Dr Kat and Katherine Howard

hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you're very welcome this is reading the past and i'm dr cat and today is a sad topic frankly we're looking at the life controversies full and eventual execution of henry viii's fifth wife and queen catherine howard let's go catherine howard's date of birth is highly contested a range of 15 18 to 15 24 is offered although there is some consensus that she was probably born close to 15 24 than 1518. her father was lord edmund howard a younger son of thomas howard second duke of norfolk this meant that edmund's sister was elizabeth howard who would go on to marry thomas berlin and therefore be the mother of george mary and anne berlin catherine's mother was joyce culpepper edmund was joyce's second husband she had been widowed previously and from both of her marriages a number of children were produced it perhaps speaks to the relative insignificance of this branch of the family that we aren't even sure how many siblings catherine howard had full or half the number of children that we think her mother had is between 10 and 11. we also aren't sure exactly when catherine's mother joyce passed away we think it was the late 1520s certainly it happened when catherine howard herself was quite young edmund would go on to marry twice more in both cases he married other widows now this in itself is not particularly unusual for the time however it may be explained by the fact that edmund was impoverished as he was not the eldest son of his father he was not entitled to inherit the rich state of the dukes of norfolk to worsen matters he also seems to have been a squanderer of what money he did come across he may have been under the impression that his luck was changing in 1531 as history will show it ultimately didn't make much of a difference but in that year edmund howard was made controller of calais catherine on the other hand was sent to live and obtain an education that fitted her status in the household of her step-grandmother agnes dowager duchess of norfolk she was a member of the tilney family and had been born agnes tilney catherine's next years were therefore spent at chesworth house near horsham and at norfolk house lambeth as part of catherine's education she was given music lessons and taught to play the virginals and loot by 1536 when catherine would have been 18 at the oldest and perhaps 12 at the youngest her music teacher henry mannix was found to have taken advantage both of his position and his pupil modern scholars including lucy worsley argue that manix broomed exploited and ultimately victimized catherine of course this was not how this event would have been viewed at the time and as such some today would argue how valid of a point this is to make i am of the opinion that society's view may change over the centuries but the evolution of the species cannot move as quickly presumably human psychology and the response to trauma is therefore much the same even if there was not once the language to express that trauma catherine i believe was a victim and even though she may not have been described as such in her own time it doesn't mean that we should ignore that fact or that it shouldn't potentially alter the way we tell her story but what do you think henry mannix was predatory and catherine's step-grandmother had failed to protect her or at least had failed to protect her honour which was deemed to be the more important thing at the time agnes's contemporaries may well have held her culpable for catherine's in quotes devaluation the dow jones of norfolk however upon seeing catherine and mannix engage in an embrace is said to have responded by hitting catherine two years later in 1538 the maidens chamber in the household of the dowager duchess of norfolk became a hive of late night activity catherine howard and her bedfellow catherine tilney were kept busy entertaining the affections and attentions of francis dearam and edward waldergrave respectively these dalliances appeared to have taken place a number of times over the span of a few months it is reported that during this period of time catherine howard and francis dearm were repeatedly overheard referring to one another as husband or wife it is known that they at least in some way consummated their relationship to the early modern mindset this made them as good as married this was a betrothal that was unbreakable neither would be free to marry elsewhere in addition to potentially damaging her marriage market prospects catherine also found herself on the receiving end of her step-grandmother's violence once more agnes hit catherine when she found her in dirham's arms the next year 1539 would see catherine orphaned by her father's death her lover dirham sent to ireland but it was also the year when catherine's own life took a turn she was about to begin the next exciting phase of her life because she was going to go to henry viii's court to act as a maid of honor to his new wife and queen anne of cleves it is believed that as catherine was already in receipt of her maid of honor stipend she would have been awaiting her new mistress's arrival at greenwich in december 1539 some asserted and that includes the dower to duchess of norfolk herself that catherine caught henry's eye at this very early moment certainly