(Cover image – © Unknown Artist – The National Portrait Gallery)
Life for most Tudor women, regardless of age or status within society, was already considered difficult enough with all the obstacles that one would have to face in a patriarchal and quite degrading society. But for poor Catalina de Aragon, being a princess born to two of the world’s most powerful monarchs did nothing to save her from the hardships that she herself would have to face during her fifty years of life upon this earth.
By the time Henry VIII had officially separated from his headstrong Spanish Queen through an annulment in 1533, Catherine had faced many difficulties that she might have never imagined going through as a royal-born woman. From seeing her parents’ constant fighting and infidelity (on her father’s side), to watching her siblings die at a very tender age, to losing her first husband along with many children by her second husband—and now she had been humiliated in such a way that no other English Queen possibly might have—her husband had divorced her for another woman, a woman of much lower standing!
Henry VIII was the first King to ever divorce his wife in the whole of history (though this might differ as ‘marriage’ means different things in different cultures or there are some cultures that had rulers that never married e.g., the Ottoman Empire, where Sultans had concubines who provided them with heirs), and he was determined to achieve his means. Catherine, however, was also determined—not to go down without a proper fight, like the strong Spanish princess she had always been.
Hoping that he could sway Catherine to accept her fate gracefully, Henry had (in the early stages of the end of their marriage) promised her that she would always be provided for by the King and that he would always make sure she was well-cared for by her household. However, Catherine’s refusal of accepting the King’s judgement of their marriage changed his tactics completely. In order to punish her for not submitting to his will, Henry had her moved constantly from one uncomfortable residence to another (with all of them hardly fitting for a Princess, nevertheless a shamed Queen) during the early 1530s before she found her permanent residence at Kimbolton Castle, which we will discuss in more detail later on. The reason behind this was to keep Catherine far away from their sole surviving child; Princess Mary, who was also not immune from her father’s cruel tactics.
Just like Catherine had been stripped of her title as Queen of England and was given the less-than-appropriate title of Dowager Princess of Wales (a snide title as Henry was trying to remind her that her marriage to his brother was the reason behind all her troubles), Mary was no longer permitted to the title of Princess Mary, as she was seen as the King’s illegitimate daughter, and was now to be called Lady Mary. As if any child would happily submit themselves to being called their father’s ‘illegitimate and unwanted’ child and to be given a title that makes them appear of lesser status than they really are. Both mother and daughter had their households reduced in order to reduce the costs of their living—so the King could afford his divorce as well as prepare to wed his new bride.
It seems like Henry was no longer trying to be nice, as he had no qualms about hurting his daughter in the process.
. . .
But what was Henry’s reason behind going ahead with the divorce?
As mentioned beforehand, Henry believed that his marriage to his wife was considered ‘sinful’ and ‘invalid’ because she had slept with his brother and that was why God had refused to grant them a living male heir to the throne—with this referring to Leviticus 18:16/20:20;
‘And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.’ {1}
And although the Pope had provided a dispensation for Henry and Catherine to marry in 1509, on the basis that Catherine had not consummated the marriage, Henry was still not convinced that his wife was telling the truth—and of course, his love for Anne Boleyn had left him unable to conceive anything that his wife said as the truth and made him all the more determined to divorce Catherine to make Anne his new wife as she would provide him with the male heirs that he desperately desired.
In the Pope’s eyes, if a marriage remains unconsummated and the bride is still a maiden, it is not a legally binding contract and therefore the marriage was not valid. This is still very much the norm today as, in some countries, if the marriage is not consummated after a certain amount of time, the couple can apply for an annulment rather than a divorce—with a divorce stating that the marriage was consummated, and an annulment was one that was unconsummated and therefore not a ‘real’ marriage.
But why did Henry and Catherine’s divorce take so long to complete and what were the different sides of opinion?
Well, the reason why the divorce took so long to complete is a simple one—Catherine refused to accept the divorce or that her marriage to Henry was invalid or that her first marriage was even a marriage in the first place!
