The Six Wives of Henry VIII Documentary

[Music] the woman known to history as catherine of aragon was born on the 16th of december 1485 in the palace of alcala de generes on the outskirts of madrid her given name when born was catalina although she is widely known today by the version of her name which she adopted in england the country where she would spend her entire adult life her father was king ferdinand ii of aragon one of the two constituent kingdoms of spain at that time ferdinand's domains were in the north and east of the iberian peninsula sended on cities such as barcelona zaragotha and valencia while the aragonese had also carved out a small mediterranean empire in the late middle ages including the balearic islands sardinia sicily and much of southern italy including the city of naples catherine's mother was queen isabella the first of castile the ruler of the other part of spain castile encompassed the greater part of mainland spain and extended from the northern coastline south through madrid and toledo towards the south of the country though by the time of catherine's birth in 1485 a small enclave around grenada in the extreme south of the country remained in muslim hands and it was not until 1492 that her parents completed the re-conquest of spain and expelled the last muslim powers back into north africa catherine's parents had an unusual arrangement whereby isabella effectively ruled castile and ferdinand governed aragon the terms of their marriage stipulated that their jurisdictions remained separate during their lifetimes it would not be until the early 16th century that spain would be ruled as one nation by a single monarch catherine's descent and early family life were peculiar and related to subsequent events in her life on her mother isabella's side she was descended from the house of lancaster of the english royal family in catherine's case from john of gaunt the third son of king edward iii who had ruled england between 1327 and 1377. in 1371 john had married constance of castile linking the english royal family with the royal family of the kingdom of castile as a result catherine was distantly related to the english royal line and has befitted a young princess who was a member of two european royal dynasties she received her education from a number of esteemed scholars including two dominicans pascual de ambudia and andres de morales and the italian humanist brothers alessandro and antonio gerardini emphasis was placed by them on latin texts but catherine was also educated in european languages as befitted the daughter of a king and queen who were known throughout europe as the most catholic of monarchs there was a heavy emphasis on placing any learning she received in a catholic christian context and the bible and other liturgical texts were studied from early on she evidently excelled in all of these and many years later catherine was praised for her learning by none other than erasmus of rotterdam the foremost scholar of the early northern renaissance catherine might have been born in spain but the infinitely more significant events in shaping her later life would be played out far to the north in england in the years prior to and following her birth since the mid-15th century that country had been plagued by civil wars brought about by the psychological collapse of king henry vi in the early 1450s 30 years of unrest followed as richard third duke of york and then his son edward tried to assert their claim to the throne edward finally succeeded in this and became king edward iv but when he died in 1483 his brother richard usurped the throne and became richard iii then a new pretender arose by the name of henry tudor a descendant of a welsh family with a very tenuous claim to the throne of england in 1485 henry landed in england with an army and won a famous battle against richard at bosworth field in the english midlands on the 22nd of august 1485 richard was killed that day and henry was proclaimed king as henry vii but henry never lost sight of the fact that his family's claim to the throne was weak and a new pretender could arise at any time indeed several did but unsuccessfully thus he would need to form alliances with some of europe's leading royal families and he would also need to impart to his children the absolute necessity of securing the tudor line and protecting the family's claim to the english throne a sign of the english king's obsession with doing so was evident already in the late 1480s in september 1486 when catherine in spain was still shy of her first birthday henry vii and his wife elizabeth had their first child a boy called arthur by the end of the 1480s despite catherine and arthur still being toddlers in their respective royal households in england and spain henry was already intent on entering into negotiations with isabella and ferdinand to bring about a marital agreement between young arthur and catherine by the spring of 1488 rodrigo gonzalez de puebla a doctor of law and spanish diplomat was in england to negotiate the terms of such a union both sides were anxious at this time that an alliance would be cemented as spain's rivalry with neighboring france was growing in a way which would soon see both nations vying for dominance of the italian peninsula and an agreement seemed to have been near completion in 1489 but negotiations broke down over a disagreement regarding the size of catherine's dairy and how her household will be maintained in england through english crown funding nevertheless these negotiations did result in the signing of the treaty of medina del campo between england and spain in 1489 whereby the two nations allied with each other and while the marriage was not fully agreed to at this point it remained viable in the meantime catherine was growing up she continued her education which broadened as she got older to include arithmetic law history philosophy and some basics of heraldry and genealogy the latter being an obsession of europe's royal dynasties and noble families as they tried to ensure the continuity of their lines an issue which would become paramount in catherine's life in later years and she traveled widely as all of this was being imparted to her her parents queen isabella and king ferdinand were anxious to make their presence felt across spain as they united the two kingdoms of castile and aragon and they spent time in each of the provinces as the royal court maintained a wandering existence in the 1480s and 1490s as a result catherine was present at the fall of granada in 1492 when the muslim emirate there finally fell and spain was brought fully under catholic rule curiously although she was still just a child at the time catherine seems to have remembered the episode and she later chose the pomegranate known as the granada apple in spain as her personal emblem somewhat ironically the pomegranate was a fertility symbol in early modern times she cannot have been aware at the time she first used it as a symbol how much her life and all of england would be impacted by the vexed issue of her childbearing in the mid-1490s negotiations resumed yet again between henry vii's government in england and catherine's parents government in spain concerning the proposed union between her and prince arthur henry's hold on the english throne had been questioned in the intervening period by a pretender by the name of perkin warbeck who claimed to be king edward iv son richard who had almost certainly perished in the tower of london at the hands of his uncle in the mid-1480s warbeck was at large in various places on the continent and then in ireland between 1491 and 1497 before he was finally apprehended and imprisoned the whole episode had revealed two things firstly it indicated how tenuous the hold of the tudors on the english crown was and secondly it showed henry that the spanish monarchs was certainly the right choice for a marriage alliance while a host of the european powers had been very willing to support warbucks cause in order to undermine england isabella and ferdinand had been incredulous at the idea that warbuck was the deceased prince and had worked with the english king to expose the fact that wolbeck was actually an upstart from the low countries and so as waubeck was heading towards his arrest renewed intensity was lent to the negotiations over catherine and arthur's proposed marriage eventually a new agreement was reached between the respective governments of england and spain on the 1st of october 1497 the marriage would go ahead but since neither catherine nor arthur were yet even teenagers it would not take place until arthur reached the age of 14 at which time catherine would be 15. a papal dispensation would still be required even at that stage for the wedding to take place because they were so young and that would be sought from pope alexander vi a diary of 200 000 escudos would be paid by the spanish to henry vii in return catherine would receive revenues from the lands which henry had assigned to prince arthur for his use these would be used to pay for catherine's household and affairs in england until such time as she became queen with this revised treaty in place ascent was finally given to the proposed marriage which had first been mooted nearly a decade earlier it was ratified in january 1498 although some doubts remained about whether it would go ahead these were finally a late in may 1499 when a proxy wedding was held in england while catherine was still in spain further bickering over some of the financial specifics continued in the months that followed but at last in the autumn of 1501 katherine set off from spain to england she would never return to her homeland catherine landed at plymouth in the south west of england on the 2nd of october 1501 they then followed a five-week long procession through southern england during which she was joined by king henry and her soon-to-be husband prince arthur before they arrived to london on the 12th of november here elaborate pageants and banquets were held before arthur and she were married at st paul's cathedral on the 14th of november exactly what followed would become a matter of extensive debate 30 years later but catherine was to later claim that although she and arthur shared a bed on several occasions over the next few months they never consummated their marriage the other facts of what followed are uncontested within weeks of their marriage arthur who was prince of wales set out for ludlow castle to provide ceremonial governance of the principality and catherine went with him but in wales they both quickly contracted the sweating sickness a mysterious illness which was most likely caused by a rodent-born hantavirus catherine survived but arthur did not and when he died on the 2nd of april 1502 catherine was left as a 16-year-old widow in a foreign land the long-planned marriage which had been the subject of negotiations throughout the entirety of catherine and arthur's young lives had lasted less than four months news was quickly sent concerning arthur's demise to london and from there dispatches were sent by king henry's government to spain to inform catherine's parents that their daughter was already a widow and these same dispatches were quickly responded to would it be possible isabella and ferdinand wondered for catherine to now marry henry's second son also named henry after his father the boy was only just about to turn 12 years of age but if they waited a few years he and catherine could wed and the anglo-spanish alliance could be continued when this proposal came to england it was received positively both sides were anxious for the alliance to be secured and as such they quickly worked out the new agreement by september a draft treaty was prepared with many of the financial arrangements continued from catherine's marriage to arthur to her new proposed one with henry the formal treaty was finalized in the summer of 1503 and it was agreed that it would be solemnized following receipt of a fresh papal dispensation and once henry reached 15 years of age what is interesting is that neither side seems to have been overly concerned at this time about whether catherine and arthur had consummated their marriage and it was simply assumed that they had no major objections were raised to henry marrying his sister-in-law from a marriage which had potentially been consummated while all of this was proceeding in england the international situation was in a renewed state of flux catherine's mother queen isabella died on the 26th of november 1504 because the terms of her marriage arrangement with ferdinand many years earlier had specifically stated that he could not rule castile and isabella could not rule aragon in their own rights isabella was now succeeded by her older daughter catherine's sister juana juana had married archduke philip of the austrian habsburg some years earlier phillips family ruled austria and the burgundian inheritance of the low countries and parts of northeastern france while they also had held the position of holy roman emperor for several generations consequently the union of the spanish royal dynasty of the traston maras and the austrian habsburgs was now set to create a dynastic union which would unite large sections of western and central europe under one house this would eventually occur in the shape of juana and philip's son charles who would play a major role in his aunt catherine's life later on but for now the situation in spain was that juana became queen there however her own father ferdinand was soon trying to establish himself as the all but ruler of castile arguing that his own daughter was mad all this was playing out as catherine's marriage to henry was being negotiated the diplomatic unrest in spain had a direct impact on catherine and the marriage negotiations in england king henry vii was now having second thoughts he and his councillors speculated that perhaps it would be best to support juana and her husband philip against king ferdinand in what was turning into a polarizing issue in spain bordering on civil war within castile accordingly for a time in 1505 and early 1506 it seemed as though the marriage agreement would be renounced a development which seemed all but assured when king henry sent over 100 000 pounds to archduke philip in the low countries to aid him in his and his wife's clash with ferdinand the english monarch at this stage was unwilling to tie his son and heir into a marriage with catherine which would become politically useless if ferdinand was defeated by juana and philip as had so often been the case though in catherine's affairs fate intervened philip died suddenly in spain in september 1506 and the way was now cleared for ferdinand to establish control over castile and so he effectively had his daughter confined to house arrest on the grounds that she was insane thus with ferdinand secure in his control of castile henry yet again began to consider marrying his son to catherine but the uncertainty would drag on for several more years we might ask where exactly was catherine during this long period of uncertainty in england and what was she doing as the widow of the prince of wales the spanish princess had been granted durham house the residence of the bishop of durham in london as her own residence here she maintained an almost entirely spanish entourage and was visited frequently by the spanish ambassadors to england she was learning english although was still far from fluent by 1505 by which time she had been in the country for nearly four years it is a sign of her reliance on her spanish companions that she was still not fully versed in the native tongue after so long in england unfortunately she had also been ill regularly probably with turtian egg a kind of mild form of malaria but the greater problem for her was her financial position as the penny pinching henry vii had consistently failed to abide by the terms of her marriage arrangement with arthur and provide adequate support for her household her allowance was even revoked altogether for a time in 1505 as henry lost interest in the new marriage negotiations additionally concerted efforts were made to ensure that there was little contact between her and prince henry her proposed marriage partner as such it was a difficult time for catherine in the mid-1500s a distinct change in catherine's fortunes occurred in february 1508 that spring a new spanish ambassador gutierrez gomez de fuenzarida arrived in england specifically charged with finalizing the long-running marriage negotiations though these dragged on for more months the ampas was broken on the 21st of april 1509 when king henry vii died the new king henry viii catherine's long proposed husband summoned fuen salida just over two weeks later and declared that one of his father's dying wishes had been for the marriage to proceed it is unclear if the old king had actually said this or not but the result was the same in any event on the 11th of june 1509 seven years after the marriage of catherine and henry had first been mooted the couple were married at the franciscan church at greenwich palace she was 23. he was just a few days shy of his 18th birthday and less than two weeks later on midsummer's day the 24th of june 1509 catherine was crowned as queen of england at westminster abbey next to her husband who was anointed the same day as king henry viii after nearly eight years in england catherine's persistence had paid off it was a clear sign of the tenacity she would show many years later when henry became determined to end their marriage catherine held a considerable amount of influence over her husband and consequently over england's political affairs in the first years of henry's reign the political climate of these years for england was similar to what it had been for well over 200 years henry's enemies were france and scotland and the king viewed himself as a monarch along the lines of his medieval predecessors dating back to the days of king edward the first in essence then his duty was to make war on france and make it clear to the scots that england was the predominant power in britain thus after briefly flirting with a possible amiable approach to the french he quickly discarded that possibility and he would spend much of his long 38-year reign spending vast sums of money to try to restart the hundred years war with france which had its heyday during the reign of edward iii in the 14th century he also had responsibilities elsewhere notably across the irish sea where the english lordship had declined to a point where only dublin on the east coast and a few of the surrounding counties such as meath and kildare were effectively under english rule overall there was a more than fluid situation facing england on the international stage when henry and catherine became king and queen in 1509 catherine's influence over her husband was manifested quickly within weeks of their marriage she ensured that the spanish ambassador was recalled home and for a time thereafter she actually acted as her father ferdinand's official line of communication in england and while a new ambassador don luis carroste villaragout eventually arrived in 1510 catherine continued to play a prominent role in representing spanish interests in her adoptive homeland this was significant as in 1511 henry effectively turned his back on any offer of friendship from the french and allied with ferdinand as well as the papacy and the holy roman emperor maximilian the first against france as part of the war of the league of cambrae a conflict which primarily played out in italy having done so henry then assembled the large military force which was sent to the basque country in northeastern spain with the goal of henry and ferdinand launching a joint military campaign to conquer guillen in southwestern france for england henry would no doubt have been disappointed by the outcome his own troops mutinate while ferdinand used the rump of the forces to conquer the small pyrinian principality of navarra for spain despite this setback clear signs of catherine's prominent role in english affairs was seen the following year in june 1513 henry launched his own campaign to france which he led in person across the english channel to land in the north of the country in the weeks that followed he campaigned in northeastern france in association with the austrian habsburgs in his absence catherine served as governor of the realm and captain general of england during the late summer and autumn of 1513 it was a critical period on the 22nd of august king james iv of scotland who was acting in defense of scotland's traditional ally the french invaded northern england a large english army was quickly gathered much of the logistical work being carried out by catherine and the government's senior ministers as a result when the earl of surrey thomas howard commanded an english army against the scots at flodden on the 9th of september they won one of the greatest victories over the scottish ever achieved by english arms catherine had been gathering together a reserve force to aid surrey and was heading north with it when news of the victory at flodden was received she also learned the king james and several of his senior nobles had died on the field writing to henry she stated in this your grace shall see how i keep my promise sending you for your banners a king's coat yet as much as katherine's prominent role in the politics of the early 1510s indicates the influence she held at this time there were already signs of future trouble brewing the queen quite infamously had a difficult gynecological history she was reported to be pregnant on numerous occasions during the first 10 years or so of her and henry's marriage some of these instances are based on ambassadorial reports which featured mere rumors in the royal court but there are more concrete details of some of katherine's natal history she became pregnant with a daughter very soon after her and henry's wedding but she miscarried in january 1510 and this was followed within a few months by a fresh pregnancy this time she gave birth to a baby boy on the 1st of january 1511 who was named henry after his father and grandfather and anointed as prince of wales but he died seven weeks later on the 22nd of february it's possible that there was another boy born in september 1513 just days after the battle of flodden but if this is so he died within hours or days at the most another son was certainly stillborn in the early winter of 1514 it was not until a girl mary was born in february 1516 that a child survived but england had never had an undisputed queen and as the years went by henry would pine evermore for a son to secure the succession and tudor rule the full implications of catherine's natal woes would not become clear until the 1520s in the meantime the international situation was entering a more fluid state england had made peace with france in 1514 as part of which it had been agreed that henry's 18 year old sister mary would marry king louis xii of france louis was 34 years older than mary but happily for the bride he died just a few months later and was succeeded by his cousin francis a member of a cadet branch of the valois royal family and the following year catherine may have been influential yet again in getting henry to agree to a renewal of the alliance with spain but when old king ferdinand died himself in 1516 he was succeeded by his grandson charles as successor to his mother's spanish kingdom and his father phillips habsburg inheritance charles v would become the most powerful monarch in europe simultaneously ruling spain austria the low countries and much of italy as well as serving as holy roman emperor from 1519 onwards the diplomatic map of europe was now profoundly altered and when henry decided he wanted to end his marriage to catherine several years later he would be impeded by her nephew the most powerful ruler europe had seen for several centuries this diplomatic realignment led to a curious experiment in diplomacy being undertaken towards the end of the 1510s by one of henry's senior ministers and an individual who would play a large role in catherine's affairs in later years thomas woolsey had risen as the king's armoner in 1509 to become the archbishop of york and then to be made a cardinal of the church in 1515 by that time he was also henry's leading minister and handled an immense amount of government business and in 1518 he determined to try to get the major western and central european powers to agree to renounce making war on each other for some time in order to present a united front against the expanding islamic ottoman empire in the eastern mediterranean though england france the papacy and spain all agreed to the treaty of london it was soon discarded as henry yet again looked to make war on france in the early 1520s nevertheless it is an interesting episode in woolsey's rise to the position of european statesmen he would soon be acting inadvertently as one of catherine's supporters in her fight to resist henry's desire for an annulment of their marriage the causes of the king's later wish to end his marriage to catherine were dynastic as catherine suffered stillbirth after miscarriage in the early 1510s henry had taken a mistress as early as 1514 and there were several more in the years that followed and in 1519 one of these elizabeth blount gave birth to a boy the king acknowledged him and he was named henry after him with the addition of the title fitzroy meaning the son of the king however while this new child was acknowledged by henry he was still illegitimate in law and could not succeed to the throne and what was increasingly at issue was catherine's age she had been over five years older than henry when they married in 1509 in 1520 she was 35. this was certainly not so old that catherine couldn't possibly become pregnant again or even still have multiple children but her complicated and arduous natal history with its many miscarriages and still births did not inspire confidence in anyone at the english royal court that catherine was likely to give birth to the legitimate male heir that henry so desired and as the months and years ticked past in the early 1520s this concern turned more and more to a certainty as it did henry would seek to end the marriage we should pause here to ask who exactly was the woman who had become so central to english political affairs in the 1520s because of later events catherine has sometimes been depicted as merely a shadowy presence in england a distant figure who eventually led her husband to begin tearing england apart but she is often a personalityless figure in all of this in reality catherine was a tenacious individual one who expressed her mind forcefully throughout her adult years in england often to the annoyance of the sitting spanish ambassador at the tudor court a pious catholic like her parents she was heavily influenced early on in her time in the country by her confessor diego fernandez and she was a major supporter of the observant franciscan movement in her adopted homeland but despite her forcefulness she could quite effortlessly perform her role as queen presiding over court gatherings next to henry and dispensing patronage where appropriate to the church and others attached to the court yet her direct influence on england's politics was minimal and catherine did not wish for any greater involvement moreover she retained her spanish identity throughout her years in england and while she learned to speak english fluently within her own private apartments and household there was a largely spanish staff and catherine continued to confess in spanish even several decades after leaving her homeland catherine was also a noted patron of scholars she was already fluent in spanish french and latin when she arrived in england and although her progress was slow at first she eventually did become fluent in english in her adult years she excelled in her latin learning beyond what would be expected of a european royal in the 16th century she patronized both the university of oxford and the