Catherine

 

Catherine's death on January 7th 1536 cut both ways for Anne.

Although it removed any possibility and pressure on the king to take her back, for that very reason it made her successor more vulnerable. Here is why .

1. If Henry should tire of her, he could start again, fresh.

2. Thomas Cromwell was becoming ambivalent. Catherine's death opened a possibility of a rapprochement with the Emperor, to which Anne was an inconvenient obstacle. As the year advanced, Cromwell became increasingly keen on building bridges with Brussels.

3. And finally, her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, chatolic, was keeping a low profile, offended by her patronage of reformists scholars .