(Cover image – © Unknown Artist – The National Portrait Gallery)
For today's final theory on Henry VIII’s first wife, the strong-willed Spanish Princess; Catherine of Aragon, we will be looking at a question that has baffled young history lovers of the modern day and even some historians; why did Henry VIII divorce Catherine instead of beheading her like he would eventually do with her replacement (and his second wife); Anne Boleyn?
It’s not like there wasn’t any reason for why Henry VIII shouldn’t have done it.
Think about it—he could easily have had some poison slipped into Catherine’s drink or moved her to a residence that would be in such poor condition that Catherine’s health declined rapidly, meaning that she would die quickly, and he would be forever rid of her. After all, she was now just a nuisance of an ex-wife who wouldn’t swear an oath that she was o longer Queen, that her daughter was a bastard and that his new wife was Queen of England as well as his youngest daughter being the new Crown Princess.
God, it’s not like it’s that big of a deal, right?
It’s not like the King basically wants her to admit that she was no longer Queen and that her daughter was not of royal blood.
She should have just given him what he wanted, right?
No!
In the eyes of many, Catherine was right to stick to her guns by not swearing the Oath, by making it difficult for Henry to finalise his divorce as well as making Anne Boleyn’s patience run thin—probably the reason she got pregnant so quickly, she got tired of waiting.
Anyway!
Let us now discuss the many possibilities as to why Henry VIII chose to divorce his first wife, rather than behead her as was to be the fate of two of his overall six wives.
. . .
The very first (and probably main reason) why Henry VIII did not immediately order the execution of his now ex-wife was because he did not expect Catherine to stand up against his wishes, he expected her to capitulate. After all, Catherine was the epitome of a submissive, Catholic wife that most men in the Tudor era sought high and low for; she did as he willed her, she performed her wifely and Queenly duties without complaint and even bore his infidelities with dignity and grace (and mostly with her constant prayer to God to guide her). And so, he believed that Catherine would accept her fate and agree to his demands gracefully—except that, because his annulment would render their only daughter Mary Tudor illegitimate, so Catherine fought against the annulment for the sake of their daughter’s future, more than her own.
And more than just that, even though Henry no longer loved Catherine as his wife anymore, he most certainly held some affection for her—she was the mother of his (at that time) sole surviving child. He most likely did not hold any hatred towards her, nor would he have wished her harm, all he really wanted was to marry the woman he loved and give England the heirs it needed. There is certainly no evidence of Henry ever hinting or showing any hatred towards his former wife or disclosing that he wished she were dead. He just wanted her out of the way—whereas Anne Boleyn, who was the first Queen in history to be beheaded, posed an even bigger problem than her predecessor.
This is the reason Henry’s counsellors had her placed in run-down castles that would cause her ill-health so that she would die slowly or natural means, this way—it meant that Henry could rid himself of any guilt over being the one who ‘killed’ Catherine and it would save her a brutal death.
In his own way, Henry probably thought that her was doing Catherine a favour, out of the love that he had once bore her and the affection he still carried for her.
Catherine must have counted herself lucky that she didn’t suffer the fate that her successor did.
. . .
Another important reason is the obvious—the law and the risk of causing a war between England and Spain (and possibly Rome also). It was a crime of the most heinous sort to conspire to kill the King but to attempt to kill a Queen or even a female of pure royal blood was even considered unthinkable. Those who had attempted to kill Kings or royal in the past were harshly and rightfully punished (often by painful deaths such as burning or hung, drawn and quartered which was a method of death reserved for those who were truly evil and beyond help) and even some royals had been punished for killing other royals—take a look at Richard III, he was and still is considered a villain and a murderer for supposedly killing his nephews, the Princes in the Tower, who eventually lost his life during the fight for his crown—and who should beat him but Henry’s own father, Henry VII.