university of cambridge as queen visiting both and interceding directly with henry over issues and benefactions relating to queen's college and st john's college in cambridge she also patronized several of the most prominent intellectuals of england in the 1510s and 1520s notably the antiquarian and poet john leland the humanist and physician thomas lineker and the religious reformer and diplomat richard pace she is best remembered however for urging the leading spanish humanist scholar juan luis bives to come to england for a period in the mid-1520s here bibas finished some work on the church father augustine but his english sojourn is most notable for having composed the education of a christian woman a highly progressive treatise which argued for the universal education of women the work was written as a guide of thoughts for the princess mary and was dedicated to catherine it points to the centrality of learning and education to the queen's world view shortly after beaves completed his educational treaties the princess mary was sent to ludlow castle in 1525 to begin maintaining her own household there and to be educated by tutors such as catherine's former chaplain and the noted catholic scholar richard featherston but even as this was occurring henry was proactively seeking ways to ensure that a male heir would arrive to supplant mary as the next in line to the throne in 1521 henry had yet again allied with his wife's nation when he and charles v agreed to go to war again against france four years of conflict followed before henry effectively decided to go his own way and made an independent peace with king francis and in the months that followed a remarkable shift in affairs occurred as henry now began to nail his colours to the mast in favor of the french against the habsburgs though most of the fighting in the war of the league of cognac which followed occurred in italy as part of the conflict between france and spain for hegemony there england played a slight role too for her part catherine despaired in private in the mid-1520s that she was no longer consulted by her husband in these matters and she rarely heard from her nephew charles in the way which she had during her father's lifetime when it came to spanish affairs if catherine was increasingly sidelined by her husband in the determination of england's place on the international stage it simply reflected her position at court following the birth of henry fitzroy in 1519 the king had entered another affair this one with mary berlin the daughter of sir thomas berlin who had caught henry's eye on her wedding day of all days in 1520. mary was a somewhat scandalous figure who had spent time at the french court in the late 1510s while her father was serving as england's ambassador to france she was ordered home to england in 1519 for having engaged in several affairs with french courtiers including king francis himself now following her liaisons with henry it was rumored that she had borne the king two sons in the early 1520s but if she did he did not acknowledge them perhaps because the exact parentage of the children could not be determined yet mary was ultimately to become a peripheral figure rather it was her sister who would take center stage in the 1520s in 1526 henry began a new affair with anne boleyn mary's younger sibling and this time henry was more committed to his new mistress and by 1527 he was determined that he would obtain a divorce from catherine in order to marry again and hopefully produce a legitimate male heir what was to become known as the king's great matter his goal of achieving a divorce from his wife of nearly 20 years would eventually turn every aspect of english political social and religious life upside down henry first alerted his wife in the early summer of 1527 that he was looking into the possibility of a divorce because after 18 years of marriage his scruples had suddenly been challenged by the chance that their marriage had been unlawful all along the argument being pursued was that because catherine had married henry's brother arthur and because that earlier marriage had been consummated henry had effectively married his own sister in 1509 and this was intolerable in religious law therefore an annulment had to be granted for the marriage this was hypocritical of henry in the extreme to suddenly claim that his scruples around this issue had suddenly been felt 18 years after the event however catherine's family background complicated the matter for henry she immediately wrote to her nephew charles v to inform him of the situation as luck would have it charles's forces in italy had recently captured the city of rome and with pope clement vii effectively charles's prisoner there henry would not receive an annulment to his marriage any time soon with the possibility of an annulment being quickly granted dashed cardinal woolsey now became a central figure in events and in july 1527 he was dispatched to france where he envisaged the possibility of setting up a council of cardinals who would run the roman catholic church while clement was incapacitated in rome such a council would be able to quickly grant henry his divorce in tandem and without woolsey's knowledge henry also dispatched the diplomat william knight to rome to seek a dispensation from clement to at least allow henry to marry again if the divorce could not be granted straight away effectively this was a request from the king of england whose scruples were now severely affecting his judgment that the pope would sanction him to commit bigamy and have two queens at once thinking better of this particularly crazed request henry quickly sent a messenger after knight who caught up with him somewhere in france and rescinded the order in any event both woolsey and knights missions would produce nothing and in england henry was beginning to assemble a collection of church scholars and lawyers who could provide him with legal justifications for the annulment of his marriage as he did the great mata would come to dominic court life in england during the late 1520s as the months went by the situation altered somewhat in rome pope clement was released from captivity by charles v in december 1527 but the spanish still controlled the city and his freedom of action was still heavily curtailed he eventually consented to send a papal legate in the shape of cardinal lorenzo campello to england in the autumn of 1528 to deliberate on the case with cardinal woolsey secretly campedjo had orders to delay the situation as much as possible and to look for an alternative solution to the problem having arrived there he and woolsey had an audience with catherine on the 24th of october 1528 following which she requested campejo to hear her confession on the 27th at this she related to him that although they were married for several months in late 1501 and early 1502 and that she and arthur had shared a bet on several occasions during that time the marriage had never been consummated as they had not had relations on this issue hinged the entire legal argument which henry's team of lawyers and churchmen had been devising if catherine had never had relations with arthur their argument had no substance to it and no divorce would be forthcoming eventually in late may 1529 the legating court assembled catherine quickly appealed for the hearing to be adjourned and for her case to be heard in rome on the 21st of june both she and henry spoke before the court as did woolsey for such a significant moment in english political and religious history there is a frustrating lack of detail in the available sources as to what each of them actually said that day but we do know that catherine at one stage knelt before henry and protested that she had been his lawful wife for 20 years and immediately after this she left the court despite the calls for her to remain as a result campecho had to send word to rome that catherine was now refusing to cooperate with the proceedings by the time the message was sent to the vatican and a response was formulated the summer recess was nearing in london on the 23rd of july woolsey convinced campecho to close proceedings for a time but it was clear when he did this that there was no intention of resuming activity in the autumn having exhausted the possibility of coming to an agreement with rome and pope clement henry's ministers officials and advisers would increasingly look to find an alternative way of obtaining his divorce and bringing an end to his great matter throughout this tense period catherine and henry had understandably seen less and less of each other it should be noted that henry maintained a clear fontness for her and even at the height of affairs in late 1528 he is recorded by the contemporary chronicler and historian edward hall as having stated if i were to marry again if the marriage might be good i would surely choose her above all other women yet while she had continued to preside over much of court life as queen she and henry rarely dined together by 1529 except on major court occasions where the absence of one would set tongues wagging at court henry was also often absent increasingly in the company of ann berlin and her growing court faction somewhat bizarrely throughout this period henry continued to have catherine sew his shirts for him something which infuriated anne and for her part catherine tried to act in as dignified a manner as possible at court despite her precarious and embarrassing position she wrote frequently to charles v and pope clement and pressed her nephew's new ambassador eustace chapwise to implore rome to categorically refuse to sanction any divorce however clement did not oblige her in this and stated simply that he would not agree to resolve the case unless the parties appeared in rome as clement delayed henry grew more desperate and the berlin faction which included anne's powerful uncle thomas howard third duke of norfolk increasingly argued that woolsey was the main impediment to progress as the most powerful churchman in england and one of the two leggets appointed by rome to decide the case it was in his power to advance the divorce henry who possessed the peculiar combination of being both a coward and a tyrant did not wish to destroy his most trusted servant and advisor but felt powerless to resist the growing calls for woolsey to be supplanted eventually he began revoking the cardinals powers and stripping him of his properties and wealth he was however permitted to remain as archbishop of york and so he set out for the north of england to his diocese in the autumn of 1530. during which journey he died but while woolsey was now gone his removal did not provide a solution in and of itself to the king's great matter that would only come through the intercession of one of woolsey's proteges a rising official called thomas cromwell cromwell would become one of the critical figures in the months that followed in the new line of argument to obtain the divorce this held that the english church was not under the jurisdiction of rome and that the english crown held supreme authority over the english church as such henry could grant himself a divorce much of what followed in the course of the early 1530s was intimately connected to the religious turmoil shaking europe the protestant reformation had begun in germany led by reformer martin luther in 1517 and in the years that followed it swept through central western and northern europe as individuals questioned every type of received knowledge about the church and how it was run it was in this climate that the scholars and lawyers which henry had assembled to obtain his divorce began arguing that the kings of england held supremacy over the english church this was the line which was followed from 1531 onwards cromwell became central to pushing it through as he coerced england's leading churchmen to accept it in the process the establishment of henry's supremacy would create opportunities for new church figures with protestant sympathies to gain high office and in the act of acquiring his divorce henry's actions at this time inadvertently also initiated the english reformation but to henry in 1531 and 1532 that would have seemed somewhat immaterial or at least the lesser of two evils the greater one being his inability to get a divorce thus henry threw his full support behind establishing the supremacy in the early 1530s in order to finally resolve his great matter catherine must have known that her time as queen of england was limited when in february 1531 a clerical convocation affirmed henry's position as supreme head of the church of england in rome pope clement responded to this by offering to allow the case concerning his divorce to take place on neutral ground somewhere outside of england or rome but there would be no such case heard now on the 31st of may 1531 a deputation of 30 of henry's leading officials and councillors met with catherine in order to work out a compromise given that the king was determined to proceed she tenaciously resisted defending both the supremacy of rome over the english church and the validity of her own marriage yet again stating that she had never consummated her marriage with arthur six weeks later on the 11th of july 1531 she met with henry for the last time thereafter she was ordered to head north to the moor palace in hertfordshire effectively being banished from the site of the royal court she was also to be cruelly separated from her daughter mary was still the royal heir and would reside at windsor castle though she can't have known it at the time that she left london in the summer of 1531 catherine would never see her daughter again the bitter separation was entering its last stages at the mall palace catherine was allowed to maintain a considerable household but she was prohibited from returning to london in the late autumn a further deputation of henry's officials came to visit her the hope was that catherine would give up her objection to a trial being held in england to deliberate on the validity of her marriage if she appeared at such a trial there was no doubt that it would be stage managed in such a way as to back up henry's argument since 1527 that the marriage was invalid and an annulment would follow in due course catherine refused but by now the mata was out of her hands and by the late summer of 1532 anne berlin was presiding over the royal court as though she were effectively queen and in the autumn of that year she accompanied henry on a royal visit to france in november she and henry were married in secret a more formal wedding took place in january 1533 by that time archbishop thomas cranmer a supporter of the supremacy had been installed as archbishop of canterbury and finally in may 1533 he convened a special clerical court at dunstable priory which declared henry and catherine's marriage to be invalid and annulled five days later he retroactively sanctioned henry and anne's marriage at last after six years henry had obtained his divorce from catherine what would catherine do now for the second time in her long english odyssey she found herself cast adrift in a country where her purpose was now unclear on the first occasion she had been a young woman with the vague prospect of a new marriage to henry being worked out in the aftermath of arthur's death but this time there was no such prospect yet a return to her native spain was out of the question she had not been there in over 30 years and she had few ties to her homeland anymore her sister juana was still there though still living effectively under house arrest since her father had accused her of madness decades earlier her son who had effectively usurped her position as ruler of castile had left her under house arrest at tortesias the two sisters had not exactly fared well in a world run by men for catherine if spain held no attraction for her england offered the only reason for her to reside anywhere her daughter mary was there and catherine would have to fight to maintain mary's position in the new dispensation which had effectively sidelined her with the annulment of catherine's marriage to henry as such the conclusion of henry's great matter early in 1533 did not bring katherine's own personal struggle with her husband to an end but first henry attempted to placate catherine with an offer of the title of princess dowager catherine refused and she was consulting with the imperial ambassador eustace chapuis around this time to try to have him press the papacy to issue a definitive condemnation of henry's pronunciation of his marriage to her simultaneously it is clear that there was widespread public support throughout england for catherine and her cause this was exhibited most publicly in the prophecies of elizabeth barton barton who is variously remembered as the holy maid of kent and the mad maid of kent had gained a reputation throughout england in the 1520s as a prophetess who had visions she had even met with cardinal woolsey and henry in 1528 but despite their earlier acquaintance barton was preaching in 1532 that if henry remarried he would die soon afterwards she even claimed that she had seen the place in hell where he would be sent her public appearances gained large crowds which expressed support for catherine and vilified anne thus although barton herself was eventually arrested tried and hanged at tyburn on charges of treason the episode points towards how much support catherine enjoyed from the common people of the country over which she had been queen for more than 23 years conversely anne had been received in a tepid fashion by the london crowds during her coronation as 1533 turned into 1534 catherine's position became more and more awkward for henry in march of that year the papacy finally issued its pronouncements on the divorce and surprisingly they were entirely supportive of catherine's position then in may catherine refused to swear an oath which the government was asking people to subscribe to which would recognize any children which anne berlin would have by the king this would place anne's children ahead of mary in the royal succession and catherine was unwilling to accept it she wrote to mary advising her to refuse the oath as well at the same time she was forced to move to kimbolton house in huntingtonshire and her household was much reduced to match her more limited financial means those who remained primarily consisted of about two dozen spaniards the core group being her confessor her maids several stewards and some grooms here she insisted on continuing to be addressed as the queen whatever her aspirations were though her life was increasingly restricted she had to get permission to receive visitors and even when mary was ill in late 1534 and early 1535 henry refused catherine permission to be allowed to visit her the concern was that if catherine and her daughter managed to escape together to the continent they could later press mary's claim to the throne with the backing of charles v and the papacy in the intricate european politics of the 16th century this was not an entirely unfounded fear catherine remained defiant to the last throughout 1535 she continued to pursue various channels to request that the new pope paul iii should issue a declaration stating that henry was excommunicated from the church as a result of his disobeying the papacy's directives with regard to their marriage however these efforts were sabotaged by her own nephew charles v was preparing to go to war again with france and the last thing he needed was an announcement from the papacy which would push england into supporting the french in the new conflict which eventually broke out in 1536 thus catherine would never live to see her husband condemned fully by rome her health had been deteriorating in the autumn of 1535 and by december when ambassador chapwise visited her she was very ill she worsened further in the first days of january and died at kimbolton at 2pm on the 7th of january an autopsy of sorts afterwards revealed that her heart was damaged and black throughout it is likely that this was a secondary condition caused by a melanotic carcinoma rumors that she had been poisoned are very unlikely to have been accurate she was buried at peterborough abbey although no monument was erected to mark the site as being the grave of the woman who had been queen of england for nearly a quarter of a century the england that catherine departed from in 1536 was just beginning to enter a vast period of change which was closely tied to henry's quest to divorce her the drive to establish henry as supreme head of the english church had seen religious figures such as the new archbishop of canterbury thomas cranmer obtained control over much of the church throughout england in the years that followed these individuals began reforming church practice and introduced a version of the new protestant religion just as catherine left the world the hundreds of monasteries and nunaries which had dotted england for centuries were being shut down while in churches all over the country altars were being stripped back to more austere interiors in line with protestant practice though there would be catholic reactions and periods of more radical protestantism in the 20 years that followed nothing in the end could turn back the tide of religious and social change which was initiated through efforts to find a resolution to henry viii's great matter perhaps henry would not have minded in october 1537 he got his wish when a legitimate male heir called edward was born to his third wife jane seymour yet that son to which henry had strived for so long would only rule for six years after henry himself died in 1547 thus catherine's daughter mary became queen of england after all in 1553 catherine of aragon is one of the most curious figures in english political history in a great many accounts of the tumultuous events of the late 1520s and early 1530s she is regularly mentioned but comes across as a personalityless key character she is usually presented as the roadblock which prevented henry viii from marrying anne berlin but henry and anne are the personalities in these accounts and catherine is an important but shadowy figure in the background of which nothing is ever usually said except that she had to be removed this does her a disservice catherine was a proud tenacious woman who overcame a considerable degree of adversity after being cast adrift in a foreign land as a teenager during a time when women of her background were often mere bartering tools in international diplomacy as queen she acted as a progressive patron of scholars and supported the education of women in england and then when her troubled natal history eventually led henry to try to dispense with her she doggedly fought to maintain her own position and more importantly her daughter's position as heir to the throne of england all of this stands considerably in her favor curiously enough perhaps the greatest testament to catherine's character was provided by henry viii himself of henry's other five wives there were two he did not dispense of his third wife jane seymour died owing to postnatal complications after giving birth to the future king edward vi while his sixth and final wife catherine parr outlived henry by a year however the other three were not treated kindly his marriage to his fourth wife anne of cleves was quickly annulled in 1540 after henry stated she is nothing so fair as hath been reported his fifth wife catherine howard was beheaded after she was found guilty of having committed adultery while anne berlin the woman for whom henry spent so many years trying to divorce catherine in order to marry her was found guilty of treason on quite possibly spurious charges in 1536 and beheaded as well just three years after marrying henry by way of contrast henry who probably respected catherine more than any of his other wives allowed his former spanish consort to live on in england after he had finally obtained his divorce though her liberties were restricted at a time when there was a very real fear that charles v would declare war on england over the divorce at least catherine kept her head which is more than many others who got in henry's way could say what do you think of catherine of aragon do you think she was right to resist henry's attempts to divorce her so strongly and for so long please let us know in the comment section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching the woman known to history as ann bolin was born in or around 1501 at blickling hall in norfolk although sometime in her early childhood the family would move to what would become their principal residence which was hever castle in kent her father was sir thomas bolin intelligent well-educated and fluent in french he was also very ambitious promoted by henry vii to deputy warden for customs at calais he was an influential courtier anne's great-grandfather was the lord mayor of london in 1457 sir jeffrey bolin a successful merchant who bought the family seats of both blickling hall and heaver castle and mother was elizabeth howard daughter of the earl of surrey who would laterally become the second duke of norfolk elizabeth howard was a noble woman who served as lady in waiting to catherine of aragon during the early part of the reign of henry viii the howards could rightfully claim to move in royal circles not least because anne's uncle the third duke of norfolk had married the daughter of edward iv anne of york anne was educated to a high standard along with her siblings by members of her household and it was anne and her brother george who were the better students the two also sharing a particular closeness as brother and sister anne would have learned the traditional lessons of the time such as reading and writing as well as languages and music but she would also have been taught the traditionally feminine lessons of needlework dancing and singing only two of anne's siblings survived into adulthood they were george and mary however their ages and even the order of their birth is a point of contention although the probable order was that mary was the oldest as per lord hunsden's account and that anne was the middle child born before george who was born in either 1504 or 1505 making anne's probable birth date sometime around 1501 anne was considered the less attractive of the two sisters and rumors abound that she was born with physical marks of a large mole on her neck and an extra finger on one hand attributes that would have arose suspicion that she carried quote marks of the devil and took care to hide these marks and they did not appear in her portraiture she also had black hair and dark eyes not the conventional picture of beauty at the time but despite the unusual marks on her body and the fact that she was not the oldest berlin girl her intelligence meant that her ambitious father thomas berlin chose anne to send into service as a lady in waiting at the court of margaret of austria regent of the netherlands and so she left england for the first time in 1513 entering the household of margaret of austria in brussels she would have set out for brussels with a contingent of her father's servants beginning the journey with anticipation and excitement at taking up such a sought after position as well as with her father's words in mind to make sure she made the best of herself as the representative of the family abroad at one of the most cultured courts in europe she quickly made a good impression at the dutch court and margaret of austria wrote to thomas bolin stating how pleased she was to receive his daughter anne made good progress in learning the french language and wrote a long letter in french to her father which is the first example of anne's own voice in original sources after the king of france louis the twelfth's wife died in 1514 he requested of henry viii the hand in marriage of his sister mary tudor who traveled to france to become queen by this time anne's fluency in french had become well known and her father was asked to send her from brussels to france to serve under mary tudor this would