[katana]

The royal relations of Catherine of Aragon, including Holy Roman Emperor, had significantly more political leverage with the Bishop of Rome than the king (second one in a young dynasty recently come out of a bitter civil war) of a foggy little island in the North Sea. That foggy island eventually ended up ruling approximately half the globe, but at that time England had a relatively weak hand to play in European politics, in which the Church and her Pope were central players.

Henry's appeal for annulment of a twenty year marriage that had produced a daughter was a legal stretch in the best of circumstances anyway, but till his death he considered himself a better Catholic than the Pontiff. Protestantism did not have a firm grasp on the country till Elizabeth was able to survive several assassination attempts and a serious threat of Spanish invasion and turn the country into a power to be reckoned with.

Rough and personal indeed.

[CatherineofAragon]

"The royal relations of Catherine of Aragon, including Holy Roman Emperor, had significantly more political leverage with the Bishop of Rome than the king"

I was no fool----I always knew which side my bread was buttered on.