his favor became apparent by the 24th of april 1540 because this is when he is first recorded ascending grants and gifts catherine's way and by the 20th of june 1540 anne of cleves seems to become aware or at least willing to complain about it on this date it is reported that she told her brother's ambassador in england that she was concerned about her husband's interest in her young maid of honor within a couple of days catherine howard was sent from court presumably to norfolk house in lambeth if anne thought this was a positive sign for her own marriage she would swiftly be disabused on the 24th of june 1540 anne of cleves was sent away from court to richmond palace and henry's barge began to journey frequently across the river thames to catherine henry's marriage to anne of cleves was an old on the 9th of july 1540 that same month on the 28th of july 1540 the chief supporter and orchestrator behind the cleves match thomas cromwell was beheaded on tower hill on the same day henry married catherine howard at oakland's palace in surrey she would have been between 16 and 22 years old catherine howard would first be publicly acknowledged as queen on the 8th of august at hampton court palace as catherine suffered into her life as queen she began to offer places and position to a number of people some of them came from her former life in the household of the dowager duchess of norfolk among their number was her former bedfellow catherine tilney whether this position was granted as a means to buy tilney silence or as a mark of their shared friendship and affection is unknown it seems there was one woman with whom catherine was unable to find any real common ground catherine was now the stepmother to three children her eldest stepdaughter mary was between two and nine years her senior and this is not wholly unusual for the time but nevertheless i think it could be an explanation for family friction both in this case and in other cases where it occurred what no doubt would have complicated matters further was mary's superior education birth and sense of her rightful place catherine apparently felt slighted by her stepdaughter and threatened to punish mary by removing some of her ladies despite this apparent familial disharmony happier times were on the horizon for catherine because christmas was around the corner it would be her first as queen and the christmas period 1540 to 1541 saw catherine placed at the center of court henry ensured that she was lavished with gifts and attention and that she was entertained suitably so that she was never bored on the 3rd of january 1541 anne of cleves is welcome to court and showed herself to be the paragon of etiquette as she knelt before the new royal couple the woman now by henry's side had once been her maid of honor now she was anne's queen and anne was going to give her the respect that that office deserved this unusual triplet dined together the ladies danced and the next day catherine gifted anne a ring and two dogs that had been given to her by the king no doubt anne's appearance and the way she behaved would have been a blessed relief to both henry and catherine they must have reveled in this sense of harmony as an added note i also imagined that kathleen was reveling in her place as queen the elaborate jewels and clothing the privilege and position the recognition of being henry's queen must have been a heady combination for a young girl who may scarcely have been out of her teens no doubt it would not have been long before catherine was starting to feel more and more comfortable in her role as queen march 1541 would be an eventful time for catherine howard on the 19th of march henry escorted catherine down the river thames going from westminster to greenwich it would have been her first recognized and official passage as queen through london the court would have sailed on decorated barges the citizens welcoming their king and queen with peels of gunshot that same month catherine successfully interceded with the king on behalf of a number of individuals including sir thomas wyatt sir john wallop john mason helen page john lee in addition she also helped her family she helped secure the position of ambassador to france for her uncle lord william howard less positively francis dearm was back on the scene in search of a position perhaps he was promising that it would buy his silence catherine made dirham her private secretary but it seems that he was unable to stop himself from indiscretion and boasting about his closeness with the queen at around the same time thomas colpept was making his presence known and he was coming in search of preferential treatment from his distant kinswoman recent explorations into the life of thomas culpepper i think present us with a spectacularly unpleasant and entitled young man one example alone is what happened allegedly in march 1541. cold pepper was part of a group that was arrested for a fray in southwark even more disturbingly a few months after culpepper's death a report emerged of something that was supposed to have happened in 1539 allegedly cold pepper sexually assaulted the wife for park keeper when a villager challenged and tried to arrest culpepper after this crime cold pepper killed them this is the young man that catherine howard was now welcoming into her