For Henry—his side was based on the above-mentioned quote which further deepened his belief that Catherine had lied about sleeping with his older brother in order to remain the future Queen of England and that God was punishing her for her deceitful ways. The second part of his argument was that there was a witness who swore that Arthur (before his death) admitted that the marriage was consummated.
This witness was a man called Sir Anthony Willoughby, Prince Arthur’s former body servant (a.k.a. a courtier who was responsible for the Prince’s hygiene and bodily matters—almost like a Groom of the Stool but more than just toileting needs) who had snuck into the wedding ceremony and testified at the famous Blackfriars trial in 1529 that he had helped prepare the Prince for bedding his wife, stating;
‘I made the said Prince ready to bed and with others conducted him clad in his nightgown unto the princess’ bedchamber often and sundry times when he entered and then continued all night’. {2}
Furthermore, he went on to testify that the Prince had ‘bragged’ about consummating his marriage the morning following his wedding stating that Arthur had emerged from Catherine’s bedchamber and announced;
‘Willoughby, bring me a cup of ale, for I have been this night in the midst of Spain.’ {2}
This testimony is what Henry would use to ‘prove’ his wife’s dishonesty, that they had been living in sin through their marriage and that this was cause for divorcing her to take an ‘actual’ maiden for his wife to provide him with the sons and heirs that he and England sought after.
On the other hand…
For Catherine—her side was very much a contrast to her husband’s. The Queen stated that her former husband, Prince Arthur, only shared her bed for seven nights in the entirety of their marriage mostly because of his weak health (as most believed him to have been one month premature) and the fact that he was much smaller than Catherine, who herself was a petite woman. His health restricted his ability to consummate the marriage, in Catherine’s eyes, as he was a sickly youth, rather than a lusty prince as her second husband proved to be.
Because of Catherine’s account, the Vatican requested a tribunal to be held in Spain in the year 1531 where a Spanish attendant to the Queen testified that;
‘[Arthur’s] limbs were so weak that he had never seen a man whose legs and other bits of his body were so small.’ {2}
During this tribunal, another of Catherine’s former attendants testified that;
‘Francisca de Caceras, who was in charge of dressing and undressing the queen and who she liked and confided in a lot, was looking sad and telling the other ladies that nothing had passed between Prince Arthur and his wife, which surprised everyone and made them laugh at him.’ {2}
Catherine had, just like her husband had done, provided an ‘eyewitness’ to prove that her first marriage was not consummated, just like she had firmly stated over many years during her marriage to the King.
However, despite all her efforts, Catherine would soon lose her battle to her husband as in 1533, the King would officially divorce his wife and, shortly after, take Anne Boleyn as his second wife, with plans to make her the new Queen of England as she was now known to be pregnant with the King’s child.
. . .
The question of whether Catherine did consummate her marriage to the King’s older brother, Prince Arthur is one that has remained unanswered and will more than likely never be answered for many years to come.
Here at The Ill-Fated Wives of Henry VIII, we have formed our own opinion about whether the marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Arthur Tudor and here are some of our thoughts for and against the validity of the marriage.
In terms of the marriage having actually been consummated, it remains a possibility that Henry VIII might have actually been telling the truth about his wife being deceitful about her first marriage to his brother. Think about it—Catherine had been told her entire life that she was going to marry the future King of England and, upon her husband and her both falling deadly ill, was probably hoping that she might already be carrying her husband’s child in order to secure her place in the line to the English throne.
Of course, she might have loved Arthur and wanted to remain his wife even after his death but there was also the other side of her having added pressure from both her father and herself. If she did not state that the marriage was unconsummated (as she was not pregnant and therefore the lack of a baby would act as insurance that she was still a maiden), she would have been sent back to Spain and it would have proven extremely difficult for her father to find her another husband as she was a deflowered Princess with a father unwilling to pay her dowry. Perhaps she saw this as an opportunity to continue the alliance that her marriage brought and to ensure that her family’s reputation (mainly her own) was not tarnished by her husband’s ill-fated death.
There would have been no way of her knowing that one day, her lie would come to light as she would have never truly understood the consequences of her actions until she started to realize that she could not birth a living male heir.
Now…
As for the argument of the marriage not being consummated, there are many things that could support Catherine’s argument as being the truth.
