give effect to the Bull of excommunication that had been prepared for
years, and to call upon the Catholic powers of Europe to put it into
execution either by a joint declaration of war, or by an interruption
of commercial relations with England. The time seemed specially
favourable for the publication of such a sentence. After years of
active or smouldering hostility the two great rivals Charles V. and
Francis I. had arranged a ten years truce (June 1538), and Cardinal
Pole was sent as legate to Spain and France to induce the Emperor and
Francis I. to take common action. James V. of Scotland promised his
assistance, and a papal envoy was dispatched to Scotland to bear the
cardinal's hat to Archbishop Beaton, and to encourage the king to
co-operate with the Catholic rulers of the Continent.

When the news of these preparations reached England Henry was
thoroughly alarmed for the safety of his kingdom. The brothers of
Cardinal Pole, Sir Geoffrey Pole and Lord Montague, his mother, the
Countess of Salisbury, Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter, Lord
Delawarr, Sir Edward Neville, Sir Nicholas Carew, and others were
arrested, nominally on the charge of treason, but in reality because
the Poles and the Courtenays were regarded as dangerous claimants to
the English throne. With the exception of Sir Geoffrey Pole, who
turned king's evidence, and the Countess of Salisbury who was kept in
confinement for years, the others were put to death, and commissioners
were sent into Cornwall to suppress all attempts at rebellion. During
the spring of 1539 preparations for repelling an invasion were pushed
forward with feverish activity, and so great was the loyalty of the
vast body of the English people, and so hateful to them was the idea
of a foreign invasion that many, who detested Henry's religious
policy, came forward with their assistance. The fortresses along the
coast and on the Scottish borders were strengthened, and replenished;