provide
evidence that might set his master free to seek for a more congenial
partner. At the command of the king Cromwell wrote a long letter, in
which he showed that Henry never really consented to the marriage with
Anne, against which marriage the existence of a pre-nuptial contract
was also adduced. On the strength of this, Parliament demanded an
investigation, and a commission was issued empowering the Archbishops
of Canterbury and York and others of the clergy to examine into the
validity of the marriage. Convocation decided that it was null and
void (July 1540), a decision with which Anne expressed her complete
satisfaction. She was assigned a residence and a pension of £4,000 a
year. On the 28th July, 1540, Cromwell was led to execution at Tyburn,
where he expressed publicly his adherence to the ancient faith, for
the destruction of which in England he had contributed more than any
single individual with the exception possibly of the king.[43] A few
days later Henry was married to Catharine Howard, a niece of the Duke
of Norfolk, the recognised lay head of the conservative party in
England.

The penalties prescribed in the Statute of the Six Articles were
enforced with great vigour, and at the same time those who maintained
papal supremacy were treated with equal severity. While the men who
denied Transubstantiation were burned as heretics at Smithfield, their
opponents, who dared to express views derogatory to royal supremacy,
were hanged, drawn, and quartered as traitors. Latimer retired into
private life; Cranmer showed no signs of open opposition to the king's
religious policy, and, practically speaking, all traces of the new
teachings that had disturbed England for years disappeared. The aged
Countess of Salisbury, mother of Cardinal Pole, was put to death in
1541, two years after sentence of attainder had been passed against
her by Parliament, as were, also, a large number of priests and laymen
suspected of having been implicated in an attempt to bring about
another rebellion in the north. In consequence of this plot Henry
determined to undertake a journey to York (1541) with the hope of
strengthening his hold upon the people, and possibly also of securing
the friendship of his nephew, James V. of Scotland, who had remained
loyal to Rome and to France. The Archbishop of York made his
submission on bended knees, presenting the king with a gift of £600 as
a sign of the repentance of the people for their recent disobedience,
an example that was followed in many of the cities and towns; but
James V., unwilling to trust his life and liberty to the king, refused
to cross the English border.