After six years of civil war he appealed to them to, state the conditions under which they would lay aside their hostility.
He rendered an immense service to his country by maintaining that the cause of France, though desperate to all appearance, was not yet lost if the contending factions could lay aside their differences in the face of the common enemy.
At their first interview Cranmer was commanded by the king to lay aside all other pursuits and to devote himself to the question of the divorce.
But the Nazarite was equally bound to lay aside his holiness before mixing with common folk and returning to ordinary life; this he did by a sacrifice, which, with the offering of his hair upon the altar, freed him from his vow and reduced him to the same level of sanctity as ordinary men.
Approaching the abbey he resolved to do as his favourite hero Amadis de Gaul did - keep a vigil all night before the Lady altar and then lay aside his worldly armour to put on that of Christ.
