lucreziaborgia:

everyone, including historians: how could henry remotely doubt mary’s legitimacy and bastardize her? she was 10000% legitimate and he and everyone else knew it

other countries that found henry marrying his dead brother’s wife weird and raised the issue well before the great matter:

All true, especially considering the common “he and everyone else knew it” claim…

It was once Mary (as the surviving result of the marriage between COA and Henry) became symbolic of whether or not a king’s authority could exceed a pope’s that she suddenly became ‘undoubtedly legitimate’ to foreign countries…not before.