have been a difficult request for thomas berlin to ask of margaret of austria as there were rumors that margaret herself may have been the likely candidate for marriage to king louis anne's sister mary boleyn traveled with mary tudor to france as she was by now part of mary's household anne traveled directly from brussels to france and joined the french court and was also reunited with her sister there and when after their marriage king louis sent many of mary tudor's attendants home to england anne and her sister mary were two who were spared and so they would have been quite close confidence to the new queen however when king louis died only three months after their marriage most of mary tudor's attendants returned to england with her in may 1515 but anne and mary berlin decided to stay at the french court in the new queen claude's household and had most likely acted as an interpreter between mary tudor and her stepdaughter claude when louis was still alive and so the relationship they formed must have been a good one since anne stayed in queen claude's service for the next seven years whilst queen claude's court was quiet and demure that of her husband francis the first was much more debauched and frivolous and both mary and anne would on occasion visit the king's court in the course of their duties during this time mary berlin gained quite a reputation for being generous with her sexual favors even earning the nickname of the english mayor and becoming the mistress of both francis the first and several other french courtiers when he discarded her and when word reached mary's family in england of her behaviour she was sent for to return home ending what must have been an embarrassing time for anne at the french court while stan was at the court of queen claude she would have spent much of her time doing needlework and playing music but also during this time she met with the sister of francis the first margherita vanguard who may have influenced anne with her reformist views anne would also have had the opportunity of seeing her father during her time at the french court as thomas bolin took part in several court visits from england one of which was for the christening of francis the first and queen claude's son henry duke of orleans in 1519 she would also probably have met him at the famous field of cloth of gold meeting between francis the first and henry viii in 1518 although not recorded as such ann would almost certainly have been present at the famous meeting between the kings as one of the ladies in waiting to the french queen and this would probably have been the first time that she set eyes on her future husband king henry viii who was 30 at the time and in his prime as well as the first time that she would have seen catherine of aragon the king's older wife anne would return to england after nearly nine years abroad in 1522 after her father requested her presence in late 1521 and by february or march 1522 she had become a member of the household of catherine of aragon in greenwich anne's presence at court caused a stir she was seen as somewhat of a fashion icon as well as being possessed of considerable poise grace and charm even her detractors at the time wrote of the magnetism of her demeanor in march 1522 anne was chosen to take part in a play or mask at court in which eight princesses dressed in white satin would portray various virtues mary tudor would portray beauty whilst anne's sister mary would portray kindness and anne was chosen to portray perseverance by the time anne returned to court in england her sister mary was mistress to king henry viii an involvement that would last for several years despite mary's marriage to william carey in 1521 which was thought a cover to protect her reputation should she fall pregnant by the king mary's relationship with henry could also be the reason for thomas berlin's progression as he was made controller of the household in 1520 and treasurer of the household in 1522 as well as being made viscount rochford in 1525 however mary received little from her relationship with henry after she was discarded in 1525 this treatment may well have warned anne to hold out for what she wanted when looking for marriage and love and this she would make sure she did what anne hadn't realized when she left france was that she was being summoned home in order that she should be married thomas berlin and cardinal woolsey in talks with king henry had arranged for anne to be married to the eldest son of sapir's butler james to avoid a succession disagreement over the rightful ownership of the title of the earl ship of ormond over which thomas berlin had a claim as did the butlers it seems that anne was not keen on the match between herself and james butler her delaying tactics eventually proved successful and the marriage idea dwindled and never in fact happened despite having the approval of the king anne wanted an advantageous marriage for herself and was also known as a willful character she defied the conventions of the time and arranged a marriage for herself her chosen partner was henry percy heir to the earldom of northumberland it was a very good match for anne and henry percy immediately fell deeply in love with her it has been speculated that following their engagement they may have actually consummated their relationship as anne would have been eager to ensure her path to becoming countess of northumberland this fact could also have been known by lady wingfield who anne wrote to quite humbly before her later marriage to henry probably hoping to keep the matter a secret however the marriage never in fact happened as the king heard of their plans and instructed wolsey to put a stop to it he summoned percy to him forbidding the marriage on the grounds that anne was beneath him in terms of rank and was furious at this decision and held a grudge against cardinal woolsey for the decision henry percy pined for anne and was almost continually ill until his death in his early thirties following her failed engagement anne returned to heaver castle and became reacquainted with her next love interest her neighbor thomas wyatt whose family was well known by thomas bolin as wyatt's father sir henry wyatt had been created a night of the bath along with thomas bolin at henry viii's coronation and they shared the office of constable of norwich castle from 1511. thomas was a handsome athletic figure as well as a poet who was well respected at court the only downside was that wyatt was already married and so their relationship remained merely a flirtation which continued when anne was called back to catherine of aragon's court in 1525. however wyatt's writing made it clear that he was highly attracted to anne and did in fact love her with some sources suggesting that their relationship may have actually been more than platonic however anne's feelings for and extent of relationship with wyatt is ultimately uncertain several sources claim that anne was not at all chaste and virtuous and that thomas wyatt was allowed into her bed and that she may have even entertained other lovers as well with one writer claiming that the first was her father's butler when she was a girl of only fifteen another more salacious anti-berlin rumor stated that henry viii who had found anne's mother elizabeth howard attractive had fathered anne however this is highly unlikely as henry would have been only 16 at the time and still under the protection of his father henry vii the accounts of her carrying on an affair with wyatt also seem unlikely as there were several other likely candidates she could have chosen who were not married and as well as this she would hold back from sleeping with the king until they were eventually married both arguments point to the inaccuracy of the wyatt affair being anything more than simple flirtation by the mid-1520s queen catherine of aragon's failure to produce a sun and heir would have made king henry more and more impatient and because catherine was more or less constantly pregnant for the first decade of her marriage henry was used to taking mistresses even fathering an illegitimate son whom henry acknowledged as his own child the boy was named henry fitzroy literally meaning son of the king he was born in june of 1519 his mother elizabeth blount one of the queen's ladies in waiting henry had proven that he could father a son and while henry never openly blamed catherine for her failure to produce a boy it is likely that the continued absence of a legitimate heir some 10 years into his marriage stoked resentment as well as anxiety in him especially as henry was now 27 years old and catherine was 33 and so the time left for her to conceive was growing short and within a decade henry's attempts to address the absence of an heir would change the face of england forever culturally henry was a devout catholic and evidence suggests that he essentially remained so throughout his life however his commitment to the pope's right to govern the church would present him with perhaps his greatest dilemma when his views conflicted with both his desire to remarry and his increasingly desperate need for a son and heir the one thing that seemed to be out of his reach by the mid-1520s the situation became even more strained henry was no longer the popular teenage king but was still a fairly young man in his early 30s and never having abandoned his athletic lifestyle and pursuits he had kept his trim handsomeness and vigor catherine however was nearing 40 and had gained a great deal of weight in the years since her marriage as well as this six pregnancies in nine years had wreaked havoc on her body and catherine now past childbearing age was losing both the love and interest of her husband when ann berlin came to the tudor court in 1525 as a lady in waiting to queen catherine having recently returned from the french court of queen claude she must have been a breath of fresh air to the king she was much admired for her cosmopolitan air her style wit and charm and still in her mid-20s she was fashionable and attractive with dark hair and eyes and commanded attention at court and henry longing for a younger more vivacious wife who might give him a son fell deeply in love with her the affair of anne's sister with the king ended before 1526 and so on her return to court anne was seemingly available and king henry was on the lookout for another mistress anne continued her flirtatious behavior with thomas wyatt at court thomas at one point taking a jewel from anne which he kept on his person presumably as a reminder of her during this time both henry and wyatt vied for the attention of anne before wyatt realized just how serious the king was about winning her hand henry also took a ring from anne and began wearing it on his little finger at this time the first indication perhaps that his feelings for her were deepening and in 1528 king henry made wyatt marshall of calais perhaps to make sure wyatt was absent from court to clear the way for henry to secure his relationship with anne initially for the first few months of their courtship there seemed to be no question of henry casting off his wife he frequently begged anne to become his mistress which she refused to do as although she was flattered to receive the attention of the king she insisted that she would give her virginity only to her husband henry's letters to anne from 1526 and 1527 some of which survive are full of passionate declarations of his love and desire for her henry continually commissioned new jewels and trinkets for her and publicly showed her favor and affection in historical terms anne boleyn has been given the reputation of the other woman at worst a grasping political climber and conspirator who usurped the place of a legitimate wife and queen much loved by the english people however there is no evidence that she encouraged henry's interest in her initially indeed she reportedly made an abrupt departure from court in the spring of 1527 returning to her family's home at hever castle and the letter that henry wrote to anne soon after her departure conveys the impression that she might have left simply to avoid henry's ardour and avoid turning down a king who held power over the livelihood and lives of the entire court the letter from henry reads quote in turning over in my mind the contents of your last letters i have put myself into great agony not knowing how to interpret them whether to my disadvantage as you show in some places or to my advantage as i understand them in some others beseeching you earnestly to let me know expressly your whole mind as to the love between us too it is absolutely necessary for me to obtain this answer having been for above a whole year stricken with the dart of love and not yet sure whether i shall fail of finding a place in your heart and affection while some might accuse her playing a skillful game of manipulation it seems unlikely that a young woman like anne from a respectable but not a powerful family would imagine that she could be anything more than henry's temporary mistress it is difficult to believe that anne might be presumptuous enough to think that she could take henry from his legitimate wife or that she might emerge victorious from a battle with the queen of england at the time anne was still set on arranging a high-ranking marriage for herself and may have seen the status that the king's attention gave her as a distinct advantage in the marriage market making her seem all the more worthy to would-be suitors the alternative account that she set out to take the king from his wife is unlikely that her mixed messages confused and frustrated the king until he became besotted by this alluring seemingly unobtainable woman however it is true that a mere liaison with the king would have no doubt placed her marriage prospects and future prosperity at great risk and so it is likely that she came to love henry as he loved her after her abrupt departure from court henry continued writing to anne in his own hand and sending her gifts and in time anne began to respond to henry with feelings and gifts of her own and the two began carrying on their relationship quite publicly at court there is of course no way to know whether anne and henry maintained their abstinence as anne had insisted she must however the fact that anne did not become pregnant throughout the nearly seven years of their courtship suggests she stayed chaste methods of contraception were available at the time but were extremely unreliable so while henry and anne were likely intimate with one another there is no evidence which suggests that they slept together prior to late 1532 at the earliest their intimacy is attested to in their letters to one another in one of which henry mentions that he misses anne's duckies an informal term for her breasts by 1527 a year after anne's arrival at court henry had proposed marriage to anne and she had after much thought accepted henry decided to seek a divorce from catherine so he could marry anne henry's rationale for the divorce has been argued by some to illustrate the fundamental flaws in his personality a tendency towards cold abandonment and indifference towards those he had no more use for as well as a willingness to interpret facts to suit himself when henry had first married catherine he had done so against objections from all sides because he loved her the pope issued a special dispensation to allow henry to marry catherine since she had been wed first to henry's brother arthur and henry and catherine's marriage according to catholic doctrine could otherwise have been considered incest based on a provision in leviticus 20 21 quote if any man should take his brother's wife it is an unclean thing they will be childless and so when the teenage henry had wanted to marry catherine of aragon he readily accepted both the pope's dispensation and catherine's claim that her six-month marriage to his brother arthur had never actually been consummated due to arthur's continual ill health and it was not until years later when henry had fallen in love with anne and the possibility of having a son had become realistic again that henry decided that catherine and arthur's marriage may not have been consummated he reasoned that the pope had overreached his own authority and that the very reason he had no son was because his current marriage was a sin against god for which divorce was the only remedy henry's ambition for love and an heir changed everything the king would spend the next few years pursuing the great matter of his divorce he began with a direct appeal to pope clement vii hoping that his noted devotion to the catholic church would secure him an annulment a prospect which at the time was not as outrageous a request as it seems today as for literally centuries various successive popes had dissolved literally dozens of royal marriages even managers of relatively long duration which had already produced children most of which were annulled for political reasons although official annulments always cited some biblical or doctrinal explanation for the dissolution of these marriages however henry was about to find his dreams of a quick and easy divorce dashed when in 1527 emperor charles v sacked rome and took the pope as his prisoner in addition to being arguably the most powerful man in europe charles was also queen catherine's nephew and by this point even if the pope had wished to grant henry his divorce he would have been unable to henry then turned to cardinal woolsey who had never failed him and who owed literally all he had to the king thomas woolsey was not born to the nobility like most clergymen of the day who became archbishops cardinals and papal legates woolsey was the son of a butcher from ipswich originally an obscure chaplain until under henry's patronage he was made bishop archbishop and cardinal in fairly quick succession woolsey had not only been henry's lord chancellor he had also been his mentor as a young king still finding his way but whatever the reason for woolsey's failure to procure the divorce whether inability or reluctance it would lead to his ruin the cardinal working with cardinal campeggio a special legget appointed by the pope set up a legate in the court to determine henry's great matter but the court was unable to reach a decision with regard to the merit of henry's claims for an annulment and rule that the matter should be decided by the college of cardinals in rome it is unclear whether woolsey truly wanted to give henry his desire or if like his ecclesiastical counterparts he saw the danger of allowing the king to divorce his famously pious catholic wife and marry anne who was reliably rumored to be a lutheran reformer but whatever his intentions the failure of the legend court was woolsey's downfall as henry commanded his arrest and imprisonment citing the treasonous tone of letters woolsey had written to vatican officials however the cardinal in fact died of natural causes on his way to london before henry could behead him henry did not sit idly by waiting for the college of cardinals or the pope to decide the fate of his marriage instead he began to canvass the opinion of theologians at europe's universities asking them to study deliberate and pronounce a verdict on the merits of his case for divorce however henry would be disappointed twice more as the majority of university theologians and later the college of cardinals would decide in favor of queen catherine declaring the king's first marriage valid after all it is unclear when henry first began to consider repudiating the pope's authority in england thus removing the obstacle to his divorce anne boleyn's influence as a lutheran sympathizer and reformer is entirely plausible as is the influence of thomas cromwell another reformer who was first henry's private secretary and later rose to become the lord privy seal in fact there were quite a few reformers in the english parliament and at court at the time and anti-clericalism was rife among them but perhaps it was his introduction to the little-known clergyman and theology professor from cambridge thomas cranmer which truly planted the seed in his mind according to cranmer who was a passionate reformer kings anointed by god answered only to god and therefore henry should not have had to pursue his divorce through legal means this atmosphere and these ideas may have emboldened henry to formally break with the roman catholic church and pursue one of the most radical bids for power ever made by a european monarch the claim to the absolute powers of both king and pope it would take nearly two years for henry to establish the fulfillment of his will over both parliament and the english clergy but by 1532 henry had what he wanted he was the supreme head of the church in england and parliament had legislated a full break with the pope stopping virtually all payments to rome and because he wanted his great matter decided by the english church which was much better from a public relations standpoint than declaring it himself he made thomas cranmer archbishop of canterbury empowering him to lead the clergy to the right decision in other words to vote in henry's favor with regard to his divorce in april of 1533 archbishop cranmer declared henry's marriage to catherine invalid but by that time henry had already been remarried for three months having wed anne boleyn in a secret ceremony on the 25th of january 1533 as well as this anne had already made her first appearance at court as queen and had taken up residence in what had been catherine of aragon's apartments also taking up the motto the most happy however controversially some historians suggest that when she came to the altar anne was already pregnant as on the 7th of september 1533 just over seven months after their marriage anne gave birth to princess elizabeth the future elizabeth the first of england the king once married had wanted anne to be crowned queen speedily due to her burgeoning pregnancy as he wanted his expected child to be born to a consecrated mother and so plans went ahead for anne's coronation as part of her procession anne would take a barge and she made sure that it was catherine of aragon's barge that was commandeered for the royal procession reportedly she had catherine's coat of arms not only removed from the barge but also destroyed the festivities began on the 29th of may 1533 and lasted for five days the king wanted anne's ceremony to reflect that she was every inch the magnificent queen he wanted her to be seen as and so on the 31st of may anne's procession left the tower consisting of foreign ambassadors and nobles bedecked in purple robes ermine and other finery followed by anne carried in a litter accompanied by her ladies in waiting also finally attired in resplendent fashion all to a salute of guns from the tower and pageants at the roadside the site must have been astonishing for the spectators lining the route however when anne noticed that some of the crowd were not dothing their caps and calling god save the queen and had one of her attendants approach the lord mayor to complain of it he replied that quote he could not command people's hearts and that even the king could not do so despite the blatant signs of her unpopularity anne was resolute she would be crowned queen and she was on the very next morning in westminster abbey by archbishop grandma anne was never a popular queen as papers from the time attest to subjects being taken to task over comments on the marriage and rudeness to her personally and in 1533 a priest was recorded as being subject to investigation over calling anne a harlot and a and quoting a prophecy that a queen would be burned at smithfield this and similar incidents led to the king issuing a proclamation that anyone who came forward with information against those who spoke out against his marriage would be offered a reward despite the apparent loyalty and favor the king showed to anne this did not translate to the marriage bed as although the king had been faithful to and during their courtship the same was not true of their marriage and by 1533 henry already had a mistress and ann berlin knew of her this must have struck anne like a thunderbolt as until she gave henry his son her position was reliant only on his passion for her which was perhaps waning when anne reacted angrily to the news of the affair the king rebuked her with righteous indignation not speaking to her again for two or three days her detractors at court must have reacted gleefully at this first hint of a rift in the royal marriage and anne decided not to raise the matter until she had given birth to her child who she fully expected was to be a son on the 7th of september 1533 anne gave birth to a daughter to both hers and henry's great regret the expected son had not arrived and the planned tournament to greet his birth was cancelled but once their initial disappointment waned the couple accepted the new baby happily she was his heir after all until her son appeared and she was happy and healthy and looked like the king they named their daughter elizabeth the name of not only henry's mother but anne's also baby elizabeth was christened and thomas cranmer was named as her godfather and the duchess of norfolk and the marchioness of dorset were named as her godmothers and after her christening the baby was proclaimed princess of england as well as heiress supplanting her half-sister mary in the line of succession as queen and divided opinion both at home and abroad some loved her but many hated her some due to her lowly origins and some because catherine had always been such a popular queen but they hated her also because of anne's reformist religious views which were alien to a great proportion of the largely catholic population one person who spoke out against anne and was a thorn in both hers and henry's side was a young woman called elizabeth barton who claimed to have been cured of an illness miraculously by god she became a nun and claimed to prophesize the future telling henry that she had seen a place for him prepared in hell and that he would stop being a king a month after his marriage to anne in november 1533 henry had barton arrested and she confessed after questioning that all her claims had been a sham she was executed along with five of her associates on the 20th of april 1534. as a reformist queen anne set an example in her court by reading the bible and treating her courtiers to be both godly and pious although she would have had music and dancing at court she demonstrated a degree of reformist fervor and would read her bible in french as well as english she also did charitable works distributing arms to the poor and also supporting a cambridge scholar in her brief time as queen anne also secured several bishoprics for reformist clergymen including thomas cranmer and hugh latimer who became bishop of worcester she also offered sanctuary at court to foreign reformers who needed it as well as this she had a great love for her daughter as did henry and it must have been a wrench for anne when the princess was given her own household in december 1533 as was usual for the time henry well understood the enormity of what he had done by removing the power of rome in order to marry anne and he moved swiftly to consolidate his new powers and impose his will implacably upon the english people catherine of aragon was still widely popular and her replacement queen anne was widely resented but more importantly the majority of the english people still identified closely with roman catholicism henry knew he would have to establish control quickly before the foreign influence and support of catholic europe emboldened uneasy catholic englishman to act and his answer was the act of supremacy which he proposed following his marriage to anne and which parliament passed in 1534 the act required all the king's subjects to swear an oath recognizing henry as supreme head of the church and affirming the legality of the king's marriage to anne boleyn refusal to swear the oath was considered treason the punishment for which was death for devoted catholics the oath of