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

From the light relief of Henry and Anne of Cleves, we go to more Tudor tragedy – when an ‘old before his time’ King becomes besotted with a teenage girl with a shady past she thought she could forget.

The Thornless Rose

A large bloody shadow falls over the women Henry VIII loved and married – a shadow recognisable as Henry VIII himself. Three women died as a direct consequence of becoming his wife, and I believe her daughter Mary was right: Catherine of Aragon’s death could also be laid at his door. Research today has shown a direct correlation between stress levels and a person’s health; poor Catherine lived many, many long years of great and terrible stress.

Yes – so much tragedy drenching red the consort’s throne of this English King – but one wife’s story was more tragic than most. Katherine Howard was probably no more than twenty when – terrified – she laid her head on the block, a girl who had very little time to learn to live her life with a woman’s maturity.

Another niece of the Duke of Howard, the daughter of his brother and thus full cousin to Anne Boleyn, Katherine was likely only a girl of eighteen when the King first saw her and found his desires again burning bright.

Interestingly, her physical description is reminiscent of another Catherine – Catherine of Aragon in youth. Like the Spanish Catherine, on her arrival in England, the English Katherine was small, plump, pretty and auburn haired. Henry called her his ‘Blushing Rose without a Thorn.’

In one sense, this description suited her. She wasn’t someone who really meant to do harm, just a ‘light,’ lusty, little wench – a girl who men could easily persuade to put aside her virtue so to “lie upon my bed with…doublet and hose, and after within the bed and finally…naked.” (1) A girl who would be swept away into waters too deep because she never stopped to think about the consequences of her actions.

Growing up in one of the poorer branches of the Howard family, (2) Katherine was a neglected child, who went on to be a neglected teenager. Katherine’s mother died in Katherine’s childhood. Then, reaching her first teenage years, Katherine was sent to Agnes, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, her step-grandmother, to be readied for her place in Tudor society. Sending ‘well born’ children away to the homes of relatives or friends was normal practice in this period. It was not only a way to strengthen bonds between families but thought a sounder way to raise young people.

Unfortunately, due to the large size of the household, (3) Katherine’s grandmother didn’t realise until too late all the extra-curriculum night activities of the young people in her care. By seventeen, Katherine was no longer a virgin, having done the deed in not the first but the second serious relationship of her young life. (4)

In a fit of jealousy, Mannox, Katherine’s first ‘almost’ lover, let Agnes know what Katherine was getting up with Dereham, one of her gentle man in waiting, his replacement in Katherine’s affections. Acting upon this information, the Duchess found the two of them embracing, and all hell let loose. Katherine was then sent to be part of her uncle’s household, closer to court. For Katherine, this was out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Whilst in the Duke’s household, she seems to have fallen in love with her nemesis: Thomas Culpeper but – like her cousin Anne Boleyn’s love affair with Henry Percy – this relationship was stopped in its tracks when Henry Tudor decided he hankered after another niece of the Duke of Norfolk. But for Katherine, this stop was only a temporary state of affairs.

(1) Antonia Fraser, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, page 320.

(2) Antonia Fraser, work cited, page 317

(3) Antonia Fraser, work cited, page 319

(4) Antonia Fraser, work cited, page 320

Reference:

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.

Question:
What is your view about Katherine Howard?

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