because he explicitly rejected the deposing power, but refused the oath as he wished to uphold the credit of the secular priests at Rome, and to get the English College there out of the hands of the Jesuits. Controversy There is a range of views among contemporary scholars about King James's intention in requiring the oath. These include: (Programmatic) to forward a wider theological and ecumenical project (Patterson); (Persecuting) to give grounds for bearing down on English Catholics who faced the dilemma of swearing or not (Questier); (Anti-papalist) to target supporters of papal temporal authority (Somerville); or (Assertive) to assert his own spiritual authority (Tutino). It is seen as aimed at resistance theorists as well as traitors; and a move to split "moderates" from "radicals" among English Catholics. There were unintended consequences. According to W.B. Patterson, "James himself did not give up his vision of a peaceful and united Church at home and abroad which he had unfolded to Parliament at its opening session in 1604. But in defending the Oath of Allegiance, he allowed himself to be drawn into a bitter Europe-wide theological controversy." By the beginning of 1609 it had begun to touch on a whole range of European issues: English Catholics, Rhineland Calvinists, Gallicanism in France, the aftermath of the Venetian Interdict, and the uncertain Catholic orthodoxy of the Vienna court of Emperor Rudolph II. It had repercussions for international diplomacy; and in particular the handling of the Premonition had a negative effect on diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Venice, which had been improving during the Interdict. Bellarmine drawn in James attacked Bellarmine early in 1608 in a treatise Triplici nodo, triplex cuneus, the title of which identified it in a learned fashion as an answer to the missives sent to Blackwell. It was published anonymously in English around February 1608, and was then translated into Latin and French. It was the work of James, supported by advice from Lancelot Andrewes, Richard Bancroft and James Montague. The cardinal answered with a Responsio, using the pseudonym Matthaeus Tortus (i.e. Matteo Torti or Torto, his chaplain); he portrayed James as smooth in past correspondence with the papacy, but delivering little in practical terms. This accusation raked up a matter from before James's accession to the English throne. In 1599 a letter signed by James had been sent to Pope Clement VIII, requesting him to give a cardinal's hat