On this day in Tudor history, 27th April 1536, John Stokesley, Bishop of London, was approached to see if Henry VIII could "abandon" his second wife, Anne Boleyn.
Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, recorded that Stokesley replied that he would only give his opinion to the king himself, and that before doing so he needed to be clear what the king wanted. He certainly didn't want to endanger himself by offending the king or the queen.
Chapuys went on to say that the bishop regretted helping to end the king's first marriage to Catherine of Aragon and that he "would still more gladly promote this, the said concubine and all her race are such abominable Lutherans."
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