supremacy was seen as a referendum on morality most chose to swear the oath and escape with their lives no matter how painful the cost to their beliefs others like henry's old friend and mentor sir thomas moore would not moore had largely retired from court and public life in general following the death of thomas woolsey henry had named more lord chancellor a post which he resigned from only two years later in 1532 alienated and demoralized by the erosion of papal authority he had witnessed at court he had never spoken publicly against the king or against his marriage to anne but as of 1535 he remained one of only a few of henry's subjects who still had not taken the oath moore's refusal to do so resulted in him being imprisoned in the tower and at his trial when it was clear that he would be found guilty he loudly affirmed the authority of the pope over all matters religious and denied the ability of parliament to declare the king head of the church moore was immediately sentenced to death for treason a crime which carried the penalty of hanging drawing and quartering henry had already demonstrated that he was not averse to removing his subjects when they failed to deliver challenged his power or acted contrary to his will but perhaps it is a small testament to his remembrance of moore's friendship and service to him that henry commuted his sentence to beheading on the 6th of july 1535 thomas moore went bravely to the scaffold he jokingly asked the executioner to hold a moment while he shifted his beard from the edge of the block saying that after all it was he not it that had committed treason and in a loud clear voice he declared that he died quote the king's good servant and gods first as well as more queen catherine and mary also refused to sign the oath which henry and anne saw as a direct act of defiance that anne and catherine hated each other was no secret and it could have been under pressure from anne that henry demoted queen catherine to the rank of princess dowager and had her move to a house further from london the royal couple were probably not best pleased to hear that the crowds had cheered the old queen on her journey there in december 1533 henry and anne decided that catherine should move house once again this time to summersham a house surrounded by a moat and marshes and by reputation a most unhealthy place catherine protested at her forced moved and locked herself in her rooms refusing the duke of suffolk's attempt to remove her catherine had not been allowed to see her daughter mary since the summer of 1531 when henry had left catherine but she wrote to her daughter in september 1533 preparing her for possible troubles ahead and warning her not to incur the king's anger by this time henry had already replaced mary's livery on her household coaches with that of his own in effect declaring her illegitimacy a delegation was also sent to her requesting that she relinquish her title princess of england and although it may have been anne who inspired this action against his daughter it was ultimately the king who ordered it carried out in november 1533 henry ordered that mary's household should be dismantled and that she should be sent instead to serve as a lady in waiting to her sister elizabeth at her court mary went to elizabeth's household but was defiant stating that she would not call her princess of england but sister instead just as she called henry fitzroy brother anne appointed her aunt lady shelton as mary's governess so she would have a direct line of information about what was going on at the court and in particular of how mary was behaving and was also terrified that the king would meet with his daughter mary and so when henry visited elizabeth's household mary would be confined to her rooms but when on one occasion henry saw mary at her window whilst leaving he waved at his daughter but was berated by anne for doing so azan's attempts to make mary behave as she wished her to were not working and tried instead to befriend her stepdaughter in march 1534 whilst visiting elizabeth anne asked for mary to be brought to her she offered her reconciliation with her father in exchange for her admitting that she was illegitimate and that her parents had never been married however mary defiantly refused angering anne yet again certain sources have stated that anne had told henry percy earl of northumberland that she was planning to murder her rival mary by administering her poison and that she called catherine and mary rebels and traitoresses deserving death but the truth is this was probably more wishful thinking and words spoken in anger rather than any real plot indeed there is evidence from anne's letters to mary to suggest that anne did try to befriend her step-daughter in one letter in which she refers to herself as queen she thanks mary for courtesy to her after a mass at elton and says that she would have done the same back if she had seen her at the time however mary's reply was as defiant as ever stating that the queen meaning her mother catherine was not present at the time and that she was actually courtesy to the altar and so anne's attempts to be kind to mary seemed to have gone unheeded and this response from mary angered anne greatly another incident in 1534 involving her own family also prompted anger from anne when her sister mary appeared at anne's court and announced that she had married one of her servants william stafford this so angered anne that she banished her sister mary from court also cutting her off from any financial support and whilst it was known that the two sisters were not close anne's reaction could be seen as quite harsh under the circumstances apart from the defiance from mary by 1534 henry and anne had finally dealt with or removed all who seemed openly opposed to the new order and the death of catherine of aragon from natural causes on the 7th of january 1536 appeared to remove the last barrier to the legitimacy of their marriage however a black cloud hovered anne had become pregnant twice following the birth of elizabeth but both pregnancies had resulted in miscarriages additionally some historians have speculated that henry and anne's relationship was growing increasingly strained due to anne's failure to adjust to her new role of wife as henry's mistress she might have been allowed a certain amount of license to speak and act as she pleased her prolonged refusal to sleep with henry likely put her in a rather dominant position however as henry's wife she would be expected to be far more submissive but of course her lack of submissiveness would likely have been overlooked had she not committed the terrible sin of failing to produce a son following the miscarriage and suffered in the summer of 1534 king henry had taken another mistress when anne complained to the king about this situation his reaction was very harsh he stated that quote she had good reason to be content with what he had done for her which he would not do now if the thing were to begin and that she should consider from what she had come the king was clearly losing patience with anne as well as perhaps regretting marrying her at all anne realized that without a son she was in a very insecure and vulnerable position exactly the position that catherine had been in ironically and she felt she must act she took lady rochford her sister-in-law into her confidence and conspired to have henry's latest mistress removed from court however their plan failed and only resulted in lady rochford being banished from the court by early 1535 anne was becoming even more isolated at court her confidante was now gone and she had alienated many others through her outbursts of anger and even her husband preferred the company of his mistress it was during this time that his daughter mary started to come back into favor with henry also anne must have felt alone and isolated as time went on however in the summer of 1535 a ray of hope appeared for anne when the couple were briefly reconciled anne became more accepting of the idea of henry's mistresses if not completely silent about them and henry made a public display of loyalty to anne when in july 1535 he sent sir thomas moore to the scaffold for refusing to swear the oath of supremacy and after all if henry wanted a legitimate son as things stood it was only anne who could provide one they began the court's summer progress of 1535 with a united front they visited salisbury and porchester first also visiting wolf hall in wiltshire during this time the family home of one of anne's ladies jane seymour reaching windsor by november and when they arrived back in london in late 1535 anne was pregnant again for the third time on hearing the news of catherine of aragon's death in july 1535 anne could not have been happier her rival was now gone and she was carrying another heir for henry there were rumors of course that anne had arranged for catherine to be poisoned especially when on postmortem catherine's heart was found to be blackened however this is unlikely as if she had wanted rid of catherine enough to kill her she would surely have done so earlier after her mother's death anne made one last attempt to befriend mary writing to her to say that if she would put aside her obstinacy and obey the king that anne would be the best friend to her and she need not hold the train of anne's gown on her return to court mary again refused and this would be the last time that anne would attempt a reconciliation with her stepdaughter then on the same day as catherine's funeral anne went into labor prematurely and after only a three and a half month gestation she miscarried a little boy anne's grief and frustration must have been plain for all to see as she wept following this tragedy for her and for henry however the king's grief soon turned to anger at anne and the king confronted anne in her room stating that quote he would have no more boys by her this was a direct threat to anne and she was devastated and even more so when she heard the rumors that the king felt that anne had been quote seduced by witchcraft to induce the miscarriage and that he ought to find a new wife anne remonstrated with henry and blamed the loss of the child first on the news she was given by the duke of norfolk that the king had fallen from his horse claiming the consequences of his possible death had shocked her to such an extent that it had resulted in the miscarriage when henry dismissed her reasoning and then claimed that her finding the king with jane seymour sitting on his knee had made her lose her child as it had been such a shock to her to see for herself that the king had feelings for others king henry took little heed of anne's reasoning although he did leave jane seymour at her home during the next court's progress but with anne isolated at court after falling out with her ally cromwell and with the king becoming further infatuated with jane seymour who cleverly portrayed herself as the mirror image of anne in all things and was at her wit's end the king's patience had also finally run out and on the 24th of april 1536 a commission led by thomas cromwell was set up to investigate anne and by may accusations of adultery were leveled at her and henry chose to believe them the private interrogations of the queen's household elicited fantastic claims of her degeneracy accusing her of incest and witchcraft as well as adultery mark smeaton a musician in anne's household was held in the tower and tortured until he confessed that he was having an affair with anne the king himself questioned henry norris over a possible affair with anne after she dropped her handkerchief to him as one of the jousters at a tournament that she and henry attended and then lastly ann berlin herself was arrested on the 2nd of may by her uncle the duke of norfolk and was questioned over her behavior and installed in the tower of london evidence was sought from her ladies and weighting lady rochford and lady worcester and from a deathbed note belonging to lady wingfield whom anne had previously tried to silence concerning her pre-medical behavior with henry percy which suggested that anne was morally lacking cromwell was rumored to have used all means at his disposal including torture and bribes to bring a devastating case against anne as well as this anne's sister-in-law lady rochford was said to have admitted that her husband george bolen and anne would openly mock the king questioning whether he was impotent and whether elizabeth actually belonged to another father as she was arrested anne pleaded her innocence and asked for the king but she was denied she was said to have lost her famous composure and collapsed to her knees she asked if she would be kept in a dungeon but was informed that she would be kept in the royal apartments to await her trial she reportedly alternated between laughing and crying and spoke openly about what had brought her to such a position and her mention of francis weston in her rantings meant that he too would be arrested and brought to the tower where her brother george had also been taken the fact that she spoke of western her brother george smeaton and norris was used as evidence that the crimes she was accused of were true in addition to the men that anne spoke of william brereton a member of the king's privy council was also taken to the tower along with thomas wyatt and sir richard page all accused of being anne's lovers on hearing of anne's arrest her bishop thomas cranmer sought to distance himself from anne which he did in a letter to the king whilst privately he may have had sympathy for anne no one was brave enough to show it and chance the wrath of the king yet despite this it was only ever smeaton who confessed to the charges brought against the men who had allegedly consorted with anne it is unlikely that anne would have had the time or the inclination to have slept with so many men including her own brother and the accusations were likely conjured up by cromwell and henry to secure henry's freedom to marry jane seymour anne went over everything in her mind and prepared her defense although she would have known in reality that the outcome of the trial would be a foregone conclusion on the 12th of may the accused men were taken to court at westminster hall smeaton confessed to the charges whilst the other men pled not guilty as accused all four were found guilty and was sentenced to be hung drawn quartered as well as beheaded as members of the nobility anne and her brother george were tried in the tower and having known of the outcome at westminster hall anne would have fully understood the ramifications for her own trial which took place on the 15th of may no queen of england had ever been placed on trial before and so a large scaffold was erected in the tower to house all the people expected to attend the trial henry percy as well as thomas berlin and anne's uncle the duke of norfolk were all expected to attend as members of the nobility although henry percy had to leave george berlin's trial part way through due to his ill health anne for her part had no counsel and called no witnesses but prepared her own defense for the charges brought against her which laid out specific dates and times that anne of the accused men had enjoyed carnal knowledge of each other she was also accused of conspiring to kill the king so that she would be free to marry one of her accused lovers and stood and defended herself of all charges eloquently however she was found guilty by each of the nobles who in turn stood to deliver their verdict each having no choice but to go along with the king's wishes the final verdict was read out by her uncle the duke of norfolk that in a final twist he stated that the queen should be either burned or beheaded at the king's pleasure whereas the usual punishment for treason was to be burned at the stake at a church court in lambeth on the 17th of may thomas cranmer annulled the marriage of anne and the king based on the evidence of a pre-contract that existed between anne and henry percy so that quote she was never lawful queen of england on the same day five of the men accused were put to death by beheading which was a sentence commuted by henry from the usual hanging drawing and quartering which was the fate of smeaton alone as a commoner george berlin western brereton and norris did not confess to any crime on the scaffold which anne would have been pleased to hear and smeaton's only comment was that he deserved death anne continued to protest her innocence but prepared herself for her certain demise with composure she even joked with her captor kingston that she had but a small neck laughing at the irony that she would make the executioner's job all the more easy she spent her final evening laughing and joking that she may well be known to history as quote queen anne lackhead this was perhaps the last act of defiance opened to her on the 19th of may 1536 anne boleyn was taken to the scaffold in front of the gathered nobles and dignitaries she held her composure and walked with dignity to face the crowd and make the last speech of her life she spoke briefly and movingly of her love for the king her sins of pride and her desire that the people pray for her good christian people i am come hither to die for according to the law and by the law i am judged to die and therefore i will speak nothing against it i am come hither to accuse no man nor to speak anything of that whereof i am accused and condemned to die but i pray god save the king and send him long to reign over you for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never and to me he was ever a good a gentle and sovereign lord and if any person will meddle of my cause i require them to judge the best and thus i take my leave of the world and of you all and i heartily desire you all to pray for me o lord have mercy on me to god i commend my soul the king had sent for an expert swordsman from calais to come to the tower to carry out the execution of the queen she knelt on the scaffold as there was no need for the block and with one swift blow of his sword her head was removed from her body and the first queen of england to ever be executed was dead and within 24 hours of his second wife's execution henry was already betrothed to anne's lady in waiting and the woman who would become his third wife lady jane seymour in the aftermath of anne's death in 1536 abbies shrines and monasteries throughout england were purged of religious relics such as true fragments of the cross and vials supposedly containing the blood of christ this state-wide systematic clampdown was not only undertaken for theological reasons but also largely because the seizure of church property brought in a colossal amount of revenue to the royal coffers following disturbances and a march against the dissolution of the monasteries henry unleashed a brutal repression and hundreds of rebel leaders were arrested and executed after which henry proclaimed that quote our pleasure is that dreadful execution be done on a good number of the inhabitants of every town village and hamlet that have offended in this rebellion indeed even his own family were not spared henry's wrath as when jane seymour begged him on her knees to restore the abbeys he exploded with quote get up do not presume to meddle in my affairs remember anne anne is well remembered not only as the second wife of henry viii and a leading figure in the reformation but also as the mother of elizabeth one of the most important monarchs to grace the throne of england she died on the scaffold with the grace and dignity which had first drawn her to king henry's attention but more than this even anne was unique she was a determined driven woman with a strong personality who inspired love in a king that boarded on obsession a truly exceptional woman of her time who no doubt passed on her strong character to her daughter what do you think of anne boleyn was she a saintly figure who inspired love and suffered because of it or was she an ambitious sinner who manipulated her way into the king's life for her own ends please let us know in the comment section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching the woman known to history as jane seymour the third wife of henry viii was born at her parents country estate of wolf hall and wiltshire sometime between october 1507 and october 1508. it is unclear why her exact date of birth is not recorded but considering that jane was her parent's seventh child and first daughter her exact date of birth was probably not considered to be worth remembering neither is her early life particularly well documented jane's father was sir john seymour the seymours had served as caretakers of savannah forest and wheelchair for centuries and sir john himself served as the local sheriff and justice of the peace his 1200 acre estate provided a comfortable but by no means impressive living by the standards of the contemporary nobility the most complementary term for the seymours in the context of tudor england would probably be country gentry sir john had served and fought alongside henry viii in france in 1513 and 1514 earning the young king's admiration for his bravery and loyalty much of sir john's social capital came from the gratitude of his king for his military service but also from his marriage jane's mother lady margaret wentworth was a descendant of edward iii lady margaery as she was more familiarly known had a more aristocratic bloodline than her husband making her an impressive catch for the likes of john seymour she was reportedly a quiet kind and gentle woman and jane's biographers speculate that she may have inherited her notable disability quiet dignity and compassionate demeanor from her mother sir john and lady margaery had 10 children six of whom survived to adulthood the sedate and provincial life of the tudor country gentry was not suited to those with ambition and sir john made efforts to educate his elder sons and launch political and military careers for them in the king's service jane's eldest brother edward and her third brother thomas both rose steadily in consequence and esteem throughout the reign of henry viii jane's education was far less varied or academically rigorous than that of her older brothers she was not a noble lady gentlewoman was probably the most exalted term which could be applied to her and the seymours were not nearly wealthy or important enough to merit providing an elite education for a daughter jane was taught to read in english and she could sign her name but it is unclear whether she was ever taught to write or how well developed her skills may have been she could speak a little french and seems to have had a nodding acquaintance with latin but this seems to have been the extent of her academic training jane would have learned to dance and been trained in the social etiquette a polite society she was said to be an excellent horsewoman and enjoyed following the hunt both as a young woman and years later by henry's side as queen jane would have had opportunities for amusements and social niceties but much of her early life and education was probably designed to prepare her for genteel domesticity she would have been instructed in the duties of mistress of the house including caring for the family acting as hostess planning menus and supervising and directing servants in all of the tasks required to keep the house running on a fairly large estate it is also quite possible that jane her mother and her three younger sisters were more directly involved in household work than one might suppose their estate was entirely respectable but the family did not belong to the leisure class this distinction could be clarified by how much or how little housework was done by female family members directly english noble women rarely put their hands to any domestic task the seymour daughters especially jane as the eldest girl may very well have been taught to cook or been expected to perform domestic chores it is known for certain that jane was well schooled in sewing and embroidery two skills at which she particularly excelled the fine intricate and artistic quality of her needlework was apparently remarkable enough for samples of it to survive for a century and a half on display in hampton court palace jane's surviving tapestries were gifted to the descendants of the seymour family in the 1650s next to household matters it may perhaps have been jane's religious instruction which received the most attention so john and lady margaery were devout catholics as were the majority of the english prior to henry's break with the roman church and the seymours kept a priest in permanent residence at wolf hall until the 1530s jane's continued attachment to catholicism and her noted sympathy for persecuted catholics during henry's reformation probably stemmed from her early religious education jane is described by multiple sources as kind gentle meek and rather shy in company many historians suppose that the portrait which hans holbein painted have heard in 1536 is probably a fairly good likeness jane is painted with a round face a pointed somewhat pinched chin thin lips and a prominent nose she was described as having had very pale skin grayish blue eyes and golden or strawberry blonde hair more than one contemporary observer suggested that she was plain rather than beautiful and one of her biographers has considered it worth emphasizing that she remained unmarried until her late twenties a very late first marriage for a tudor woman jane's parents could not afford much in the way of dowries for their daughters largely because educating sons and launching careers for them was so expensive with a modest or non-existent dowry a woman stood a better chance in the marriage market if she were pretty jane's younger sister elizabeth who is believed to have inherited her mother's reportedly exceptional good looks was married in her mid-teens to an upwardly mobile young knight there was some talk of a betrothal in the mid-1520s between jane and sir robert dormer's son william but her lack of a diary was a sticking point with the dormer family still unmarried at 19 years old jane was finally able to secure a place as a lady in waiting to queen catherine of aragon through the influence of her cousin by marriage the courtier sir francis bryan it seems the primary objective in sending jane to the english court was to help her to contract the most advantageous marriage possible no one could have dreamed that her intended would be the king and that within less than 10 years of her arrival at court the quiet plain unprepossessing mistress seymour would become queen of england jane arrived at greenwich palace near london sometime during the first half of 1527 roughly around the same time that ann bolin returned from france to serve as a fellow lady in waiting to queen catherine jane spent the next five years in the queen's household watching events unfold particularly those which led henry to divorce his first wife jane's quiet and serene demeanor gave no sign of what she thought about the very public relationship between king henry and ann berlin her admiration and devotion to both queen catherine and her daughter princess mary only increased the longer she remained with them at court her high regard for both mother and daughter would become much more evident later on jane was almost certainly discreet enough not to air her opinions about anne boleyn's relationship with henry or about anne's conduct toward queen catherine and her daughter if she had shown any open disapproval or hostility it is doubtful that ann berlin would have retained jane as one of her ladies in waiting when she became queen anne jane spent two years in anne boleyn's household and throughout most of this period there is no evidence that anne was at all dissatisfied with her service or her attitude and this tells us two very intriguing things about jane seymour first she may have appeared mousy placid and obliging but she obviously kept her own counsel and played her cards close to her chest secondly jane's conduct toward anne both before and after henry began to