HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH - ( CHAPTER 2 ) - { PT. 14 }


 ( CHAPTER  2 )  -  { PT.  4 } - [ 5 ] Later on it was contended, by those who favoured the separation, that the dispensation was issued by thee Pope on the supposition that the marriage between Arthur and Catharine had not been consummated, and that therefore, since this condition was not verified, the dispensation was invalid. But here they were faced with the difficulty that the great weight of evidence favoured the view that the marriage had not been consummated; that in any case the dispensation was ample enough to cover both the impediment of affinity and public honesty; and that, whatever might be said against the brief said to have been forward by the Pope to the court of Spain. [ 6 ] As the English agents had been instructed to seek not merely the appointment of a commission to declare the invalidity of the dispensation, and consequently of the marriage, but also for dispensation which would permit the king to marry a woman related to him in the first degree of a affinity, had been contracted by a lawful or unlawful connexion, it was thought prudent not to lay stress on the argument that marriage with the deceased brother's wife was prohibited by the divine law, and that, therefore, the Pope could not grant a dispensation such as had been issued by Julius II. At a later date great stress was laid upon this argument. Clement VII., while not unwilling to grant the dispensation requested, [ 7 ]  did not think it consistent with his own honour or that of the king, to grant the commission according to the terms drawn up for him in England.

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