First; the couple were married for an extremely short time, a matter of months, which left them with added pressure onto conceiving a child so that the couple could prove that they could continue the Tudor dynasty. Added pressure, regardless of age, can severely impact the ability for a couple to conceive a child and it can actually have an impact on sexual relations as the couple could experience inability actually ‘finishing’ their sexual session or even starting one (e.g. becoming aroused or maintaining arousal)—meaning that the pressure might have encouraged them to take their time with exploring a sexual relationship, allowing them to enjoy each other’s company and adjusting to married life.
Second; many accounts of Prince Arthur mention his ill-health and his weakness which meant that his ability to have sexual relations with his wife would have been limited and, knowing that the couple loved each other very much, there is no evidence to prevent the suggestion that the couple might have been waiting for Arthur’s condition to improve before they consummate their marriage.
Thirdly; the accusation of Catherine lying about her virginity and the validity of her first marriage is something that concerns me; Catherine was a very pious woman, devoted not just to her religion but to her husband; I very much doubt that she would risk ‘corrupting’ her soul by lying about whether she consummated her first marriage, knowing very well that God would punish her for her sins. Furthermore, I do not believe that God can be used as an excuse on Henry’s behalf to divorce his wife; Catherine DID provide the King with male heirs. She did give birth a male heir who sadly died very young—such was common during the Tudor times where child morality was high. And even though she did have many miscarriages or stillbirths, the fact that some of them were male gives suspicion to the fact that, if God truly wished to punish Henry, he would have ensured that every child was a girl. Even if he did punish them by letting her conceive a male and then not permitting him to live, surely, he would not do that to such a devoted Catholic, one who loved the Lord even more than her earthly Lord.
What do you think?
Tell us in the comments below!
. . .
Carrying on, as we stated beforehand, Catherine was moved around from uncomfortable residences for years before she found her permanent residence at Kimbolton Castle in Cambridgeshire in 1534, just one year after her husband divorced her and her daughter’s former title of Princess was passed onto the King’s newest daughter, Princess Elizabeth Tudor, the later Queen Elizabeth I.
Before moving to Kimbolton Castle in the middle of May 1534, Catherine’s troubles continued with a wave of pressure coming from her ex-husband. In the March 1534, the Act of Succession was officially put into action and Catherine was not happy about any of it. Not only did the act exclude Mary from the line of succession by placing any of Henry’s children with his new Queen, Anne Boleyn—including their recently first-born child Elizabeth—above her but it also proclaimed his second marriage to be legal in the eyes of Henry’s new Church of England, meaning his marriage to Catherine was invalidity. Those who opposed this Act, whether openly or secretly, were given severe penalties, including a prison sentence. The most important part of this Act is that it gave Henry the power to extract oaths from any of his subjects, including Catherine and Mary, that they submitted to this Act of Succession—those who did not swear the oath were found guilty of treason and therefore were either imprisoned or put to death.
Both Catherine and Mary refused to swear the oath, leaving both of them frightened for their future and even leading Catherine to go to the extreme measures of only eating food that was prepared by her trusted servants and keeping a close watch on all strangers that entered her ‘home’, even doing this on her trip to Kimbolton Castle.
Now, Kimbolton Castle, despite having the word Castle in the title, was not all that it appeared to be, in fact Catherine did not like living there, although this would be her final place of living before her saddening death. There is a difference of opinion regarding the state of the residence upon Catherine’s arrival; when Catherine arrived with two of Henry’s loyal subjects, Sir Edmund Bedingfield (appointed Steward) and Sir Edward Chamberlain (appointed Chamberlain, no pun intended), some said that the Castle was decaying severely and that its poor condition attributed to Catherine’s ill-health during her final years there. Others state that it was in fine condition, suited for a former Queen and Dowager Princess of Wales. Regardless of this, the residence at Kimbolton Castle proved to be a secluded and ill-favoring one as this was the one Catherine had chosen herself after Henry threatened to house her in ones that would be significantly worse for her health. She believed this residence was better than all the rest, but little would she know of the affect it would have on her health.