confidence this is who she was choosing to spend her time with catherine and culpepper began to meet in secret but not complete secrecy for these meetings take place she would need accomplices and it seems that her ladies of the chamber were the ones who would do it chief amongst them jane berlin lady rochford she had been married to george berlin brother of amblin and cousin to catherine howard i have made a video on jane rochford and her potential reasons for taking part in this reckless activity which i will leave linked in a card but what on earth could have driven catherine howard to do it is it possible that she was overcome by love or even lust thomas culpepper was a handsome young courtier such a sharp relief from the aging obese smelly and sickly man to whom she was married was she simply driven to it by profound loneliness did she crave the attention henry was suffering from bouts of illness and it seems that in his worst cases when he was the most sick he kept catherine at arm's length perhaps because he was ashamed that his young wife should see him in such a state or was she motivated by desperation did she enter into an illicit sexual relationship with the intention of creating an heir by any means necessary in order to secure her own position as queen and also the states of her family having a howard boy particularly in the cradle would be endlessly beneficial to all of them maybe they were not lovers in the sense that we think of it had culpepper somehow learned of catherine's dealings with francis dear or even henry mannix before she came to court was he using that intelligence to blackmail his queen to obtain from her financial rewards or even sexual favors whatever was actually drawing catherine and culpepper together their meetings continued despite the risk even when the court was on royal progress to the north apparently henry was overjoyed to be showing off his beautiful young wife and queen to his northern people he is said to have called catherine his rose without a thorn catherine it seems was preoccupied with other matters as this letter shows it is currently held in the national archives of queue and it's a letter from catherine howard's to thomas culpepper the contents for many are explosive proof of her adultery master culpepper i heartily recommend me unto you praying you to send me word how that you do it showed me that you were sick the witch thing troubled me very much till such time that i hear from you praying you to send me word how that you do for i never long so much for a thing as i do to see you and to speak with you the which i trust shall be shortly now that which does comfort me very much when i think of it and when i think again that you should depart from me again it makes my heart die to think what fortune i have that i cannot be always in your company yet my trust is always in you that you will be as you have promised me and in that hope i trust upon still praying you that you will come when my lady rochford is here for then i shall be best at leisure to be at your commandment thanking you for that you have promised me to be so good unto that poor fellow my man which is one of the griefs that i do feel to depart from him for them i do not know no one that i dare trust to send to you and therefore i pray you take him to be with you that i may sometime hear from you one thing i pray you to give me a horse for my man for i had much to do to get one and therefore i pray you send me one by him and in so doing i am as i said before and thus i take my leave of you trusting to see you shortly again and i would you was with me now that you might see what pain i take in writing to you yours as long as life endures catherine as a post script she adds one thing i have forgotten and that is to instruct my man to tarry here with me still for he says whatsoever you will bid him he will do it rutha warnick has however debated the meaning and motivations behind the creation of this letter saying quote signing off yours as long as life endures this message has for many historians served as premier fascia evidence the queen's passion for culpepper and by extension for an adulterous affair between them it is possible however to put a different interpretation upon catherine's letter that its emotional tone was fueled less bisexual order than by the desperation of a young woman who was seeking to placate an aggressive dangerous suitor one who moreover as a member of the privy chamber had close contact with the king the promise she mentioned could have concerned the dirham affair culpepper it may be suggested had established some form of threatening control over the queen's life and although he as he admitted was seeking sexual satisfaction from her catherine was trying to ensure his silence through a misguided attempt at appeasement the letter makes it clear that she wished for his presence but she never refers to him as her lover or darling and expresses a desire for no more than verbal conversation with him far from initiating relationships catherine's attitude to culpepper as to the other men in her life the king included can be seen as essentially passive reactive to their demands i'd love to know what you think of this do you agree with this interpretation perhaps you'd like to comment beneath the video i think it might be