court her suggests that the woman who most people probably took for a doormat had a vivid streak of ambition it is not known exactly when or under what circumstances henry and jane first began to take a romantic interest in one another they appeared quite enamored with each other by january of 1536 but the affair quite possibly began earlier quinan became pregnant for the last time midway through the previous october since sex during pregnancy was believed to be dangerous for the child henry's notorious roving eye may have wandered over to jane as early as november of 1535 in fact it had been whispered at court that henry had even been pursuing yet another mistress this woman whose name we do not know is mentioned in several sources dated 1534 less than a year after henry's marriage to anne on the 29th of january 1536 the day of catherine of aragon's funeral the imperial ambassador eustace chapwi claimed to have observed henry paying marked attention to mistress seymour and giving her gifts later that same afternoon queen anne was said to have stumbled upon a private meeting between henry and jane flying into a rage at finding one of her ladies sitting on her husband's knee reportedly henry quickly sent jane from the room and attempted to calm anne for fear that her distress would harm their child this account comes from jane dormer the duchess of ferrier who many years later claimed to have heard it during her service as lady in waiting to queen mary the first yet since it was recorded so many years after the event the veracity of the story is uncertain what is certain is that roughly at the end of january perhaps that very night of the 29th anne boleyn miscarried her last child in a letter dated the same day ambassador chapwi informed the imperial foreign minister that he had attended a secret meeting with thomas cromwell henry's chief minister cromwell had confidentially expressed the king's wish for a renewal of his alliance with emperor charles v against the king of france francis the first cromwell also apparently related to chapwi a private discussion he had had earlier that day with the king during which henry had supposedly confided his belief that he had entered into his marriage seduced by witchcraft making his marriage invalid and that he was resolved to take another wife jane's last few months in ann's service were no doubt extremely tense and difficult for both women henry was not nearly discreet enough in paying court to jane whose mistress the queen still had power over her anne's star was fading she knew it and it made her anxious and highly temperamental she was said to have slapped jane on multiple occasions for perceived insolence or for flaunting henry's attentions before her mistress it is unclear whether jane actually did behave in such a way or if anne consumed by jealousy may simply have been watching her every move and venting her frustration at every perceived impertinence one account suggests a very different image of jane than her traditionally meek and obliging one sometime in february or march of 1536 jane reportedly received a gold locket from henry which contained a miniature portrait of him the story goes that jane made a great production out of opening and closing the locket in front of the queen enraged anne was said to have savagely ripped the locket from around jane's neck cutting her own finger in the process as infuriating as jane's presence was to anne she did not dare dismiss jane from her service the queen was growing more insecure by the day afraid to do anything which might inflame henry's wrath or motivate him to divorce her as her power ebbed she was said to have dwelt sorrowfully on her treatment of queen catherine and princess mary jane's conscience on the other hand seemed untroubled by what would prove to be a complete and deadly triumph over her rival traditionally jane seymour has been portrayed as a selfless compassionate kind even saintly figure some of these impressions probably stem from jane's actual conduct and behavior in public which gave most of her contemporaries an idea of her character with which they could all agree jane was quiet gentle and submissive but it strains credulity to imagine that anyone could be completely free of judgment bias or even cold disregard especially toward those whom one believes deserve judgment jane quite possibly despised anne just as more and more courtiers did throughout anne's tenure as queen she became more and more difficult to serve and to please as her anxiety increased she had alienated a growing faction of political players at henry's court who viewed with suspicion and hostility her attempts to influence henry's policies and blamed her for the king's religious reforms the most important considerations for jane however were probably her staunchly catholic faith as well as her love admiration and pity for catherine of aragon and lady mary jane's feelings and principles might have made her resent anne above all for her protestant reformism and her callous treatment of both catherine and mary far from being the saintly and selfless woman that liberated henry from his cursed marriage the real jane seymour was far more human in fact it may be fair to say that jane captured henry using exactly the same playbook anne had used years before to seduce him away from katherine two sets of circumstances however are still unclear first whether it was henry or jane who first attempted to initiate a romantic overture and second whether the romance bloomed of its own accord or was engineered by those courtiers who were desperate to see anne removed as queen the protestant reforms halted and lady mary restored to the succession tragically and fatally anne herself had created the possibility for her own eventual downfall when henry successfully divorced catherine and married anne a pandora's box was opened if ann could be queen why not jane there were several courtiers who were for various religious political or personal reasons committed to bringing ann berlin down including most notably the marquis a martianess of exeter the duke of suffolk sir nicholas karu thomas cromwell sir francis bryan and imperial ambassador chapwi it is entirely possible that such a powerful group may have orchestrated the affair by manipulating events to help jane catch henry's interest she was very likely coached and guided in the king's likes and dislikes by these individuals as well as by her own family who would no doubt have been ecstatic to see jane capture the king on the other hand the affair between jane and henry may have begun more organically and the conspirators may have approached her after the fact jane does not strike one as the type who would initiate a flirtation with the king of her own volition so perhaps it was henry who approached her this video is sponsored by raycon they make amazing earbuds with great sound quality and levels of comfort that are second to none their everyday earbuds look sound and feel better than ever plus each set of everyday earbuds has amazing optimized gel tips for an in-ear fit that is just perfect they never fall out and with eight hours of play time and 32 hours of battery life you never have to worry about missing your favorite tune now you can have earbuds that actually stay in your ears i use them while doing housework and wherever i go the earbuds actually stay in reaching up or down they stay exactly where i want them even when i shake my head they stay in place but best of all when i use them for editing videos the sound quality is a1 i can concentrate on work knowing that my everyday earbuds will stay exactly where i need them that helps me concentrate on what i need to do if you want quality earbuds which are fit for purpose and affordable then try raycon's everyday earbuds you won't be sorry plus raycon's earbuds are priced just right you get quality audio at half the price of other premium brands for me using raycon's everyday earbuds was the best earbud experience i have ever had it really is no surprise that raycon's everyday earbuds have over 48 000 five-star reviews click the link in the video description box now or go to www.buyracon.com peopleprofiles to get 15 percent of your rakon purchase some historians have wondered how henry could spend so many years in love with women like catherine of aragon and anne boleyn and then fall for someone like jane seymour catherine and anne had both been highly educated witty charming articulate and conventionally beautiful jane could match henry's first two wives in none of these qualities some historians have suggested that henry may have fallen for jane precisely because she was anne's polar opposite henry had admired anne's sophistication wit and passion but did not appreciate her sharp tongue and had been a difficult and demanding mistress and now that henry was growing older his declining health no doubt made him increasingly impatient and irratible with anyone who challenged him he may have found jane's quiet piety serenity and meek submissiveness soothing and refreshing despite the recriminations between henry and anne however undoubtedly her worst sin of all was failing to produce a son it is worth noting that henry did not ultimately decide to pursue a third marriage until after anne's last miscarriage sometime in february of 1536 henry sent sir nicholas carew to jane carrying a love letter and small purse heavy with gold coins sir nicholas later informed the king that mistress seymour had refused to accept either the letter or the purse he claimed she had held the letter for a moment placed a reverent kiss upon the letter's seal and then handed it back to sir nicholas without reading it she had returned the gold also and falling to her knees before him she entreated sir nicholas to beg the king's understanding that she was a woman of good and moral upbringing she would suffer a thousand deaths she said rather than sacrifice her honor she thanked henry for his gift but requested that he might retain it for now and give it to her once she had contracted an honorable marriage if true this account is very telling jane had been accepting expensive gifts from henry for months which begs the question of why her scruples suddenly returned at this particular moment some historians have departed from the traditional image of jane by pointing out that her conduct in this instance was straight out of ann bolin's playbook and shows that jane herself followed a very similar strategy respond to henry's advances but refused to be his mistress thereby forcing the issue of marriage it worked on henry like a charm but then again it appears that since henry had no son by his current wife he was more than willing to be beguiled in returning his letter and the gold jane had behaved henry said most modestly and he resolved thenceforth only to pay court to jane in the presence of one or more of her relatives accordingly henry promptly removed thomas cromwell from his chambers which adjoined the kings and gave them to jane's brother edward seymour now he and jane could continue to meet fairly privately but still be properly chaperoned to avoid any scandal attaching itself to her reputation by early march some less than complementary gossip had already begun to circulate throughout london about henry's affair with jane and there was some sympathy for queen anne who was obviously out of favor with her husband the king henry had abandoned both anne and their collapsing marriage by the end of february leaving her behind at greenwich palace while he took up temporary residence at york place in london he continued to discreetly court jane throughout the month of march by the first of april rumors of their meetings in edward seymour's chambers became more widely known at court henry then moved jane out of greenwich palace to a royal residence in chelsea a short distance along the thames river from york place this probably had less to do with protecting jane's reputation however than with keeping her away from the ugly process already underway at court the campaign to accuse ann berlin of capital crimes thus affecting her removal and execution however jane could not have been ignorant of what henry intended even if she was most likely ignorant of the finer details there is no account of jane in which she reacts with anything other than her customary quiet serenity to the news that anne boleyn's death was imminent henry visited jane the very morning that anne was to be executed to comfort her and assure her that they would very soon be married the traditional historical portrait of anne boleyn has often been that of the devious grasping other woman while jane seymour has often been portrayed as a paragon of gentle unselfish compassion yet the fact remains that jane found it seemingly easy as one historian put it to step neatly over the dead body of her rival right into henry's arms and onto the throne next to him just as anne had taken queen catherine's place seemingly without a qualm henry and jane were officially betrothed the very next day following ann berlin's execution and less than two weeks later on the 30th of may 1536 the two were married in a small semi-private ceremony in the queen's closet at white hall with the religiously conservative bishop stephen gardiner officiating jane's well-known sympathies for catholicism and for the lady mary made many anti-reform courtiers hopeful that her influence on henry might help halt the march towards protestantism in england anne boleyn's emblem as queen had featured a crowned falcon with the motto the most happy jane's choice of emblem as queen spoke volumes hers was a crowned phoenix her motto bound to obey and serve the message seemed clear through her faith and service as henry's wife england would rise from the ashes after the confusion and upheaval caused by the king's divorce eustace chapuise was among the most hopeful and he assured emperor charles v in a letter that he would encourage the new queen to continue in her efforts to restore lady mary both to henry's favor and to the succession in a subsequent conversation between jane and chapwee she herself confirmed to him that she would always show kindness to mary and seek to reconcile her with her father henry quickly broke up this confidence perhaps uncomfortable with the notion of jane exerting influence at his court on behalf of the emperor at least indirectly making sure that a catholic inherited the english throne was one of charles v's principal foreign policy goals from the 1530s to the 1550s should henry and jane's marriage not produce a male heir then lady mary stood a better chance of taking the throne with the queen's support as queen jane did indeed advocate for lady mary even before she and henry were wed she had asked him to reinstate mary as his heir henry had scoffed gently at the idea advising her that instead she ought to be advocating for the inheritance rights of the children that jane herself would have with henry but her subsequent attempts to interfere with the king's policies were met with less and less patience from him those who had hoped that jane might be more successful at influencing henry's decisions than either of her predecessors were disappointed for henry regardless of his wife's entreaties refused to reconcile with his eldest daughter unless she repudiated the pope acknowledged henry as head of the church affirmed the illegitimacy of her parents marriage and admitted her own bastardy henry via a letter from thomas cromwell even threatened her with treason and a death sentence should she refuse to submit despite her failure to exert her influence over henry's decisions as head of state and church jane's seemingly sincere dedication to her religious and moral beliefs is one quality which speaks in her favor she honored her promise to chappuy and treated lady mary kindly and generously spending a great deal of time with her at court she also continued to urge henry to reinstate mary to the succession this suggests that even if she had not become pregnant jane was just as committed to the notion of a catholic heir for england as the faction which had helped to make her queen once she was on the throne there was really nothing to force her to continue pursuing a pro-catholic agenda except her own conviction this might help explain her seeming reluctance to reach out to henry's younger daughter princess elizabeth jane showed no hesitation to treat mary as her stepdaughter and close companion but did not extend the same to elizabeth who was not yet four years old when her mother died perhaps jane felt she could not speak for elizabeth without daring the wrath of henry who might very well have bridled at any reference to his late wife perhaps jane's own dislike for anne boleyn made her hesitant to embrace elizabeth as her stepdaughter whatever the reason elizabeth's household and the child herself were less and less adequately provided for during the months that followed her mother's death within six months elizabeth's servants and caretakers were poaching game to keep her household fed and no one seemed to care that she had outgrown all of her clothes without the means to have new ones made it was lady mary who seems to have advocated for her younger sister a sister she had resented having to serve but whom she had compassion for as a child too young to understand how dramatically her life and status had changed mary may have had more to do with elizabeth's restoration to the family fold and to henry's favor than her stepmother had jane did appear to have priorities however during the year following her marriage jane tried on multiple occasions to persuade henry to halt protestant reforms and to show mercy and understanding to those who found the changes hard to accept during the campaign known as the pilgrimage of grace when thousands of people in the north of england rose in rebellion queen jane begged henry to restore the monasteries which were being dissolved across england henry reacted badly offering jane a harsh warning by reminding her what had happened to anne boleyn jane became pregnant early in 1537 and by late spring she was experiencing pregnancy cravings notably the quail and quails eggs henry was jubilant and set about making plans for the celebrations that would accompany the birth of his heir and finally queen jane's coronation which henry intended to be one of the most spectacular ever staged for an english queen jane's pregnancy was largely placid and she seemed contented and in general good health throughout the queen entered her confinement early in september of 1537 roughly one month before the expected delivery she was accompanied by the few women permitted to attend a queen during the late stages of pregnancy including the now 21 year old lady mary jane seymour went into labor on the 9th of october when henry was informed he excitedly ordered the preparations begin for the ceremonial 2000 gun salute for tay dams to be sung in every church for free food and wine to be provided for the people and for the bonfires to be lit to celebrate his son's birth but the hours passed then a full day then another and still the queen's labor continued finally at two o'clock in the morning on the 12th of october 1537 exhausted and wracked with pain jane gave birth to henry's longed for son and heir the future edward vi of england the queen remained at rest for several days following edward's birth before she was churched or purified and thus permitted to leave her formal confinement she appeared drained weak and even paler than usual but it had been almost a week since the birth and most of the court considered her to be out of danger but on the 17th she came down with a raging fever and lapsed into delirium throughout the following week jane rallied briefly twice regaining consciousness and appearing to make small improvements but rather than making the hope for full recovery jane died quietly on the 24th of october 1537 at the age of 29 she had succumbed to what most historians between the 18th and 20th centuries believed was pueblo fever or childbed fever which resulted from an infection contracted during delivery perhaps from unsterilized medical equipment however multiple sources contemporary with the actual event claim that jane died as a result of surgery attempted during labor specifically a caesarean section the midwives and physicians who had attended the queen during her labor had begun to lose hope of a safe delivery by the morning of the 11th of october several sources claim that one or more of them approached henry on the matter of the child survival versus jane's should the labor continue and a choice need to be made some sources claim that henry chose jane others that he chose the child what these professionals were essentially asking was whether henry would allow a caesarean section to be performed on the queen if it appeared that the child might perish with her caesarean sections were known in tudor england but were extremely taboo because they virtually always killed the mother they were therefore not typically performed on living women but more often on women after they had died during childbirth later historians tended to suppose that the accounts which described henry's choosing to save the life of the child were catholic propaganda designed to discredit henry which is why they discounted the claims that jane underwent surgery yet some of these sources were written by reformers and protestants and some claim that jane herself consented to the procedure based on the descriptions of her symptoms during her final illness jane seymour almost certainly died of sepsis arising from an infection sustained during childbirth but the atmosphere of the birthing chamber was so rarified and the veracity of multiple accounts so difficult to judge that we may never know exactly why she died following jane's death more than two years would pass before henry once again found his way to the altar in january of 1540 he wed the 24 year old german princess anne of cleves a marriage that lasted only six months traditionally jane has been remembered as henry's most loved most favored and most revered wife and that was certainly the impression that henry wished to convey jane seymour was given a magnificent funeral worthy of the queen of england even though she had not lived long enough to be officially crowned queen henry also requested that he be buried next to jane the portrait painted during henry's marriage to catherine parr known as the family of henry viii shows henry surrounded by his children but instead of catherine parr jane seymour is painted standing in the place reserved for henry's queen the fact that some histories have depicted jane as a rather saint-liked figure probably has much to do with her overall demeanor and personality but also perhaps more important the manner of her death what could be more selfless to someone like henry than to die giving him the son he desired above all things yet despite her traditional historical reputation jane was probably no better or worser person than anne boleyn who has more often been vilified for usurping catherine's place than jane has been for usurping anne's historians still wonder did henry truly love jane more than any of his other wives or was it just that she died before his love could fade was it simply because she gave birth to his son and why would he revere for the rest of his life a woman he had loved for little more than a year yet also ban all images and forbid all discussion in his presence of the woman who had consumed his life and heart throughout the previous decade it speaks eloquently of the guilt henry almost certainly felt about anne that after her death he ordered all of her emblems and all images of her to be removed from royal residences and no one ever heard him speak of her again what do you think of jane seymour please let us know in the comments section and as always thank you very much for watching the woman known to history as anna von de mark duchess of cleves was most likely born at swan castle near dusseldorf germany traditionally historians have dated her birth to the 21st or 22nd of september 1515 but one recent biographer has argued that a birth date sometime between the 28th of june and the 1st of july is more likely anna's father was johan iii duke of cleves and her mother was maria duchess of eulekberg when anna's parents were first married they each ruled over their own separate territories although johann succeeded to the dukel titles associated with his wife's lands it was maria who actually held the reigns of government renaissance germany provided very interesting opportunities for the political leadership and participation of noble women and german dukedoms principalities and city-states were frequently governed by women in the absence of a son german noblemen dukes and princes were usually content to invest power in their daughters rather than any distantly related male heir anna's mother maria was just such an heiress as her father's only child she acceded as duchess and regent of eulekberg after his death maria governed her own territories as regent while her husband johann inherited the ceremonial title associated with his wife's duchy within 15 years of their marriage anna's parents had finally merged the administrations of their separate dukul territories until then johanna maria lived rather separate lives for a married couple the duke and duchess of cleves ulichberg had four children together their eldest daughter sibila born in 1512 was three years older than anna and the two sisters shared a strong bond throughout their lives continuing to exchange letters even after anna departed germany for england two younger siblings followed anna only a year apart the only son wilhelm was born in 1516 and the youngest daughter amalia was born in 1517. because johanna maria each administered different regional and political entities they were often required to maintain separate residences during the first several years of their marriage anna spent most of her childhood at berg castle in solingen with her mother and her sisters her education was extremely interesting in the context of renaissance europe anna sibella and amalia were likely instructed in regional property laws and customs of taxation how to manage finances on a regional scale as well as how to arbitrate disputes between and among officials and civilians in addition they learned how to run large estates including the management of large-scale farming and livestock interests anna came from a family with many generations of strong women who played important governing roles in their communities because german noble women could often be expected to exercise full power and responsibility in the absence of male authority figures anna and her sisters received an education which their english contemporaries would have considered to be rather masculine in character this should not suggest that the three young duchesses did not also learn domestic responsibilities which were the lot of all early modern european women from duchess to peasant the daughters of the duchess of cleveland were all taught household management which for german noble women seems to have been much more hands-on than it was for english french or spanish aristocrats while elite women from england spain or france almost never performed domestic tasks personally german noble women were frequently taught to cook to sew and to make clothing all of this strikes the observer as eminently sensible since the chatelaine of a large estate could hardly be depended upon to manage an estate properly if she didn't really understand what was involved the productivity and profitability of their daily activities earned praise for german noble women who were seen as equal contributors to their marriages and families indeed sometimes a noble woman's household economy might yield more profit than her lands if shrewdly managed some aristocratic european women had the opportunity to pursue a scholarly and intellectual education but this was probably not the case with anna she may have been taught to dance and