Upon arriving, Catherine was informed that she would receive no visitors unless they were given a ‘special licence’ signed by the King himself or they were there on the King’s direct orders, this limited her social interactions with anyone other than her few trusted servants, leaving her secluded to her own rooms (with her having more comfortable rooms than her previous ones and having access to a small chapel in the walled garden, allowing her to walk when she had the strength).
Kimbolton Castle acted more of a prison than it did a residence.
During her stay, Catherine continuously refused to swear the Oath of Succession, angering the King even more as to remove Catherine of one of her only pleasures; meeting two of her close, loyal friends; Chapuys (the Spanish ambassador to the English court) and Maria de Salinas, Lady Willoughby, were both forbidden to visit her, even removing Maria de Salinas from Catherine’s household as her health began to deteriorate in late 1534/early 1535.
This horrible move on Henry’s part left Catherine vulnerable to her deteriorating health as she had no one she truly trusted beside her to ease her pain and she had no way of contacting her daughter to say goodbye if her time were to come. Sadly enough, this is closer to the truth than one would hope.
. . .
As Catherine’s health continued to deteriorate, Chapuys had written to Charles (Catherine’s nephew and the Holy Roman Emperor) in April 1535, trying to find a way to help Catherine and Mary escape England before Catherine’s fate was sealed. Sadly, Catherine’s health (where she was complaining of chest pains, an inability to eat and was confined to her bed because of her pains) meant that it was impossible and risky to try and plan an escape. Chapuys was therefore forced to abandon his plans to help his ill-fated Queen escape (for both Mary and Catherine would be executed if the plot was ever revealed) and feared for the life of his Queen—as he was one of the ones who secretly remained loyal to Catherine despite swearing the Oath of Succession to prevent being found guilty of treason.
And Chapuys was right to fear; shortly after celebrating her fiftieth birthday in December 1535, Catherine fell ill once more and was considered to be dying by her physicians. Because of her failing health, the King finally gave permission for Chapuys to visit Catherine on her deathbed but did not allow his daughter to see Catherine (although he did agree to reconsider this, but he thought it too dangerous for his daughter to be reunited with her mother as they might have conspired against him in her mother’s dying moments).
Chapuys was joined at Catherine’s bedside by Maria de Salinas who had forced her way into the Castle after having been refused to enter, both of them kissed Catherine’s hand and prayed passionately for God to cure Catherine. It was believed that having her two closest friends would help improve Catherine’s condition and despite it improving shortly during January, on the morning of January 7th 1536, Catherine awoke with severe stomach pains and nausea, alerting her that her time to join the Lord in Heaven was approaching. Making quick action, Catherine asked for a confessor who listened wholeheartedly to her last confession, and she received Holy Communion before praying aloud for two hours. During her final moments, Catherine had her Maria de Salinas write two letters, one to Charles and one to Henry before she weakly signed both letters.
The letter to Henry was filled with unjudgmental love and affection and forgave Henry for being seduced by the Boleyn girl, stating that in God’s eyes, she was still his wife, as seen below;
My most dear lord, king and husband,
The hour of my death now drawing on, the tender love I owe you forceth me, my case being such, to commend myself to you, and to put you in remembrance with a few words of the health and safeguard of your soul which you ought to prefer before all worldly matters, and before the care and pampering of your body, for the which you have cast me into many calamities and yourself into many troubles. For my part, I pardon you everything, and I wish to devoutly pray God that He will pardon you also. For the rest, I commend unto you our daughter Mary, beseeching you to be a good father unto her, as I have heretofore desired. I entreat you also, on behalf of my maids, to give them marriage portions, which is not much, they being but three. For all my other servants I solicit the wages due them, and a year more, lest they be unprovided for. Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things.
