[Quick set-up: Henry VIII is trying to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, in favor of Anne Boleyn. There are myriad reasons as to why he sought this out, much of it having to do with her not providing a surviving male heir. In fact, seeing as how she had not provided a surviving male heir, Henry VIII used that against her, claiming that since he had married his brother’s wife (his brother had married Catherine before, but had died before the marriage could be consummated), God was punishing them by robbing them of the ability to have a male heir. That’s what he’s referring to when he mentions their ‘sin.’]
A more drastic step followed: a committee of the council called on her, charged with a formal reproof which Henry had not the courage to deliver himself. The King, they told her, was disappointed and grieved at her conduct at a time when she should be, as he was himself, sunk in grief and perplexity at the sin they had committed. Instead of showing a proper gravity and contrition, she went about as gaily as ever, and even showed herself more frequently in public than of old, encouraging the ignorant demonstrations of the populace by smiling and nodding and beckoning quite beyond her usual custom. Such conduct under the circumstances was perilously close to sedition, and she was therefore ordered to keep herself in seclusion, and to beware of stirring up the commons.
Source:
Mattingly, Garrett. “Part III: The Divorce of Henry VIII (1527-1536); Chapter Two, Section ii” Catherine of Aragon. New York: Quality Paperback , 1990. 281. Print.
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