argued that catherine's tour of the north at henry's side was perhaps the very zenith of her time as queen certainly from this peak a swift decline would occur and it would not be long before she was totally ruined in october 1541 the tour of the north was over henry catherine and the entire court was getting ready to return back to london around this time john lassels who it would turn out was a furious protestant reformer had a sister mary mary had spent time with catherine howard in the household of agnes daoish duchess of norfolk and john lasalles was going to report to archbishop thomas cranmer from his sister john lacelles had heard disturbing information about queen catherine's previous life her time before she came to court and captured the king's attention and he was going to share it the story goes that by the 2nd of november 1541 archbishop thomas cranmer had compiled a letter detailing his concerns which perhaps a little bit coward-like he left for henry to find on his seat at the chapel royal of hampton court at first henry refused to believe or at least said he refused to believe these sordid tales about his wife's past surely somebody was seeking to slander her he demanded an investigation apparently hoping that the deception would be uncovered and he could punish those who had libelled his wife lasalles and his sister were interviewed dirham and manix were interrogated and the truth was revealed henry could deny it no longer and certainly by the 6th of november he had turned his back on catherine catherine herself clearly this desperate young woman made every attempt to try and reach her husband to plead for his favor and forgiveness but it was all to be in vain she would never see him again instead this young woman who had risen so high to become the queen of england now found herself confined to her rooms about to be interrogated and as i'm sure she was aware immortal peril on the 8th of november 1541 catherine's furious denials gave way to confession although she pleaded her youth in the case of her indiscretions with manics and coercion when it came to dirham and perhaps she was being honest on both counts what she refused to do was confess that she and dirham had ever been pre-contracted she might own that he had called her wife that gifts and favors had been exchanged but she would not say that she had caused her husband she would not own that her marriage to henry could potentially be bigamous and therefore void is it possible that even at this late stage catherine had hopes that henry might forgive her and allow her to return to be his wife and queen crammer made reports of catherine's extreme sorrow distress shame and desire for the king's pardon meanwhile it is alleged that during this period francis dirham was being tortured despite this he refused to acknowledge or confess to his relationship with the queen having continued after her marriage but he did drop another name thomas culpepper on the 11th of november 1541 catherine was interrogated once again this time the topic was thomas culpepper once again denials gave way to confession once again she pleaded the fact that she had been coerced into this relationship that culpepper had been forceful and considering the allegations that emerged about thomas culpepper after his death perhaps catherine was telling the truth here as well in the coming days catherine's household would be made explicitly aware of the charges they won against her for many of them and chief amongst their number jane berlin lady rochford these charges would have a knock-on effect they would be finding their own behavior scrutinized in relation to them something which fascinates me in relation to the wider tragedy of catherine howard's fault is henry's behavior particularly if we compare it to his behavior at the fall of ambulance as we know anne boleyn is accused of a number of things including plotting henry's own death additionally she is accused of adultery and incest even at the time it was commented that people were surprised how cheerfully henry wore his cuckold horns if we compare that to how he acts in relation to catherine howard perhaps we might have a better understanding of the truth of ambulance fall he can cheerfully wear the horns when it comes to amblin because he knows the charges of force perhaps in the case of catherine howard he's got to wear them for real and maybe the fit is a little uncomfortable unfortunately for catherine henry's favor of her and therefore any chance she may have had of pardon from him had run out on the 14th of november 1541 catherine was taken to the former abbey of scion it was there on the 23rd of november that she was formally stripped of the title of queen for many it is perhaps understandably surprising that henry mannix manages to escape with his life after all was he not the one who first defiled the king's wife catherine howard the other two men would not be so lucky on the first december 1541 francis dirham and thomas culpepper were both found guilty of treason nine days later on the 10th of december they were taken to tyburn to suffer a traitor's death perhaps owing to culpepper's friendship with the king and the king's former affection for him his sentence was commuted and he was simply beheaded francis dear until he did not have the same level of