Nihil, you really should stick to the areas you know and stop pontificating when you are on thin ice. Everyone who has a smattering of history knows that Henry wanted a male heir, even though the Salic Law did not obtain in England. After the appalling conflict between Stephen and Maude, a male heir was obviously desirable.
Please do not erect a straw man by saying that if Henry had been interested only sex.... I did not state this. Henry was rutting all over the place. Her pregnancy was what gave the matter added urgency is what I said. (He already had a son with Bessie Blount, as we all know, so he had reason to believe he could sire a son.)
I am not in any way questioning how well the motives fit together. It is obvious that they do. If there is any question, I have at hand the correspondence of the Spanish ambassador.
"When he turned his passion from her older sister to her...."
Goodness, there were several years in between and there is scholarly debate as to whether she was older. The probability is high, I grant you. However, it is reasonably certain that she was a lay, not a passion.
Anne put Henry off and then, at a strategically brilliant moment, succumbed. That laughing comment about craving an apple had its source, you know.
You are welcome to quote Leviticus all you like. The justification for the legality of the marriage, as I have already pointed out, was that Arthur's ill health made consummation impossible. This was Catherine's contention until she died. Note that Henry said nothing to deny her virginity, this was not the ground he chose. Also note that Arthur was the same age (fifteen) but even shorter than the diminutive Catherine. Consider Catherine's story in the confessional to Cardinal Campeggio that she and Arthur had shared a bed on only seven occasions and had not had sexual relations.
Consider as well the thought of the times: Although alliances between children and between people of wildly disparate age were contracted for political reasons, there was an awareness of the need for care in the timing of consummation because of the need for healthy progeny. Read, as I have, the correspondence of the various ambassadors: It sounds as though they discuss breeding race horses. The tenor of the times was to hold off a bit.
The dispensation dealt with the "impediment" created by the marriage with Arthur, which created an affinity with Henry, as though they had been brother and sister, related in the first degree collateral. But note that it is the sexual union, not the marriage ceremony, that was held to create this affinity. The actual request for dispensation was "forsitan"--perhaps, or in case there was consummation.
All of the court world of Europe knew that it had not been consummated. Just as a quick view, here is a quotation (please excuse my poor translation skills) from a letter written by Ferdinand to de Puebla: "It is well known in England that the princess is still a virgin. But as the English are disposed to cavil, it has seemed more prudent to provide for the case as though the marriage had been consummated."
Henry did not protest the marriage during his father's life. What rubbish! Henry VII died on April 21, 1509, seven years after the death of Arthur. Henry VIII married Catherine on June 11, 1509.
His later claims had to do with private misgivings.
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