Katharine the Quene. {3}
It is also worth noting that prior to her death, Catherine had written her daughter a final letter shortly after the birth of her half-sister Elizabeth, which Mary was thankfully able to receive through trusted allies and this letter encourages Mary to stand up for herself and to not let her father’s latest conquest control her;
Daughter, I heard such tidings today that I do perceive if it be true, the time is come that Almighty God will prove you; and I am very glad of it, for I trust He doth handle you with a good love. I beseech you agree of His pleasure with a merry heart; and be sure that, without fail, He will not suffer you to perish if you beware to offend Him. I pray you, good daughter, to offer yourself to Him. If any pangs come to you, shrive yourself; first make you clean; take heed of His commandments, and keep them as near as He will give you grace to do, for then you are sure armed. And if this lady [Anne Shelton] do come to you as it is spoken, if she do bring you a letter from the King, I am sure in the self same letter you shall be commanded what you shall do. Answer with few words, obeying the King, your father, in everything, save only that you will not offend God and lose your own soul; and go no further with learning and disputation in the matter. And wheresoever, and in whatsoever company you shall come, observe the King’s commandments. Speak you few words and meddle nothing. I will send you two books in Latin; the one shall be De Vita Christi with a declaration of the Gospels, and the other the Epistles of St Jerome that he did write to Paul and Eustochium, and in them I trust you shall see good things. And sometimes for your recreation use your virginals or lute if you have any.
But one thing I especially desire you, for the love that you do owe unto God and unto me, to keep your heart with a chaste mind, and your body from all ill and wanton company, not thinking or desiring any husband for Christ’s passion; neither determine yourself to any manner of living till this troublesome time be past. For I dare make sure that you shall see a very good end, and better than you can desire. I would God, good daughter, that you did know with how good a heart I do write this letter unto you. I never did one with a better, for I perceive very well that God loveth you. I beseech Him of His goodness to continue it; and if it fortune that you shall have nobody with you of your acquaintance, I think it best you keep your keys yourself, for howsoever it is, so shall be done as shall please them.
And now you shall begin, and by likelihood I shall follow. I set not a rush by it; for when they have done the uttermost they can, than I am sure of the amendment. I pray you, recommend me unto my good lady of Salisbury, and pray her to have a good heart, for we never come to the kingdom of Heaven but by troubles.
Daughter, whatsoever you come, take no pain to send unto me, for if I may, I will send to you.
Your loving mother,
Katharine the Queen. {4}
What strikes out the most about these two letters is Catherine’s reluctance to accept what has happened to her through her use of ‘Katharine the Queen’, showing that Catherine’s strong will persisted until the end.
. . .
With Chapuys and Maria de Salinas at her side, Catherine passed away at 2pm in her rooms at Kimbolton Castle on the 7th January 1536, with her room echoing with the tears of those surrounding Catherine who loved her with all of their hearts. It is believed that, upon hearing of Catherine’s death, the King responded in a joyous manner but that there was some sadness upon receiving her final letter, some say that they believe he even regrets hurting her in the way that he did and that he still harboured some love and affection for her even up to her death.
But that remains to be unknown.
Because of the unusual nature of Catherine’s death and her royal status, an autopsy was carried out on her body the following day which revealed a ‘black growth’ on her heart but with no other abnormalities. People believed that this black growth was caused by poisoning, and it was widely believed that Anne Boleyn—Catherine’s rival and mortal enemy—had ordered that Catherine be slowly poisoned to death and that she had plotted the same thing for Mary, although this would prove not to be the case. This rumour was spread widely throughout Europe and was believed by many, as Anne Boleyn had many enemies throughout the world.
Catherine’s final resting place would be in what was known as Peterborough Abbey (now Peterborough Cathedral) as Henry deemed it the nearest religious building that was fitting for her status, she was buried later in the month.
Wow… What a tragic end for a woman who did nothing but devote herself to her God and to her King and defend herself against powerful men who had ‘had their use of her’. Catherine of Aragon was truly a remarkable woman, and this should act as no wonder for why she is famed today for her strong-will and her determination as well as her intelligence and her political advantages. I truly believe that she was a woman who, if she were alive today, would help make tremendous changes in our flawed society and we will continue celebrating her for being the glorious, gracious Queen of England that she was.
But now comes the time for her successor to tell her story, now comes the time for the woman who caused Catherine of Aragon’s fall from grace and that woman was called; Anne Boleyn, the second wife to the tyrant Tudor King.
Until then….
- Have a ‘Tudor-fic’ week!
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