Henry VIII - Loyal Heart: Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. - free Suite101 course

Lesson 1: Setting the Tudor Stage.

Lesson 2: Loyal Heart: Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
- Coronation of Catherine and Henry. (Primary material written by Edward Hall)
- Henry at the beginning of his reign.
- Henry's court
- Catherine of Aragon
- Catherine and Henry

Lesson 3: Without Male Heir. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

Lesson 4: Entirely Beloved. Henry VIII and Jane Seymour

Lesson 5: My Sister, My Wife. Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves.

Lesson 6: The Blushing Rose Without a Thorn. Henry VIII and Katherine Howard.

Lesson 7: Surviving Henry. Henry VIII and Katherine Parr.

Lesson 8: The Legacy of Henry and his Wives.

Lesson 2: Loyal Heart: Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.

Catherine of Aragon

The objective of this segment is to help students gain a perception of the ‘human’ Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII.

It is reported that this lady Catherine thought and feared such an unhappy chance might come, (the death of her husband, Prince Arthur) for when she had embraced her father and taken leave of her noble and prudent mother, and sailed towards England, she was continually so tossed and tumbled hither and thither with boisterous winds that what with the raging of the water and the contrary winds her ship was prevented many times from approaching the shore and landing.

A Spanish princess, the fifth and last child of the marriage between Isabel of Castile and Ferninard of Aragon, and bought up in one of the most powerful kingdoms in Christendom, Catherine had been readied almost from her birth in 1485 to be an English Queen. Intelligent, pious – educated by the best tutors her parents could find, her mother also ensured Catherine – like her four sisters – was not lacking in domestic and ‘wifely’ abilities. (1) Catherine was an excellent embroiderer, and would one day regard it as her duty to make Henry VIII’s shirts.

Betrothed to Arthur Tudor from almost three, Catherine arrived in England just before her sixteenth birthday, after a long and perilous journey from her mother's kingdom of Castile. Her future father-in-law and her intended husband Arthur first met her at the Bishop’s palace at Dangerfield in Hampshire. (2) There – against all Castilian custom (a custom influenced by Moorish culture) – Henry insisted on lifting the veil of his son’s bride. He saw a pretty girl with a round face, possessing the grey eyes and ‘rose’ complexion of her English ancestry. Catherine’s greatest beauty was her thick red/gold hair, which now flowed free – as a symbol of her virginity - past her waist.

The King and Prince Arthur expressed themselves fully pleased with Catherine, Arthur writing later about his joy at first seeing ‘the sweet face of his bride.’ (3) But Arthur’s happiness was short- lived. Within only a few months of marriage he was dead and Catherine’s own survival not yet certain – they had both been stricken with one of those sudden deadly illnesses of the period – probably the English sweat - that struck fast and hard.

After Arthur’s death, Catherine said, over and over, that their marriage had never been consummated. Catherine was pious and honest and even her own father wrote, in 1503, ‘It is well known that the princess is still a virgin.’ But, in arranging Catherine’s betrothal to Henry, her husband’s younger brother, her father asked the Pope to write up the dispensation in a way that made the question of her virginity unimportant and would safeguard Catherine’s later marriage. Henry VII also protected his own child and son, not forgetting his political back – the marriage would only go forward when Henry the younger was old enough to agree to the match.

Catherine endured seven dreadful years after Arthur’s death. A political pawn – in the hand of a father-in-law who acted towards her like an utter miser – she was kept short of funds, as well as friends. I agree with Antonia Fraser (4) that these years of deprivation shaped her in such a way that made it impossible for her to bend when Henry VIII later sought to take a new wife. In that future time, Catherine probably remembered her time of triumph after seven years of hell while a widow; it is possible that she thought that all she needed to do was to keep faith and God would answer her prayers again. I also wonder if this time of deprivation impacted upon her health, perhaps some form of kidney damage that led to complications during pregnancy (pre-eclampsia?), making it difficult for her to bear living children. In Alison Weir's Henry VIII, King and Court, she also mentions that deep piety and habit of fasting - behaviours reinforced during her widowhood - may have caused reproduction problems. (5)

Just before Henry VII died, a desperate and lonely Catherine contemplated taking the veil, but instead, with his death, she married - after only weeks - her young prince, now England’s ruling King.

During the early years of Catherine's marriage to Henry Tudor, the English court had a reputation for learning as well as piety, probably stemming greatly from the Queen's encouragement of her husband's better traits as well as her very own nature. Greatly respected for her intelligence, Henry had no hesitation in entrusting his Kingdom to his wife whenever he minded to go and do battle with France, his country's traditional enemy.

Catherine did her very best to provide Henry with a royal heir. She no doubt believed she had done her duty by giving her husband their daughter Mary, the only child of their union to survive infancy and live to adulthood. Perhaps if the fates had been kinder - if her husband hadn’t convinced himself that their marriage was accursed, and indeed no marriage after his hopes for a son had been dashed by the birth of another and yet another dead baby - Mary could have been a valid answer to the English succession.

Henry VIII and Wives, by Antonia Fraser. Although many books will be referred to during this course, Henry VIII and Wives will be used as the main 'text.' Written in a very readable manner, this book is a very sensitive account of the six women who became the consorts of Bluff King Hal. Antonia Fraser's research is always excellent.

In Henry VIII, the King and the Court - a wonderfully researched book - Alison Weir brings alive Henry VIII in all his glory and his magnificent court, not fearing a bit of controversy along the way. This is another must read for people interested in the period.

Why do you think most of Catherine's children died at birth or early in infancy?