her parents ducal establishments regularly patronized musicians of talent but anna was not taught to sing or to play any musical instruments she was taught to read and write but only in german and there is no indication that she studied the standard academia of the renaissance like rhetoric history or philosophy most of her early education was probably centered around the purely practical literacy estate and household management sewing and embroidery this was not necessarily because of anna's gender her father johan a friend and correspondent of the famed dutch philosopher erasmus was quite scholarly himself and does not seem to have discouraged intellectualism in his daughters anna's older sister sebilla proved to be quite a fierce intellectual a friend and correspondent of martin luther and a passionate and admired lutheran reformer however sebilla's religious and political leanings were likely influenced more by her husband than by her parents sebilla was married at the age of 15 to prince johann friedrich elector of saxony the fiercely protestant friend and supporter of martin luther and a thorn in the side of holy roman emperor charles v anna's religious sensibilities are largely unknown and the religious diversity that prevailed both in germany and within her own family when she was growing up makes it even more difficult to guess what her actual beliefs might have been anna's mother was described as a strict catholic who personally never wavered from her faith anna's father duke johan also remained a catholic through the early reformation but openly demonstrated lutheran sympathies and religious tolerance anna's younger siblings wilhelm and amalia would spend a significant proportion of their adult lives at odds with one another over religion wilhelm consistently maintained friendly relations with the protestant schmalkaldic league led by his brother-in-law the elector of saxony wilhelm himself however remained a catholic all his life and insisted that his sons be raised catholic as well the lutheran sympathies of both wilhelm and his father before him might be explained in part by their distrust for the holy roman emperor charles v with whom both father and son remained long engaged in a protracted land dispute over gelderland anna's youngest sister amalia was as passionately committed to protestant reform as her eldest sister sibil amalia never married or had children and she is believed to have spent her elder years caring for and educating her young nieces one anecdote describes wilhelm's anger at his sister for instructing the girls in protestant principles this conflict reportedly enraged him enough to spur him to chase and threaten amalia with a hatchet a debacle which was ended by one of her servants who slammed and locked the door in the duke's face considering all of this it is impossible to say what anna's own beliefs were but exposure to such religious fluidity in her early life may have given her a broad perspective and a sense of spiritual and intellectual flexibility it may also have taught her the value of both conformity and tolerance depending on what was expected of her in any given circumstance when anna was 11 years old she was betrothed to the son of the duke of lorraine an unofficial arrangement which was nullified seven years later one of anna's biographers noted that she did not seem unduly distressed at the cancellation of her betrothal despite the fact that she was now 18 three years older than sebilla had been when she was married anna's attachment to her mother and to her family's household seems to have been one of sincere contentment at the court of clevel activities were strictly gendered the noble men attended to political and estate matters in the mornings while the noble women of their daughters attended two domestic tasks the men and women of the court then came together in the afternoons for formal socializing and entertainments anna's typical day might find her embroidering and making clothing with her mother her younger sister and other women and the family's service in the franzima or women's room during the mornings the young women of the court were only allowed to meet and socialize with men during the afternoon gatherings or at the sumptuous dinners of up to nine courses which were served nightly to as many as 300 guests anna's family enjoyed entertaining themselves and the court with music and theatrical entertainment hunting was another of the family's favorite at pastimes and anna was said to have been a fine equestrian who loved to join the hunt in 1538 when anna was 23 her father died an event which made her cling all the closer to her mother yet her time in germany was growing short and both her own future as well as the future of her family now rested in the hands of her younger brother wilhelm it was in 1538 when thomas crumwell first made overtures to the young new duke of cleves on behalf of henry viii who was now determined to marry again persuaded by cromwell that the support of cleves would help henry defend himself against the emperor charles v without having to rely on the equally changeable king of france henry sought to conclude the marriage negotiations quickly duke wilhelm had bulked for months at henry's request to allow portraits to be painted of anna and amalia and for henry's emissaries to see the duke's sisters in person frustrated the english ambassadors had only been allowed to see them in the voluminous german court dress with their faces veiled to help conclude the marriage treaty as quickly as possible henry finally offered to waive anna's dowry and offered the duke the generous payment of a hundred thousand florins instead bilnhelm promptly accepted henry's generous offer writing that his sister looked forward eagerly to her wedding in november of 1539 anna departed germany for her overland journey to calais the multitude of nobles attendants and servants who traveled with her made it a long journey which was further delayed by bad weather on the channel following their arrival in calais which prevented anna from sailing for england for a few days she was greeted and entertained there in the meantime by the earl of southampton and the duke of suffolk from the time she landed in england anna was a little less homesick than she had been after saying goodbye to her home and family she was greeted with kindness enthusiasm and admiration everywhere she and her escort stopped with crowds of ordinary people turning out to see her and wish her well all of henry's nobles and ambassadors wrote to him of her cheerful amy ability and assured him that she was as lovely as the portrait painted by hans holbein suggested this portrait depicts and in dutch style dress demure and serene with widely spaced and heavily lidded eyes and shapely lips sources describe her as tall slim and blue eyed with light blonde hair for reasons which are still not altogether clear henry was less than pleased with his new bride-to-be hearing that his future wife was delayed on the road and that his wedding could not take place by christmas henry resolved to be patient until the 6th of january the date chosen for the postponement restlessness and anxiousness to meet her proved too much for henry however and instead on new year's day 1540 he set off to meet her earlier than originally planned bearing a new year's gift for his intended henry staged his entrance in a highly theatrical manner in disguise he approached anna without hesitation kneeling before her to kiss her hand unfortunately anne was taken aback by this behavior not only for the sake of her modesty but also because she had no idea who henry was there was no way she could have understood the mistake she had made unfamiliar with english culture and therefore unable to understand that henry expected her to recognize her so-called true love through his disguise henry was humiliated that anna appeared repulsed and attempted to ignore him he abruptly left the room and throwing off his disguise he returned in a decidedly more kingly looking coat of royal purple deeply embarrassed anna bowed deeply before him and henry kissed her briefly before politely extricating himself from the situation but the king was loud in his dissatisfaction as soon as he was out of earshot of his new fiancee he was so upset that he had forgotten to give anna the new year's gift he had brought a dualed sable fur this video is sponsored by narwhal the company who brings to you the amazing two in one robot mob and vacuum the narwhal t-10 which comes with its own mop cleaning station the narwhal has very strong suction power as well as side brushes to reduce hair entanglement you can see when you empty the narwhal just how much dirt and debris it picks up with two rounded triangle mobs each rotating at 180 rpm that's three times per second the narwhal deep cleans your floor with no stains left behind as well as this when the mop detects it is dirty it returns to the station to self-clean the cleaning heads and the mobs dry automatically to stop germs from growing narwhal uses smart mapping algorithms to navigate your home intelligently mounting thresholds and rugs with ease its cliff sensor means it will never fall off a step or ledge and with the two big five liter water tanks you will never be short of water plus the narwhal has its own app for fingertip control and a handy base station for storage and self-cleaning just go to the description box now to find out more narwhal and the people profiles working together henry returned to greenwich incensed he remonstrated with courtiers who had previously reported that anne was pleasing just as henry seemed to have believed anna to be when he saw holbein's portrait he complained bitterly to thomas cromwell that his intended was nothing fair as she has been reported i like her not he stated emphatically and demanded what could be done to circumvent the marriage unfortunately since there seemed to be no way to nullify his engagement without risking the anger and enmity of cleaves henry went ahead with the wedding as planned on the 6th of january 1540. he would spend the scant six months of his marriage to anna attempting to find some avenue to divorce her the morning after their wedding night thomas cromwell anxiously inquired of henry how he liked the queen henry replied that he now liked her even less than before he declared that he had not consummated his marriage because anna had repulsed him he claimed to doubt her virginity because of the looseness of her belly and breasts he also spoke with his doctors confiding that he believed himself capable of performing sexually just not with anna and the king defended himself from the implication that he might be impotent by claiming that he continued to experience nocturnal emissions what henry seems to have been doing is setting the stage for an annulment based on non-consummation of the marriage and indeed within a few weeks he informed his privy council that there must be some impediment to his marriage because god would not allow him to consummate it he requested that anna's previous betrothal to the son of the duke of lorraine be examined once again to ascertain whether the contract had indeed been a binding one henry's counselors knew exactly what he expected of them by february of 1540 anna understood that something was terribly wrong in her marriage she tried hard to make herself agreeable to the king and henry himself continued to dine regularly with anna and share her bed nightly so she could have no cause for complaint it is unclear how much she knew about marital relations prior to her wedding night but one account of a conversation between anna and her ladies suggests that her ignorance of sex might have been alma's total a ladies and waiting no doubt fishing for information indicated to anna that they hoped she would soon be with child the queen replied i know very well that i am not how is it possible for you to know that and lie every night with the king they inquired anna again insisted that she was not with child i think your grace is a maid still said lady rochford george berlin's widow how can i be a maid asked anne and sleep with the king every night there must be more than this lady rochford replied treading on dangerous ground but instead of taking offense at lady rochford's impertinent suggestion anna patiently explained to her ladies when the king comes to bed he kisses me and takes me by the hand saying good night sweetheart and in the morning he kisses me and bids me farewell my darling is this not enough the countess of rutland tried her best to make the queen understand madam she began there must be more than this or it will be air long before we have a duke of york in other words a second son for henry no anna was said to have replied i am content with this for i know no more this is a fascinating and puzzling exchange the meaning of which is still unclear anna seems to imply that she was not aware that there was anything wrong in her marriage bed but then she may have been feigning ignorance for the sake of her own reputation or for henry's we do not ultimately know whether henry and anna did not consummate their marriage it is possible that henry spoke the truth and that his disappointment in finally meeting his new queen was so great that he could not frame his mind toward intimacy with her however henry was also 48 years old at the time of his fourth marriage he was already twice anna's age he was running to fat and the terrible sore on his leg which would eventually kill him continued to swell separate and stink periodically considering the state of henry's health in addition to his obvious disappointment with his new wife it is entirely possible that henry may have been experiencing impotence and reacting badly to it by blaming his new wife whatever the truth of the matter between them poor anna was ill-prepared to address it she had arrived in england married henry and been proclaimed queen all in the space of a few weeks without having yet learned much of any english this not only made it difficult for her to stay wise to events around her but also prevented her from being able to express herself to those who might have been able to help what's more being so new at henry's court she could not have known whom to trust sadly for anna henry moved on quickly and by springtime the king could be seen crossing the thames regularly in the evenings headed for lambeth palace and his latest mistress the sixteen-year-old catherine howard a niece of the duke of norfolk there grumbling and judgment heard among the people of london regarding henry's infidelity to his queen was reminiscent of the sympathies which have been similarly expressed for anne boleyn when henry's affair with jane seymour became known on the 24th of june 1540 henry sent anna away from court to richmond palace ostensibly for her health and safety from a plague in london however henry's feelings about illness were such that he surely would have also departed the city if the risks have been real less than three weeks later henry obtained the annulment to his marriage based on its non-consummation and on anna's pre-contract to marry the son of the duke of lorraine the queen was presented with henry's grounds for a divorce on the 10th of july should she consent to it henry assured her that she would be treated kindly and provided for anna was utterly humiliated and gave way to tears when henry's request for divorce was read she initially refused to heed what was asked of her and quickly summoned the cleaves ambassador within a day however anna had calmed she had had time to think and no doubt both embarrassment and fear had wared with one another in her mind should she accept she would be disgraced and discarded but should she refuse she could not say whether the dangerously mercurial henry would not do her harm to her credit anna was quick and resolute in making her decision and she followed through to admiration anna accepted her divorce from henry with grace dignity and amiability saying that she hoped that she would still occasionally have the pleasure of his company henry was shocked anna had been fearful and difficult to deal with during the weeks since he had taken catherine howard for his mistress and he had expected her to resist to threaten him with the outrage and vengeance of her brother the duke of cleves because she readily gave henry what he wanted he was generous with her on the 12th of july henry wrote to inform anna that she was free to return home however should she decide to remain in england she would receive an annual income of four thousand pounds and the estates of richmond bletchingly and hever castle despite henry's earlier claim following his wedding night he formally affirmed that anna was still a maid and said she might marry again if she wished finally he hoped she would be pleased to think of herself thenceforth as the king's most beloved sister and assured her that she would always be welcome at court and given precedence over all women in england except for the queen and henry's own daughters apparently anne found this generous indeed and readily accepted in fact she went even further by assuring henry that he was welcome to view any correspondence she might thereafter have with her family in cleves before it was sent it is possible that anna might have chosen to stay in england out of fear one puzzling account claims that the german princess implied that her brother might do her harm if she returned home dishonored her arrangements with henry concluded anna promptly wrote to her brother to inform him of the accord she and henry had reached and to assure him that she was happy and content to live out her life in england the woman who had spent most of her life in seemingly quiet unbeatable obedience first in the shadow of her mother and then in the shadow of a king was now a free and independent woman of means like the strong female rulers who were her ancestors anna had found herself in control of her own life what's more she had neither husband nor master to tell her what to do anna lived the last 14 years of her life quite happily and comfortably on her english estates and was described by one chronicler as an eminently kind and generous mistress to everyone who served her she earned henry's trust and gratitude not only for her conformity to his will but also for her continued devotion to his children for whom she had tried to be a warm and loving stepmother indeed anna maintained and strengthened her relationships with henry's children and the years following her divorce even lady mary came to care for and appreciate her former stepmother in the ensuing years despite what she perceived as major religious differences between them actually it is still unclear whether the denomination of her religion made any difference to anna at all she had embraced henry's anglican faith without protest upon arrival in england during the short and turbulent reigns of edward vi and mary the first anna willingly declared her religious obedience twice when the nine-year-old edward took the throne she affirmed herself a protestant when mary succeeded him as queen anna did not hesitate to declare herself a roman catholic perhaps she was being pragmatic but perhaps the religious and denominational variability she had been exposed to in germany and within her own family made her eminently more flexible in a spiritual sense anne of cleves remained highly favored by henry's children following his death in 1547 she was often invited to court during the reigns of edward and mary and she walked behind her former stepdaughter elizabeth in mary's coronation procession she got along well enough with henry's last two wives although one cryptic comment she made during henry's wedding to catherine parr gave the imperial ambassador eustace chapui the impression that she resented catherine madame parr is taking a great burden unto herself anna was said to have remarked during the ceremony chapwi interpreted this statement as catty jealousy from a woman whom henry had refused to marry a second time after the execution of catherine howard however it was her brother wilhelm who had suggested that henry take his sister back not anna it is possible that anna meant something entirely different when she spoke of madame parr's great burden perhaps she was thinking of henry's most recently discarded wife the disgraced teenaged queen catherine howard executed for treason at only 19 years old anna remained in royal favor until wyatt's rebellion of 1554. because queen mary the first suspected that anna might have aided the rebels cause because of protestant sympathies and love for her sister elizabeth she was no longer invited to court and confined to her estates by the spring of 1557 anna's health had begun to decline she grew thinner and paler and lost her appetite and historians believe she may have been suffering the final stages of some form of cancer anne of cleves died on the 16th of july 1557 at the age of 41 or 42. despite the short duration of her marriage she had come to be much loved and admired by the english people and by henry's own family she was honoured with a burial in westminster abbey by queen mary the first who chose the site for anna's burial herself and ordered that vigil be kept for her each night until her funeral on the 4th of august the grave of anne of cleaves can be found today on the south side of the abbey's high altar a plain stone slightly above eye level which features her coat of arms and reads simply anne of cleves queen of england born 1515 died 1557 despite the pain and embarrassment that her short abortive marriage must have caused her anna to use the german version of her name arguably fared better than any of her five counterparts when her marriage came to an end of all of henry's wives anna's origins tend to be the least well known since from the english perspective their marriage was little more than a blip in the larger context of henry's reign but upon close consideration of what little is known both anna herself and her story strike the observer as highly unique and interesting what do you think of anne of cleves please let us know in the comments section and as always thank you very much for watching the woman known to history as catherine howard was born a noblewoman sometime between 1518 and 1527. her father was edmund howard the third son of the duke of norfolk and her mother was jocasta culpepper also frequently referred to as joyce in documents from the period joyce culpepper gave birth to 11 children who survived to adulthood an incredible occurrence in 16th century europe culpepper had five children with her first husband sir ralph lee and six more with her second husband edmund howard of whom catherine was the second youngest lord edmund lived in a stately but modestly appointed house with his wife and children their home was provided by lord edmund's father and was located on church street in lambeth parish sari edmund often bemoaned his aristocratic birth for the financial pressure it brought he was one of the duke's younger sons and his modest inheritance he claimed could never support him much less his wife and children in the style expected of the howards paid work of any kind was considered vulgar for a tudor nobleman lacking any other income edmund served as a local justice of the peace at lambeth and was later made comptroller of calais nonetheless found himself continuously in debt he was also terrible at managing the few financial resources he did have and spent most of his adult life borrowing money from his friends ducking his creditors and avoiding the anger of three successive wives the date of catherine howard's birth is uncertain and highly debated with some historians dating it as early as 1518 and others dating it as late as 1527. however a date in the mid-range seems more likely in light of documentary evidence the will of joyce's former father-in-law sir john lee which was probated in 1524 mentions catherine's older siblings henry charles george and margaret but not catherine herself or her younger sister isabelle presumably because they were either too young to be considered or because they were not yet born however the 1527 will of catherine's maternal grandmother mentions both catherine and isabel therefore a date of birth somewhere between 1522 and 1525 seems more plausible if we accept this estimate then catherine was at most no more than six years old when her mother died in 1528 by the following year edmund howard had embarked on the first of two subsequent marriages and according to custom some or perhaps all of his children by his previous wife were placed in the homes of howard's relatives this was not as harsh an action as it may appear today the early modern english practice of putting out young children was frequently undertaken even if both parents were still living and readily able to care for them many children between the ages of 6 and 12 might be sent to a household outside of their immediate family to complete training or education or to begin service this practice was considered necessary for working-class children because of the economic value of a child's labor to their families but gentry and noble families put out their own children just as often some historians believe they did so to keep the children from being spoiled by their parents who might indulge them rather than impose much needed structure and discipline even king henry's son prince edward was taken from his governess his nurses and his sisters at the age of six and given into the care of a governor and tutors to complete his education to be king as a result of this widespread practice of putting out of children catherine howard probably did not get the opportunity to develop very close relationships with all of her many siblings during childhood although at least one of her brothers did initially accompany her to her new household catherine welcomed the opportunity to nurture her relationships with her siblings later on however when she became queen sometime between 1529 and 1531 when she was probably between six and eight years old catherine was sent to live in the household of edmond's widowed stepmother agnes howard the dowager duchess of norfolk catherine spent roughly the next decade living either at chesworth the country estate of the duchess at horsham in sussex or at norfolk house in lambeth the dowager duchess was probably the most prominent noblewoman in england virtually no woman besides the queen herself or henry's daughters could claim precedence over her so this was a very advantageous household for any child to be placed in one in which they were certain to get an excellent education and to meet the right people the duchess did indeed have many wards there could have been at any time as many as a dozen children of varying age and status living in her household so catherine would hardly have been lonely she would have spent most of her time in what was known as the maidens chamber which was essentially a girl's dormitory home to both wards and servants at first glance such arrangements might suggest that there was little or no difference in the treatment of more aristocratic children and those of humbler origins under the duchess's care but the reality was probably more nuanced catherine might have played laughed argued fought eaten her meals and shared her bed with any number of children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds but at the same time the howard name her rank and heritage likely gave her a decided superiority one which makes it unlikely that any of her fellow wards could have prevented her from having her own way when she wanted it apparently catherine and her brother george were the only wards permitted to dine at table with the duchess and catherine's status probably gave her the authority to control the activities and arrangements of the maiden's chamber to a certain extent nonetheless the boarding school style atmosphere probably did much to shape her personality few specific details are known about catherine's childhood but many historians