Of course, Henry did not want to live with the same worries as his father did, who spent most of his reign worried that he would one day be usurped, just like he had killed Richard III in order to usurp his crown and married into the York family. You see, Henry’s mother was a York by blood and therefore, he no longer wished to continue the long line of murder that the Plantagenet family had over many, many years of fighting for power.
The law took attempts on royals’ lives or even harming a royal very seriously, so much that even the King would not have been immune to justice from the law, had he attempted to kill Catherine who, even though she was no longer Queen of England, was still technically a royal through her parents’ as well as her previous marriage to Prince Arthur, which is why she was allowed to keep the title ‘Dowager Princess of Wales’.
Not only was Catherine a Princess but she was the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain but she was the aunt to the current Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (or Carlos I of Spain) and therefore, if she were to be murdered on the orders of the King, Charles V would react out of anger by declaring war on England to avenge the murder of his beloved aunt. Spain, at this time, was one of the biggest kingdoms in the entire world and more than capable of destroying Henry, his armies and taking over England if he gathered up his armies. This was a risk that Henry could not afford to take, he would not be able to survive a war with Spain and he knew that Spain had many allies, most of which respected his former wife Catherine of Aragon, and would likely come to aid Spain in the war against England—so, in order to avoid a horrific war that would end disastrously for England, he could not have Catherine killed, she had to die of unsuspicious causes; such as from old age or ill-health, as was the norm for older Queens.
Knowing this and the fact that most of his kingdom supported Catherine, killing her off would have been unthinkable and—it is well-known that Henry VIII (who now was frightened that his life was at stake following the untimely death of his older brother) carried a life-long fear of poison following his growth into adulthood so the possibility of him having ordered Catherine to be poisoned seems a little ridiculous, don’t you think?
His fear of poisoning was so great that he even made a law against poisoning in 1531, making it a treasonous offense to attempt to poison someone, take a look below at an extract documenting this law!
The English Historical Review © 2001 Oxford University Press
. . .
Other factors that come into this are religion—Henry was a devout Catholic, alike his wife, even during his battle to divorce Catherine. He had fought long and hard for his faith and had earned himself the title Fidei Defensor or Defender of the Faith from Pope Leo early on in his reign, his faith was something he was passionately and careful about.
In the Catholic faith, divorce as well as murder were considered the two biggest ‘no-no’s by the Church; Henry might have pushed it too far by announcing that he was divorcing Catherine of Aragon as well as breaking away from the power and control of the Holy Roman Church to form his own Church of England but he would land himself in very big trouble if he attempted to murder one of the most pious Princesses in the whole of Christendom.
If Henry ordered the death of Catherine of Aragon and the Pope in Rome found out about the crime, Henry would face a reckoning beyond his imagination. The Pope commanded many other Kings and rulers in the world and many of them hated Henry for what he was doing to such a pious Spanish Princess and would have eagerly agreed to go to England to intercede (more like fight it out) on the Pope’s behalf about the safety of Catherine in England.
No, he couldn’t anger the Pope—well, more than he already had done.
He had to let nature take its course in terms of his former wife’s death, he could not risk his throne, his power or even his life, if one of Catherine’s allies got close enough to harm him, that is.
. . .
And there it is, our final theory and final post focusing on the life and death of Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
What we can say about this Spanish Princess is that she lived and died with honour and that she upheld all the grace, dignity and fierce determination of a Queen and that her mother, Queen Isabella of Castile, would have been ever so proud of her daughter for not allowing her husband to walk all over her without a fight—just like she had done with her own husband, never letting him get away with his belief that he was superior to her or his cheating ways.
Women and Queens such as Catherine continue to hold a special place in our hearts and, even in death, continue to encourage and inspire young girls across the globe to stand up against oppression and to not let anyone that deter from living the life they wish. Women of today have more freedom and ability to stand up against violent and scandalous men that women like Catherine sadly do not and it is up to us to make the most of the resources, guidance and protection that our laws and society gives us in remembrance of those who suffered at the hands of men and those who were not able to walk away, like the women of today.
Until next time...
- Have a ‘Tudor-fic’ week!
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