faith with the king and did not get this leniency unfortunately he suffered the full traitor's death of being hanged drawn and quartered both men did have one final dignity their severed heads were placed on spikes displayed on london bridge as a final act of shame for all those who knew or even those who had the slightest idea of the truth of catherine's past they would have been highly aware of the danger they were in theoretically they were all guilty of miss prison of treason which was as bad as committing treason and could have the exact same punishment now all they could do was stay quiet in the hope that henry would be merciful and for many of them he would be jane berlin lady rochford would not be so lucky perhaps her luck had run out after all in 1536 she had successfully escaped and then subsequently thrived after the fall and execution of prominent members from her marital family the berlins now it would seem her luck had turned jane berlin and her former and final mistress catherine howard would not be given a trial there would be no opportunity for them to defend themselves in open court instead they were convicted of treason and sentenced to death by act of attainder it passed through the house of laws eventually and it was signed by henry in absentia by letters patent on the 11th of february 1542. catherine for her part was already located in the appropriate location for her own execution she had been moved to the tower of london the previous day she had been taken there by river and whether it was an act of cruelty or thoughtlessness despite the fact that two months had elapsed the heads of culpepper and dirham were still on their spikes on london bridge catherine was forced to row beneath them despite the length of time that had gone by the heads were still recognizable and catherine is said to have seen them there are many disturbing and tragic factors regarding the execution of catherine howard but for me there is one thing one moment that really gut punches me and it's to do with this object it is reported that when katherine howard learnt that she was to die the next day she requested that this item the block be brought to her rooms so that she could figure out how to place herself appropriately she could practice laying her neck upon it there is something so nauseating as far as i'm concerned about the thought of this woman perhaps in her late teens perhaps in her early 20s spending the night before her execution practicing with the block i'm not even sure of why and i certainly can't find the words to express the reason but this element this practicing with the block the night before for some reason just compounds the horror of the event for me catherine howard former queen of england and jane berlin lady rochford were both executed on the 13th of february 1542 within the walls of the tower of london both women were then buried beneath the floor of one of the town of london's chapels the chapel of saint simpetravincula there are some who claim that catherine used her scaffold speech to assert that she died the wife of the king but would rather die the wife of culpepper unfortunately this quotation and the claims surrounding it are a romanticization from later years catherine had committed treason her family were implicated such a statement would have risked making her own fate and that of her family substantially worse she was to be beheaded and that was a kindness a communion of her sentence because female traitors could also be burnt alive her extended family hoped for pardon and also for the continued grace of the king if catherine had spoken these words on the scaffold any hopes of her family would no doubt have been dashed she also would have been concerned to make a good and penitent death unfortunately we don't have a record of the words spoken by either catherine howard or jane berlin lady rochford on the scaffold on this date the best we have is an apparent eye and ear witness account from that date somebody who claims to have seen the execution and heard the speeches although he doesn't differentiate who says what but i talk about that account in my video on jane rothford which i will be leaving linked to this video i look forward to seeing your thoughts and reading your conversations about today's topic in the comments section underneath the video or you can come and find me over on my social media as always i will leave links to my instagram and twitter in the description box you can follow me there and we can continue this conversation i do hope you've enjoyed this video and found it useful if you did then please let me know by hitting the thumbs up please also subscribe to this channel and while you're there hit the notification bell next subscribe button so that youtube tells you when i've next uploaded i hope you're gonna have a great day whatever you're doing and i look forward to speaking to you in my next video take care of yourselves bye for now [Music] you

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Views: 97,755

Rating: 4.9651284 out of 5

Keywords: Catherine Howard, Tudor, Henry VIII, Six Wives, Execution, Tower of London, Education, Literature, Culture, History, Early Modern, Renaissance

Id: 734VcjN9LJA

Length: 30min 28sec (1828 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 14 2020