believe that she experienced a rather lax and unstructured upbringing for a noble ward in an aristocratic household documentary evidence does suggest that the dowager duchess neglected her duties as a caregiver and supervisor and that as a result her wards often ran rather wild to be fair to the duchess who was in her 70s and headed a household totalling 100 people there was little she could do to police the actions of everyone residing under her roof catherine's contemporaries remarked on the notable lack of reserve and dignity in her behavior but many of the same critics were willing to concede that she also had a kind demeanor which was immediately warm and engaging perhaps her life in the duchess's household among children from many different backgrounds had made her less pretentious unlike many tudor aristocrats catherine hard less often displayed the self-important haughtiness for which the nobility were renowned still her flightness and lack of reserve would hardly have endeared her to those who expected a noble lady or more importantly a queen to act as one and unfortunately the lack of supervision and discipline in agnes howard's household was to have catastrophic and tragic consequences for catherine later on catherine received an education similar to that of other noble women of the tudor era conduct an etiquette would have been her first and most important lessons as a howard who would undoubtedly have to appear at court one day catherine would have learned how to properly walk stand sit and curtsy as well as how to address individuals according to their rank she would have learned the rules of table etiquette and how to make polite conversation but also likely the virtues of silence and obedience in women catherine probably received her most extensive training in dance and was described by many contemporaries as a fine and graceful dancer she received music lessons in the duchess's household reportedly learning to play the virginal a small version of the harpsichord piano as well as the lute however it seems that she did not maintain her interest in music for very long between the ages of 10 and 12 catherine learned how to read and write she seems to have not received any academic training beyond basic literacy but this was not unusual for the 16th century in fact the tudor princesses were some of the first early modern english women to be as carefully and as well educated as their male counterparts learning history philosophy geography and multiple languages as part of their education when catherine howard was between 12 and 14 years old she began taking music lessons from a teacher named henry manox a man at least 10 years her senior who soon began to make romantic and sexual overtures towards his adolescent pupil scholars are divided on the nature of their relationship with some characterizing it as sexual abuse many modern observers would readily agree considering catherine's extreme youth at the time of this relationship but catherine was also at the threshold of sexual awakening and in the tudor era catherine was fairly close to the age of eligibility for marriage and may have responded willingly to manox's advances it is widely agreed that catherine and manox had a relationship which lasted several months but their relationship did not cross the physical boundary later catherine was most likely glad it had not according to a housemaid in service to the duchess named mary lassell manox had admitted that while he had no honorable intentions towards catherine he nonetheless boasted that he would have her maidenhead reportedly furious when she learned this catherine broke off her relationship with manox who soon resigned his position as her music teacher our understanding of history is often less heavily influenced by the events themselves than by the scholars who interpret and write about them historians have traditionally denigrated catherine howard as a morally loose and promiscuous young woman but more recent historians have shown different attitudes most no longer view sexual curiosity or experimentation as inherently wicked or destructive and feminist interpretations of henry's ill-fated fifth wife have begun to challenge the traditional indictment of her character based on her sexuality more than one recent biographer has highlighted the overtones of abuse and manipulation by a much older adult man in a position of trust in her life no more than a year after her break with manox another young man named francis denham came to join the household in service to the dowager duchess francis dedham began his employment as secretary to the dollar de duchess of norfolk in 1538. he was probably the same age as manox in his mid-twenties while catherine was probably 14 or 15 the two formed an attachment which continued for at least several months but may have lasted nearly two years deram called catherine wife and she called him husband they gave each other small gifts and love tokens he gave her gifts of velvet and silk flowers while she embroidered an armband and a friar's knot for him francis also entrusted his money to catherine when he went away on business the argument for catherine's control over the maiden's chamber is a strong one because it seems impossible that she could have entertained dedham there as many times as she probably did for as many months as she did without the duchess finding out and unlike her relationship with manox it seems fairly certain that catherine's relationship with francis derem was fully consummated to any casual observer during the tudor period it would appear that catherine and francis would eventually marry in fact in medieval and early modern europe any two unmarried people who had declared their intention to wed one another and who had already slept together were considered pre-contracted which was as good as married in the eyes of the church unfortunately for the young couple the duchess eventually found out about that affair apparently acting out of jealousy the rejected henry manox wrote to the duchess an anonymous letter exposing francis and catherine's relationship and slipped it onto her pew at church furious the duchess was quick to send dedham away he left for ireland promising catherine he would eventually return but by the time he did catherine would already be married and would have risen to become queen consort of england it is impossible to know if and how deeply she mourned her parting from francis dedham in any event as the niece of the duke of norfolk she probably would not have been permitted to marry him or indeed to choose her own husband at all deram was better born than henry manox but likely still not good enough for the niece of a duke in the autumn of 1539 king henry viii was preparing to wed his fourth wife anne of cleves anxious to add a howard lady in waiting to the new queen's chamber the duke of norfolk decided that his young niece catherine should be sent to live and serve in queen anne's new household catherine's father edmund howard had died just a few months previously and her uncle the duke promptly took advantage of his new ability to control his niece's destiny soon after catherine's arrival at court she very likely met thomas culpepper one of the king's personal servants member of the privy chamber and a distant cousin of hers on her mother's side it is not clear if their acquaintance predates catherine's arrival at court but some historians believe that an affection may have grown between them well before henry first noticed her catherine's apparent affection for culpepper would eventually prove disastrous for both of them by january of 1540 it was abundantly clear that the freshly remarried henry viii was already seeking to divorce his latest wife it is not known exactly when henry first noticed catherine but by march there was already talk of how frequently the king could be seen crossing the thames toward lambeth to visit norfolk house and of the young lady whom many in the capital believed was already his mistress the fall from favor of anne of cleves had left a power vacuum at court religious conservatives like the howards anxious to dispense with this new queen who was assumed to be a protestant saw an opportunity catherine was very young probably no more than 17 and not terribly well educated as a result she was a less than ideal choice for those seeking a woman to help manage the king she was however the woman of the moment and for henry that seemed to be enough the king was nearing 50 and his fascination with the teenaged lady in waiting speaks of a midlife crisis henry was clearly disappointed after his first meeting with anne of cleves claiming that her appearance was unsatisfactory and had also unintentionally and publicly embarrassed henry by not recognizing him and thus behaving coldly toward him this awkward encounter likely contributed to henry's initial dislike of her some historians believe that advancing impotence as a result of the king's age and health problems may also have played a significant role in henry's failure to consummate his fourth marriage henry certainly protested and assured multiple parties of his potency and virility in the weeks following his wedding night almost in self-defense it might seem to some observers winning the favor of a beautiful young girl like catherine would doubtless have helped henry feel as if he was regaining some of his lost youth and evidence suggests that catherine howard was indeed lovely the miniature painted by hans holbein the younger between 1540 and 1542 is one of the few portraits which most historians can agree most likely depicts catherine although a few have pointed out that the early date of 1540 indicates that the sitter and the portrait might in fact be anne of cleves anne however was thought to have had blonde hair not orban like the subject in the portrait nonetheless the sitter's identity as queen may reasonably be inferred from the jewels she is wearing henry is known to have gifted the same royal jewels repeatedly to his successive wives and the jewels worn by the subject are nearly identical to those worn by jane seymour in her holbein portrait in the portrait the subject assumed to be catherine howard has auburn red hair visible under her jeweled coif and her brown eyes gaze softly and knowingly at the viewer as if she is privy to some secret which the observer is not she has a full prominent nose and an oval face with shapely lips and eyebrows what can be seen of her figure appears slim but there is the slight suggestion of a double chin which might suggest she had some curviness to her figure another holbein sketch roughly dated from 1540 to 1545 known as portrait of a young woman is also believed by several scholars to depict catherine howard in this sketch the subject appears even younger with similar but somewhat more exaggeratedly delicate features than those in the miniature unfortunately since catherine died in disgrace with her husband keen to forget her she has not been well enough memorialized for us to be sure which of the numerous tudor portraits of unnamed ladies actually depict catherine for certain contemporary observers described her as petite pretty charming and high spirited throughout the spring of 1540 henry showered catherine with gifts expensive clothing jewelry and even lands aware of the king's interest and confident in henry's ability to eventually dispense with his current wife the duke and dowager duchess of norfolk carefully coached catherine with regard to how she should behave toward henry and how best to please him some of catherine's biographers believe that she and henry consummated their relationship sometime in may when the king began to noticeably escalate efforts to divorce anne of cleaves perhaps the renewed urgencies stemmed from a belief that catherine might already be pregnant on the 28th of july 1540 only six months after his wedding to anne of cleves henry viii married catherine howard at oatland's palace near waybridge in surrey henry's new queen consort settled into her new role fairly well to begin with she adopted a badge featuring a crowned rose and the motto nonotrevolonte colossienne or no other will than his a sentiment which could not have failed to please henry and the king was clearly besotted with his young bride his courtiers and ambassadors remarked pointedly on henry's constant and openly affectionate behavior towards catherine even in public he could not keep his hands off her and continue to spoil her regularly with lavish gifts and honours henry took his bride on a six-month progress throughout the south of england going from one royal palace to another hunting feasting being entertained and of course doing what the newly married often do because of henry's advancing age and declining health and because he had no more children after the death of jane seymour some historians have speculated that he was unable to consummate any of his last three marriages and that perhaps his last two spouses catherine parr in particular were henry's nurses rather than his wives other historians disagree strongly however pointing out that sex between 16th century married couples was heartily encouraged and was considered normal and healthy for couples at any age moreover men of mature years regularly married girls as young as catherine howard during the tudor period and many of these unions produced children there is evidence to suggest that henry anticipated on several occasions throughout his marriage to catherine that she might be pregnant the king seemed to have developed a policy beginning with his third marriage not to consider having a coronation for a queen until she had produced an heir but shortly before their 1541 progress to the north of england tentative preparations seem to have been underway for a potential queen's coronation at york one which never materialized since catherine was not found to be pregnant after all some scholars speculate that she may have had a short pregnancy which ended in a miscarriage in the spring of 1541. simply being the darling of her husband's eye might not seem like much of an achievement to most observers but then henry was by no means easy to please as the trail of dead wives friends courtiers and clergy in his past could have testified catherine therefore deserves significant credit for carefully intelligently and tactfully navigating her new position as queen henry's constant fawning over her was no doubt encouraged by catherine's efforts to lovingly conform herself to his will the king had a pattern of responding with anger and even threats when his wives attempted to exercise political power unless he himself deputized them to do so as in the case of catherine of aragon's regency during henry's campaign in france anne boleyn had stoked resentment in henry for her habit of being outspoken on political and religious matters even jane seymour mother of the king's beloved son was met with threats from henry when she attempted to influence his policies toward those involved in the 1537 pilgrimage of grace in contrast to most of her predecessors as well as her successor as queen catherine howard almost never interfered in policy of any sort or challenged what henry viewed as his kingly prerogative on the rare occasion she did attempt to exert influence over state matters she did so in ways that were socially acceptable for women in tudor england like other queens catherine sought promotions and honours for her family and household members but she also interceded with henry for imprisoned and condemned nobles she begged henry's permission to send warm clothing and comforts to the countess of salisbury lady margaret pohl whom henry had imprisoned in the tower largely because her son cardinal reginald poll was carrying on a campaign abroad against henry's religious reforms in fact catherine's largest single household expenditure during her time as queen was what she spent on margaret pohl's comfort catherine also interceded on behalf of sir john wallop sir thomas wyatt and wyatt secretary john mason who were imprisoned simply for their social proximity to the lately disgraced and executed thomas cromwell henry softened by his wife's compassion relented and granted pardons and release to all three men not only did catherine play her royal role well by keeping henry happy but she also set out to be her most warm and charming self with those close to him including his ex-wife anne of cleves now recognized as a king's beloved sister and had begun to be regularly received at court this was a somewhat bizarre and unique social arrangement for the tudor age and most observers would probably understand if catherine had behaved coldly toward anne but rather than keeping her at arm's length the new queen treated henry's ex-wife with effusive goodwill catherine famously and gaily celebrated the new year of 1541 by drinking and dancing with anne of cleves and other members of the court long after henry had retired from the festivities she also presented anne with one of the puppies henry had given her as a new year's gift catherine was keen to cultivate warm relationships with henry's children as well elizabeth and edward were still very young just seven and four years old respectively and if they could not have a mother's care they were at least eager for a kind stepmother which catherine proved herself perfectly willing to be the lady mary however proved a much tougher nut to crack to begin with the queen's new stepdaughter was quite a few years older than her highly educated deeply pious and rather serious catherine no doubt struck mary as a silly and pleasure loving juvenile which perhaps to a certain extent she was but what else one might ask could one reasonably expect from a 17 or 18 year old girl with catherine's background and upbringing she had been taken from the maiden's chamber of the duchess's house and within mere months had been placed at the very pinnacle of honour adoration wealth and luxury in english society such a cinderella story might make any young woman want to revel in it all the dancing and amusements the beautiful clothes and jewels no doubt it all seemed shallow to mary who had perhaps travelled a tougher road than catherine in some respects forcing mary to grow up quickly she was also admittedly far more dignified with seemingly more substance than the teenaged queen but this most likely does not fully explain mary's seemingly intense dislike of her mary may have been projecting some of the resentment she felt for her father on to catherine mary likely found it humiliating to be forced to revere what seemed to her an artless young girl as her stepmother and queen while henry's first wife and her own beloved mother one of the most admired royal women in europe had been left to die in pain and disgrace she also probably resented that henry had cast off anne of cleaves whom she admired and cared for to marry catherine mary's coolness and continued disregard for her new stepmother infuriated the queen and with an uncharacteristic display of spite and haughtiness she removed two ladies from lady mary's service for the lack of respect they had shown in spite of this clash catherine remained high in henry's favor but when her four came it was both sudden and violent historians have traditionally cited catherine howard's greatest missteps as queen as mainly sexual however there is no truly firm evidence that catherine was ever actually unfaithful to henry during their marriage one is tempted to see her greatest missteps as those she made with manox and dedham before she ever came to serve at court thought it was rumors of these pre-marital relationships that first led henry to order an investigation into catherine's past yet if these were indeed her only crimes they turned catherine howard's life and her marriage to henry viii into the very definition of a tragedy to be destined for a terrible and ignominious end from the very outset until the spring of 1541 henry's health had actually begun to show promising improvement following his marriage the years of 1539 and and 1540 had seen him gain a great deal of weight all at once largely due to enforced physical inactivity on account of his constantly ulcerated leg but he improved markedly during the second half of 1540 enough to become something of his own active self again during his extended honeymoon with catherine in december he even began a doctor-supervised regime to reduce his weight but in april of 1541 the wound on the king's leg began to pain him once again keeping him confined to his chambers for weeks at a time henry continually sent messages and gifts to catherine but refused to see her throughout his illness presumably he was anxious that his beautiful young wife might see him as an ailing and helpless old man it may have been the boredom of life without henry or the worry that he might be tiring of her that led catherine into dangerous territory while seeking comfort and distraction some historians believe that catherine howard's alleged affair with thomas culpepper began around this time the full extent of their physical relationship remains unknown as both later denied that they had ever slept together but they did secretly send gifts and letters to one another and at least one witness revealed under varying circumstances of interrogation that catherine and culpepper had met secretly and in private on multiple occasions jane bolin the widowed lady rochford who was one of catherine's principal ladies in waiting revealed during questioning that she had many times served as a messenger between the queen and culpepper and that she had even stood guard outside the door on multiple occasions during their secret meetings one of the most telling pieces of evidence of catherine's feelings for culpepper is the letter that she wrote to him in her own hand perhaps during the early summer of 1541 this letter was found in thomas culpepper's room in november or december of 1541 and while it does not confirm any infidelity on the queen's part it is highly suggestive of her romantic feelings for him it is the only document written by katherine howard that has survived intact master culpepper it reads i heartily recommend me unto you praying you to send me word how that you do it was showed me that you were sick the witch thing troubled me very much i never longed so much for the thing as i do to see you and to speak with you the which i trust shall be shortly now it makes my heart die to think what fortune i have that i cannot be always in your company my trust is always in you praying that you will come when my lady rochford is here for then i shall be best at leisure to be at your commandment i would that you were with me now that you might see what pain i take in writing to you yours as long as life endures catherine historians have traditionally viewed catherine's appointment of staff to her household as another example of her major missteps as queen but these are fairly understandable in context when catherine became queen the usual stream of family members and friends were drawn to the court seeking positions some by invitation but some most likely as the result of blackmail catherine was glad to promote the prosperity of her family members when she became queen her uncle the duke of norfolk was higher in favor than ever and the court seemed inordinately crowded with howards her siblings all benefited from catherine's elevation including most notably her eldest brother charles who was made a member of the privy chamber and her younger sister isabelle who came to court to serve as lady in waiting but among those recruited to the new queen's household were a few troublingly familiar faces from her past joan bulmer and francis dedham joan had once served the dowager duchess and had lived at norfolk house with catherine for several years joan wrote to catherine soon after her impending marriage to the king was made public and while the letter seems respectful enough some scholars have suggested that a few lines might imply a vague threat joan said that she chose to apply to catherine because of the perfect honesty that joan had always found in her and which joan had heard from others still remained in 16th century english the words honesty and chastity were often used interchangeably and it is possible that joan was reminding catherine of just how much she knew about her past i trust joan wrote that the queen will not forget her secretary catherine promptly installed mistress bulma in her household as a lady in waiting in a seemingly more risky move considering their previous relationship catherine also gave a position to francis derham he applied to catherine using a letter of recommendation from the dowager duchess of norfolk which is extremely interesting agnes howard had known about catherine's pre-marital relationship with dedham and had been furious and disapproving enough to separate them and banish him to ireland why would the duchess then take the enormous risk of recommending him for the queen's service when it might not only endanger catherine's reputation but her own as well this leads one to suppose that denham might have blackmailed both the duchess and catherine in order to secure a position for himself whatever the case catherine obliged and gave derem a position as gentleman usher strangely on the same day that henry ordered a mass of thanksgiving to be said in every church for his beloved queen the archbishop of canterbury thomas cranmer delivered to henry a letter detailing accusations against catherine for pre-marital sexual impropriety the informant was john lassels a former client of thomas cromwell and an ardent reformer anxious to see the religiously conservative howards removed from power john informed cranmer that he had received troubling intelligence about catherine from his sister mary lacelles who had served as a housemaid for the dowager duchess of norfolk during catherine's residence there john had reportedly encouraged his sister to apply to the queen for a place in her household on the strength of their previous acquaintance and mary had apparently declined claiming disapprovingly that prior to her marriage catherine had been quote a light young woman both in living and in conditions mary then revealed the queen's previous relationships to john henry was utterly shocked he ordered an investigation to be conducted into the rumors but initially seemed to doubt that any corroborating evidence or testimony might be found still he ordered his queen confined to her chambers without explanation until the allegations were dismissed sadly they never were and as the investigation progressed catherine's freedoms and honors were increasingly curtailed during his interrogation henry manox readily admitted to his previous relationship with catherine but affirmed that they had not slept together luckily for him he was the only man accused of intimate former acquaintance with the queen who was eventually released without charge francis durham however was not so lucky francis admitted to his formerly romantic and sexual relationship with catherine and insisted that they had been pre-contracted but he vehemently denied that they had renewed their affair following his arrival at court under torture deram confessed that he had not attempted to pursue catherine again because she had already embarked on a relationship with thomas culpepper thomas was then promptly arrested for questioning as well culpepper also denied having slept with catherine but later admitted that he had intended to do so and that she had intended the same when thomas cranmer came to question catherine herself she was in such a pitiable state he wrote such as i never saw in any creature she alternated sharply between terror of what might happen to her and remorse for concealing her sexual experiences before her marriage to the king she confirmed the testimony of henry manox and to a certain extent that of francis derram as well however she denied that there had been any pre-contract between them or expectation of marriage many historians have wondered at this for the existence of a pre-contract