Henry, then, in the spring of the year 1527, definitively breaking the Spanish alliance, formed a league with Francis I., the avowed object of which was the expulsion of the Imperialists from Italy; with a further intention—­if it could be carried into effect—­of avenging the outrage offered to Europe in the pope’s imprisonment, by declaring vacant the imperial throne.  Simultaneously with the congress at Amiens where the terms of the alliance were arranged, confidential persons were despatched into Italy to obtain an interview—­if possible—­with the pope, and formally laying before him the circumstances of the king’s position, to request him to make use of his powers to provide a remedy.  It is noticeable that at the outset of the negotiation the king did not fully trust Wolsey.  The latter had suggested, as the simplest method of proceeding, that the pope should extend his authority as legate, granting him plenary power to act as English vicegerent so long as Rome was occupied by the Emperor’s troops.  Henry, not wholly satisfied that he was acquainted with his minister’s full intentions in desiring so large a capacity, sent his own secretary, unknown to Wolsey, with his own private propositions—­requesting simply a dispensation to take a second wife, his former marriage being allowed to stand with no definite sentence passed upon it; or, if that were impossible, leaving the pope to choose his own method, and settle the question in the manner least difficult and least offensive.[132]

Wolsey, however, soon satisfied the king that he had no sinister intentions.  By the middle of the winter we find the private messenger associated openly with Sir Gregory Cassalis, the agent of the minister’s communications;[133] and a series of formal demands were presented jointly by these two persons in the names of Henry and the legate; which, though taking many forms, resolved themselves substantially into one.  The pope was required to make use of his dispensing power to enable the King of England to marry a wife who could bear him children, and thus provide some better security than already existed for the succession to the throne.  This demand could not be considered as in itself unreasonable; and if personal feeling was combined with other motives to induce Henry to press it, personal feeling did not affect the general bearing of the question.  The king’s desire was publicly urged on public grounds, and thus, and thus only, the pope was at liberty to consider it.  The marriages of princes have ever been affected by other considerations than those which influence such relations between private persons.  Princes may not, as “unvalued persons” may, “carve for themselves;” they pay the penalty of their high place, in submitting their affections to the welfare of the state; and the same causes which regulate the formation of these ties must be allowed to influence the continuance of them.  The case which was submitted to the pope was one of those for which his very power of dispensing had been