Bishop Gilbert Burnet: "Reformation of the Church of England," 1.70ff.

The Bishop of Salisbury weaves in a few lines about over-arching and governing providence, working order out of the chaos. A military salute is ordered up for the Senior Presbyter of Salisbury. But, the WCF 5 needs to be on the frontispiece of these competent volumes.

Part 1—Book II: Henry and Catherine from the 19th to 25th year of his rule. The beginning of the suit appears to begin in Henry, but also in back-channel gossips of foreign courts. H7’s intentions were to keep England and Spain in league against France. Apparently, there are depositions of consummation of coitus between Arthur and Kate, but Arthur dies 2 April 1502. He’s around 16. A proposed marriage is considered between H8 and Kate, once Arthur dies. Warham opposes, but Fox of Winchester affirms. The Pope's belchings of a dispensation come on 26 Dec 1503: “That the pope, according to the greatness of his lections, authority, having received a petition from prince Henry and the princess Catharine, bearing, That whereas the princess was lawfully married to prince Arthur, (which was perhaps consummated by the carnalis copula,) who was dead without any issue, but they, being desirous to marry for preserving the peace between the crowns of England and Spain, did petition his holiness for his dispensation; therefore the pope, out of his care to maintain peace among all catholic kings, did absolve them from all censures under which they might be, and dispensed with the impediment of their affinity, notwithstanding any apostolical constitutions or ordinances to the contrary, and gave them leave to marry; or if they were already married, lie confirming it, required their confessor to enjoin them some healthful penance for their having married before the dispensation was obtained.” H7 dies 22 Apr 1509. H8 is made king and marries Kate on 3 Jun 1509. They are crowned 24 Jun. A son is born 1 Jan 1511, but he dies. More children come and go, Mary being born 19 Feb 1516 and being the sole survivor. Mary becomes a Royal bargaining chip for geo-political arrangements with Wolsey being the back-channel strategist. As an aside, Kate will dislike and chide the the “lewd” Wolsey, having the French “pox” (syphilis) and a concubine. And one may infer that Wolsey's personal health record was whispered in the workshops of chatter. Burnet believes the King had the initial scruples on the childlessness of his marriage and posed the issue to Longland, the Confessor, who affirmed Henry’s growing doubts as to the marriage’s legitimacy and the Pope’s inherent power to dispense with divine law (canon law, yes, but not Biblical law). An “authority” problem was in the oven and is half-baked. That half-baked "authority" problem had a full century of previous history, if not longer. Sanders, the English Ape’n Pape, is hauled in with his hi-velocity infamies against Ann Boleyn and her family. Burnet gives a sample but promises in the index to punk-slap Sander with rebuttals. Henry surveys his Bishops and gets much backing, but Fisher of Rochester and Cambridge, declares for the marriage—based on Levirate law in Deuteronomy. Henry further worries about a Civil War—Yorkists and Lancastrians—as well as other things that might befall England from European predators if the dynasty was not secure. Wolsey is off to France on 11 Jul 1527. Charles 5 has the Pope in a lock-down in the dog’s cage of Castle D’ San Angelo, on the Tiber. Charles tells the Pope that his love of money is the source of all his afflictions. France and Spain are in a back-and-forth over Italy and Henry and Wolsey have to play their geopolitical cards prudently. Plus, the German and Swiss problems of the spreading Reformation fires, publications and scholarship are keeping European Apes’n Papes awake at night. The Papal bull of dispensation is examined by theologians and canonists.