prior to her marriage to the king might have been grounds for an annulment if her marriage to henry had been declared invalid then there would have been no grounds for adultery charges in the case of a queen adultery was considered treason since it placed in doubt the legitimacy of potential heirs to the throne catherine did not seem to understand that admitting to a pre-contract could have saved her life in a later interrogation session catherine reportedly changed her testimony alleging that dedham had raped her for reasons that are still unclear perhaps she believed that by denying any willing participation as well as the pre-contract this might prevent the imposition of a death sentence despite the fact that two of her relationships predated her marriage and both she and culpepper denied the accusations of adultery she was nonetheless condemned to death by act of attender in february 1542 the evidence of catherine's guilt was only circumstantial such as the letters and gifts exchanged between her and culpepper under interrogation one of her ladies in waiting admitted she had seen the queen look longingly at culpepper and another testified that she had not seen catherine in her bed on several nights lady rochford could not confirm that catherine and culpepper had slept together but claimed that they had spent such a significant amount of private time alone together while lady rochford stood guard that she said she could not think it otherwise sadly lady rochford was found guilty of treason right alongside her unfortunate mistress francis derham and thomas culpepper were sentenced to die by hanging drawing and quartering but culpepper's sentence was ultimately commuted to beheading presumably owing to his noble birth and henry's former fondness for him catherine howard went to her own execution with impressive bravery on the night before her death strangely she did not send for a confessor but instead requested that the executioner's block be brought to her so that she might rehearse the proper way to place herself upon it this gives us a poignant picture of catherine at the end determined to bear her coming ordeal with calm courage grace and dignity the next morning on the 13th of february 1542 catherine was led out onto the tower green she faltered for a moment as she approached the block and had to be assisted to mount the scaffold but when she faced the assembled crowd she spoke clearly and steadily some sources claim that catherine said she wished she had died the wife of culpepper but most historians have dismissed this claim as apocryphal catherine's last words were actually much more conventional she asserted that she deserved death for her crimes against the king exhorted the crowd to pray for him and obey him begged that her disgrace not rebound unfairly on the members of her family who were innocent and ignorant of her wrongdoing and affirmed her faith in god this kind of final speech was highly typical of those condemned to execution and showed that catherine was anxious to protect those she knew she would leave behind for the last words of the condemned persons were reported to the king poor lady rochford who had suffered what seemed to be a psychotic break during her incarceration promptly followed her mistress to the executioner's block henry had actually pushed a bill through parliament to allow insane persons to be executed for treason just for the occasion much of the historiography on catherine howard has been called misogynistic in more recent works traditionally she has been depicted as a silly empty-headed pleasure-loving and wanton temptress a teenaged femme fatale earlier biographers even 20th century scholars have used words like and good time girl in academic print and discourse to describe her more than any other facet of her life catherine howard's sexuality has been the central focus of most historians who have written about her this is somewhat understandable since it was the central focus of her downfall and historical documents which tell us anything about her personal experience or personality are relatively rare recent scholarship has argued that this trend of focusing only on catherine's sexuality has had the effect of obscuring almost everything else about her and that her condemnation was an absurdly hypocritical expression of double standards looking past her supposed sins is necessary to see something more closely approximating the whole person a girl who was impressionable susceptible to flattery and adoration who seems to have deeply revered and cared for henry but may have fallen away from him due to a lack of confidence in his love for her a girl who was compassionate to those who were suffering who loved animals especially dogs and who was happy to help family members to become more prosperous a girl who had perhaps made mistakes but who some historians argue was repeatedly exploited by much older men whatever one's perspective catherine howard met her end with a sense of personal responsibility and with a bravery that one cannot help but respect especially in a girl of no older than nineteen she was buried in an unmarked grave in the chapel of saint peter advincula close to the final resting places of george and ann bolin her first cousins and fellow martyrs to king henry's ego rage and ambition henry was reportedly devastated by catherine's supposed betrayal he had firmly believed her to have been chased before their marriage which for him was problematic enough but the fact that she had taken france's denim into her queenly household and spent time alone with thomas culpepper as well as writing to him and sending him gifts was evidence enough for henry of her unfaithfulness however circumstantial perhaps the most humiliating thing for henry was not just the appearance of being cuckolded but what it implied if his beautiful teenaged wife whom he doted upon had seen the need to look elsewhere for sexual fulfillment it impugned henry's manhood by suggesting he was too old and impotent to satisfy her this inference may well have contributed significantly to his decision to execute her rather than divorce her or a null the marriage the suggestion of henry's impotence had pierced his pride and ego the most dangerous of wounds this episode may have also facilitated the growth of henry's attraction to catherine parr who was more mature at 31 capable of more educated and intelligent discourse and who promised a warm companionship with someone closer to his own age in some ways henry's relationship with catherine parr calls to mind his first marriage to catherine of aragon for the king apparently found much to admire in his sixth wife that he had also admired in his first what do you think of catherine howard please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching [Music] the woman known to history as catherine parr was most likely born at her family's townhouse in blackfriars london her exact birth date is unknown but it was probably in the late summer or early autumn of fifteen hundred and twelve she was the eldest child of sir thomas parr and maude greene who had two more children after catherine's birth william and anne sir thomas was knighted by henry viii in 1509 and was much favored by him he held several positions throughout his years of service at henry's court including comptroller to the king while his wife maude served as a lady in waiting to queen catherine of aragon the parr family would have been classified as gentry rather than nobility like the berlins the power family had risen in the world as a result of several generations of royal patronage and advantageous marriages by the time of catherine's birth they were wealthy northern landowners and connected by marriage to some of the most prominent noble families in the north of england the pars divided their time between their estate of kendall at westmoreland and their london house in blackfriars where they were readily accessible to the royal court when sir thomas died in 1517 he left his widow and children with an ample estate one that ensured that maude would not have to remarry which she never did instead maude poured her energy into raising and educating her children luckily for catherine and her siblings their mother was more progressive and better educated than most women of her background and station and as a result catherine and her younger sister anne received an education as thorough and rigorous as their brother william in addition to being trained in courtly etiquette dance and perhaps music as well all three par siblings were instructed in history french italian latin and perhaps additional academic subjects as well in fact maude parr's household developed such a reputation for dedication to scholarship and learning that the parents of other noble and gentry families of her acquaintance often appeal to her to take in their children who needed to finish their educations the dowager duchess of norfolk may have been one of the foremost women in england but her ward catherine howard received far less attention or nurture and a far inferior education than the children in maude parr's household received in short maude's home was a finishing school par excellence and catherine benefited enormously from her mother's efforts this should not suggest that maude intended much more than a good marriage for her daughters like any tudor matron she was concerned above all with arranging the best possible marriages for her children when catherine was 17 maude arranged her marriage to sir edward berg the 21 year old son of berenberg earlier biographies have confused catherine's first husband with his father who was also named edward thus it has traditionally been supposed that catherine's first marriage was to a much older man which is not the case few specific details are known about the life of catherine parr between 1529 and 1543 when she married henry viii but these were no doubt formative years for catherine in an intellectual and spiritual sense she was first married to sir edward berg in 1529 a marriage that became much more contented when in 1531 the couple moved away from edward's family home and catherine's reportedly abusive father-in-law sadly sir edward died in 1533 following a short illness only a year later the widowed catherine who was still a young woman at 21 married john neville third baron latimer a man more than twice her age she may have met him while visiting their mutual relative catherine neville dowager duchess of strickland catherine's mother maude had died by this time and so her second marriage may have been largely by her own choice it was certainly a prestigious marriage catherine became only the second member of her family to marry into the english peerage and there is evidence to suggest that they cared for one another and enjoyed a happy union though their marriage produced no children catherine was a loving stepmother to lord latimer's two children john and margaret and after his death the baron entrusted the care of his daughter and the management of her finances until she married to his widow catherine until her own death several years later catherine kept among her personal and sentimental possessions a new testament which had once belonged to her second husband inscribed with his name lord and lady latimer certainly faced challenges together during the 1537 pilgrimage of grace the northern uprising against the abolition of the monasteries and other religious reforms was greeted with sympathy and support from some nobles and with horror and reluctant acquiescence by others with literally tens of thousands risen in rebellion the northern english aristocracy and gentry were forced to contend with their discontented neighbors on their very own doorsteps some made concessions to the rebels out of fear of their numbers for no single nobleman could call upon sufficient forces to resist one of the largest potential armies ever to be organized in northern england lord latimer had thoroughly disapproved of the king's divorce from his first wife his marriage to anne boleyn and presumably the reforms that had followed it is unclear just how much the rebels had to twist lord latimer's arm to persuade him to join their cause but some sources claim he quite publicly embraced it the true commitment of any noble household to the cause however was more likely to be manifest in its mistress the ladies of northern aristocratic households who opposed religious reform showed their support by providing resources sympathy and verbal encouragement to the rebels presumably at the sanction of their husbands but though her husband seemed to support the rebellion even if he did so under duress there is no evidence that catherine parr did catherine's lack of agreement and cooperation with the rebels may be inferred by the fact that she and her step-children were held prisoner in their own home by the rebels perhaps to secure lord latimer's cooperation catherine's lack of response to the pilgrimage of grace might signal that she had already formed or perhaps was beginning to form her protestant reformist views when the rebellion ended lord and lady latimer began to spend more time near london and henry's court presumably to remain close enough to demonstrate their loyalty and reassure the king that they had only collaborated with the northern rebels under duress catherine formed a warm and friendly relationship with lady mary during this period additionally catherine's brother william and their sister anne were both high in favor at court catherine's relationships with these allies no doubt helped to clear lord and lady latimer of any hint of collaboration or treason with the rebels it was in london in 1542 that catherine first met sir thomas seymour brother of queen jane seymour it was generally known at that time that lord latimer was in ill health and likely to die soon and the knowledge that catherine was soon to be a very rich widow may have sharpened seymour's interest thomas was described by contemporaries as very handsome and charming but also highly ambitious and often unscrupulous in pursuing his aims how much he truly cared for catherine is unclear but catherine clearly fell for him as one of her surviving letters to seymour testifies she claimed that she had fallen in love with him and wanted to marry him even before the king offered her marriage and henry most likely knew that he had competition for lady latimer's hand as he seemingly without warning offered sir thomas seymour a handsome promotion and sent him to serve abroad in the netherlands once lord latimer had died and catherine had emerged from her morning less than six months after lord latimer's death henry and catherine were married in the queen's closet at hampton court palace on the 12th of july 1543. why did she accept his proposal was she afraid of what it might mean if she refused the king this seems a likely consideration in view of henry's character and reputation some of her biographers believe that she accepted henry's proposal as part of a religious mission to facilitate the advance of reform in england by being a subtle but committed advocate for protestant values the warm relationship she had developed with lady mary in the previous few years may have played a role as well mary's mother catherine of aragon had stood as catherine parr's godmother and it was for henry's first queen that sir thomas and maud parr had named their daughter catherine may have been motivated by a sense of duty to the young woman she had befriended to the girl's departed mother and perhaps to henry's younger children as well who were no less in need of a loving mother figure in their lives catherine adapted to her new position as queen consort quickly and well she and henry embarked on a honeymoon progress which lasted for most of the latter half of 1543. henry took pride not only in his new wife's virtue and intelligence he also admired her beauty there are at least three portraits that have been confirmed to correctly depict catherine power the melton constable or hastings portrait a full-length portrait attributed to tudor court painter master john and a half-length portrait currently residing at the national portrait gallery in london all three depict a tall stately slender and attractive woman in her 30s with auburn red hair expressive brown eyes pale skin and delicate features henry and catherine seemed to quickly develop an easy intimacy and companionable relationship they were much closer in age than henry had been with his previous three wives and were fairly evenly matched in education intelligence and rhetoric henry's faith in catherine was such that he appointed her to serve as regent during his absence in 1544 when he led yet another military campaign in france apparently another attempt to recapture some of the glory of his lost youth it was an affair of absurd cost in men and resources with virtually no tangible reward short term or otherwise but catherine offered henry her full support and encouragement in his military endeavors ably and intelligently managed affairs of state as regent and faithfully kept henry informed of all developments while he remained in france she greeted the king's return as that of a conquering hero and he in turn commended her efforts and stewardship on his behalf during his absence in a move that shows real trust henry did not seek to bar catherine from his chambers during his periodic bouts of illness largely centering around his old leg wound the queen willingly and ably nursed henry just as she had nursed lord latimer through his final illness it seemed catherine could rise no higher in her husband's favor and this may have given her the confidence to pursue her goals to influence reform more openly her attempts to do so eventually placed queen catherine in the same danger into which both ann berlin and catherine howard before her had fallen like all of her predecessors catherine parr at first exercised power rather minimally she elevated her family members by appointing them to positions in her household including her siblings and stepchildren her sister ann lady herbert who had served both anne of cleves and catherine howard was made principal lady in waiting and her brother william was made earl of essex but more significantly catherine also made subtle efforts to promote the cause of protestantism by appointing reformers to key positions including a personal chaplain and the tutors assigned to teach the lady elizabeth and prince edward henry who was as well educated as his new queen was impressed by her learning and intellectual sophistication and readily sought her advice on his children's education but he was at that point in time probably unaware of how deeply committed catherine was to the cause of religious reform henry knew that catherine was pious and that she was no catholic sympathizer but it would not become clear to him until 1546 how strongly his wife favored the reformist cause but while henry was in a doctrinal sense more religiously conservative than his wife his main problem may have been with her increasing habit of being outspoken and of challenging him especially on religious matters and on policy in 1544 catherine anonymously published an english translation of bishop john fisher's latin text psalms and prayers the following year she published prayers and meditations under her own name and her english translation sold remarkably well henry appreciated and admired catherine's learning and public virtue and seemed to find her conversation stimulating for the most part but her growing popularity may have irked him especially as she grew bolder in her arguments and challenges on religious matters henry might even have felt some jealousy upon receiving as a new year's gift in 1546 a latin translation of his wife's enormously popular book from his daughter elizabeth who may have seemed to henry to admire her stepmother more than she did her father catherine's increasingly bold speech eventually produced open grumbling from him that he should be lectured and condescended to by his wife on matters that were according to his own policy within his power alone when religious conservatives like bishop of winchester stephen gardiner and lord chancellor and earl of southampton thomas rivsly approached henry with allegations of the queen's supposedly heretical leanings which appeared far more extreme than the act of six articles allowed the king seemed fairly well disposed to entertain their suspicions he even permitted rivsly to issue a warrant for her arrest and interrogation luckily for catherine the warrant was never served the document was first waylaid by means of an unknown servant and delivered directly into catherine's hands instead panicked she collapsed into weeping and resolve to try as hard as possible to at least appear to conform to henry's will when he confronted her about her terminity in challenging him and her refusal to allow herself to be instructed by england's religious authorities namely himself catherine eloquently protested that she had only argued with henry in order to benefit from his superior wisdom as well as to distract him from the painful trials of his recurring illness which had been continually plaguing him of late she then affirmed that her duty and her place was to honor and respect henry's authority interestingly these claims were probably not just lip service from catherine or a clever ploy to save her skin catherine may have been considered by some to be a radical in her own time for her protestant views but her perspective on the role of women was quite conventional for the tudor period this was made clear in the queen's religious treaties published after henry's death in 1547 lamentations of a sinner which though it strongly espoused reformist doctrinal views was actually quite traditional in its attitudes to women's roles catherine believed that women should be taught to read and understand the scriptures but simultaneously exhorted them to remain silent and obedient to their husbands in all things henry was generous to his wife and his will bequeathing to her a lavish annual income of seven thousand pounds as well as the right to retain the royal jewels during her lifetime following henry's death and catherine's prompt retirement from court thomas seymour who had recently been made first baron soodly re-entered catherine's life almost immediately before she was even out of mourning for henry the two were quietly married sometime in may 1547. thomas's brother edward who had been made lord protector during the new king edward vi minority was furious with both his brother and the dowager queen their hasty marriage could have made it difficult to judge the paternity of any child catherine might have within nine months of henry's death which had only just occurred at the end of january moreover thomas seymour's act of marrying the dodger queen in secret and without the permission of the regency council made them suspect and distrust his ambitions it also alienated lady mary who considered the secrecy and hastiness of their marriage to be both indecent and an affront to her father's memory and a rift developed between catherine and mary which was never healed such a risky approach to marriage seems somewhat out of character for catherine but perhaps at 35 having finally made what she believed to be a true love match she decided to waste no more time throw caution to the wind and wed the man she wanted the year immediately following her fourth marriage was probably one of the happiest of catherine parr's life she and her husband established residence at his seat of sudley castle in gloucestershire she responded to an appeal from her former stepdaughter lady elizabeth with an invitation to come and live with her and see more where she could continue to supervise elizabeth's education naturally catherine's intellectual reputation preceded her and other noble families was soon applying to the dodger queen to take in other daughters of the aristocracy who needed a respectable place to complete their education most notable among them was lady jane gray granddaughter of henry's sister mary tudor and elizabeth's first cousin just as her mother had once been catherine was now a respected woman of learning and culture sought after and entrusted with the care and education of the children of england's most illustrious families early in the following year of 1548 catherine discovered she was pregnant perhaps for the first time in her life and at last her happiness seemed complete sadly her calm contentment would be shattered several months later when more than halfway through her pregnancy she discovered that her husband had been actively pursuing an illicit relationship with her own stepdaughter elizabeth it later came to light that thomas seymour had been regularly visiting elizabeth's chamber in the early mornings in a state of nighttime undress and attempting to engage in inappropriate and vaguely sexual horseplay with her the extent to which catherine was initially aware of the behavior or understood the extent of it is unclear some sources allege that catherine participated in some of seymour's acts but it is hard to picture the pregnant dowager queen as complicit in such impropriety by the summer of 1548 she was resolved of all doubts when she stumbled upon thomas and elizabeth quote in an embrace catherine promptly sent elizabeth away ostensibly it seems to protect her stepdaughter from her husband but perhaps also to save her marriage the apparent fragility of which appears to have hurt catherine deeply when she went into labor in late august her first experience of childbirth proved very difficult and taxing one contemporary source claimed that in the pain and stress of the birth catherine vented her rage and despair at her husband's betrayal accusations which she seemed not to recall after her daughter and only child mary was born catherine lived less than a week after her daughter's arrival the infant mary seymour who was named for the dowager queen's beloved stepdaughter lost her mother when she was only six days old on the 5th of september 1548 catherine parr died of purepro fever which was the fairly common result of unhygienic conditions during childbirth she was buried on her husband's estate at sudler castle when thomas seymour was executed for treason less than a year after his wife's death the infant mary seymour was sent to live with catherine's friend and fellow reformer catherine brandon nay willoughby the duchess of suffolk most historians do not believe that mary seymour survived her early childhood and suggest that she most likely died by the age of two catherine parr has traditionally been credited with a broad and impressive legacy it had been partly her influence that had led henry to reinstate his daughters to the succession her contributions to the growth of protestantism in england have traditionally been celebrated by reformers who continued to promote their cause after her death she was one of the most educated and respected women of her age and class an impressive achievement for a woman whose family had only been knighted gentry for three generations but perhaps her most notable legacy can be seen in the lives and policies of edward vi and more particularly elizabeth the first whose education ideology religion and vision for england's future had been shaped more by henry's sixth wife than perhaps by any other person what do you think of catherine parr please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching you

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Keywords: Biography, History, Historical, Educational, The People Profiles, Biography channel, the biography channel, biography channel, biography documentary channel, biography tv, biography documentary, biography a&e, biography channel documentary, bio, biography full episode, full biography, biography full documentary, life story, biography of famous people, mini biography, history, full documentary biography, biography series on tv, full episode

Id: 5bf7_nB7IVM

Length: 270min 20sec (16220 seconds)

Published: Fri May 20 2022