Editing Thomas Wolsey (section)

===Annulment===
[[File:Catalina de Aragón, por un artista anónimo.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|Queen [[Catherine of Aragon]], by an unknown artist]]
Henry's marriage to Queen [[Catherine of Aragon]] had produced no sons who survived infancy; the [[Wars of the Roses]] were still within living memory, leading to the fear of a power struggle after Henry's death. Henry felt the people would accept only a male sovereign, not his daughter [[Mary I|Mary]]. He believed God had cursed him for the sin of marrying the widow of his elder brother, and that the papal dispensation for that marriage was invalid because it was based upon the claim that Catherine was still a virgin after her first husband's death. Henry argued that Catherine's claim was not credible, and thus the dispensation must be withdrawn and the marriage annulled. His motivation has been attributed to his determination to have a son and heir, and to his desire for [[Anne Boleyn]], one of his wife's [[maids-of-honour]]. Queen Catherine had no further pregnancies after 1519; Henry began annulment proceedings in 1527.{{sfn|Scarisbrick|1968|pp=149–159}}

Catherine, however, maintained that she had been a virgin when she married Henry.<ref name=":0" /> Because she opposed annulment and a return to her previous status as Dowager Princess of Wales, the annulment request became a matter of international diplomacy, with Catherine's nephew Charles V pressuring Clement not to annul the marriage. Clement faced a dilemma: he would anger either Charles or Henry. He delayed his decision as long as possible, infuriating Henry and Anne Boleyn, who began to doubt Wolsey's loyalty to the Crown over the Church.

Wolsey appealed to Clement for an annulment on three fronts. First, he tried to convince the Pope that the dispensation was void as the marriage clearly disobeyed instructions in the book of [[Leviticus]]. Second, Wolsey objected to the dispensation on technical grounds, claiming it was incorrectly worded. (Shortly afterwards, a correctly worded version was found in Spain.) Third, Wolsey wanted Clement to let the final decision be made in England, which, as papal legate, he would supervise.{{sfn|Scarisbrick|1968|loc= ch 7, 8}}

In 1528 Clement decided to allow two papal legates to decide the outcome in England: Wolsey and Campeggio. Wolsey was confident of the decision, but Campeggio took a long time to arrive, and when he finally did, he delayed proceedings so much that the case had to be suspended in July 1529, effectively sealing Wolsey's fate.