What were Henry VIII's grounds for attempting to put aside his marriage
to Catherine of Aragon? Were they no more than flimsy excuses to gratify
his passion for Anne Boleyn? Or were there substantial reasons to lead
him to believe that he had been living in sin for two decades? Making
use of hitherto unknown or unexploited documentary evidence, the author
sets out the intricacies of canon law regarding impediments to marriage
and carefully explores the arguments and precedents Henry and his
lawyers invoked in justifying his actions in public, in the
ecclesiastical courts of England and Rome, and in the privacy of his own
conscience. The effect of this reexamination forces substantial
alterations in the traditional accounts not only of his first marriage
and annulment, but also of the later ones to Anne Boleyn and Anne of
Cleves, for the religious and legal principles involved were anything
but flimsy and remained for Henry matters of lasting concern.
Particularly noteworthy is the author's reconstruction of the legatine
trial at Blackfriars in 1529, in which he brings to light the complete
court record for the first time in 260 years. This reprinting (2004) of
the 1976 edition contains a new Foreword.