ON THIS DAY in 1536: The Death of Queen Katherine of Aragon

On this day in 1536, the death of Queen Katherine of Aragon.

Romanticized drawing of Katherine of Aragon at the time of her death

Katherine was the first wife and queen of King Henry VIII. She was born Infanta Catalina de Aragón on 16 December 1485, the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile; the great Catholic monarchs who united the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. She was married to Arthur, Prince of Wales, eldest son and heir of King Henry VII of England and his consort Princess Elizabeth of York on 14 November 1501. Soon after the marriage Arthur died on 2 April 1502 in Wales.

On the 25th of June 1503, she was formally betrothed to the king's second son, Henry, now prince of Wales, and a papal dispensation for the alliance was obtained. They were married on 19 June 1509 and Katherine was crowned queen on the 24th.

Katherine's marriage to Henry was joyful and happy for more than a few years; but after "her" failure to produce a male heir, Henry started to stray from his wife. On 15 June 1519, Henry's mistress Bessie Blount had given birth to the King's illegitimate child; a boy also named Henry. As the King acknowledged the child he was given the surname Fitzroy (meaning son of a king) and was given numerous titles and estates. For awhile there was talk that Fitzroy might become the heir to the throne, but Henry already had an heir by his wife Katherine; a girl named Mary. By 1526, Katherine's health deteriorated and it was generally accepted that she could not have any more children. [for more info on this topic, click -- Childbearing; A Tale of Katherine of Aragon]

Fast forward, Henry has more affairs and falls in love with an English commoner named Anne Boleyn. Anne was the sister of Henry's former mistress Mary. Henry would go to hell and back just to divorce Katherine and marry Anne. This whole ordeal created friction at the court and abroad; Katherine's nephew was now Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. Long story short -- after a trial it was determined that Katherine and Henry had been living in sin and the marriage was null and void.

Henry married Anne and Katherine was titled Princess Dowager while her daughter Mary was bastardized and her status as Princess was revoked. Although the marriage was never seen as valid in the Catholic Church, within Henry's Church of England the marriage was valid. She was kept in strict seclusion, separated from her daughter Mary, and from all outside communication. In December 1535 her health started to deteriorated and on 7 January 1536 she died at Kimbolton Castle. By the King's command she was buried at Peterborough Cathedral.

Tomb of Queen Katherine of Aragon, Peterborough Cathedral

 The following day, news of her death reached the king. There were rumors at the time that she was poisoned^[1][2][3], possibly by Gregory di Casale.^[4] Rumors also circulated that Katherine had been poisoned by Anne or Henry, or both, as Anne had threatened to murder both Katherine and Mary on several occasions. The rumors were born after the apparent discovery during her embalming that there was a black growth on her heart that might have been caused by poisoning.^[7] Modern medical experts are in agreement that her heart's discoloration was due not to poisoning, but to cancer, something which was not understood at the time. According to the chronicler Edward Hall, Anne Boleyn wore yellow for the mourning, which has been interpreted in various ways; Polydore Vergil interpreted this to mean that Anne did not mourn.^[5] However, Chapuys reported that it was actually King Henry who decked himself in yellow, celebrating the news and making a great show of his and Anne's daughter, Elizabeth, to his courtiers.^[6] This was seen as distasteful and vulgar by many. Another theory is that the dressing in yellow was out of respect for the late queen-princess dowager as yellow was said to be the Spanish color of mourning.

Before her death, Katherine wrote a final letter to her husband the King.

Last Letter to Henry VIII, January 7, 1536 
Written shortly before her death, Katherine of Aragon's last letter to the man she still considered her husband was more a tender farewell than a bitter recrimination. 
 

M y 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.

References

1. Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, vol. X, no. 190
2. Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, vol. X, no. 59
3. Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, vol. X, no. 230
4. Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, vol. X, no. 200
5. Warnicke, p. 187.
6. Warnicke, p. 188.
7. Lofts, p.139.

© 7 January 2012

Meg McGath 

English Ancestry of the Six Wives; descent from Edward I of England

The multiple descending lines from Edward I of England for the SIX wives of King Henry VIII:

The English descent of ALL SIX Queens consort's of Henry VIII

Yes, all six wives had English ancestry; some more than others. 

Would it surprise you to know that even Katherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves had Edward I in their pedigree? 

In fact, Katherine of Aragon descended from two wives of Prince John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, Titular King of Castile [the son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault]; Blanche of Lancaster AND Constanza of Castile, heir to the throne of Castile.

1. Katherine of Aragon - daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile [2 times]

• By her mother, Isabella of Castile's paternal grandmother, Katherine of Lancaster, daughter of Prince John of Gaunt [son of Edward III] [and Constanza of Castile], she descended from Edward I and Eleanor of Castile.
  
• By Isabella of Castile's maternal great-grandmother, Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of Prince John of Gaunt [and Blanche of Lancaster], she descended from Edward I and Eleanor of Castile. [Hampton Court Pedigree shows this line from Edward I's son, Edward II, onwards]
  

     2.  Anne Boleyn - daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and Lady Elizabeth Howard [5 times]

• By both paternal great-great-grandparents, Sir James, 4th Earl of Ormonde and Joan Beauchamp; she descended from Edward and Eleanor's daughter Elizabeth of Rhuddlan.
  
• By her paternal great-grandmother, Anne Hankford, she descends from Elizabeth's elder sister, Joan of Acre.
  
• By her maternal [Howard] line she descended from Edward I and Eleanor; again by Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, by way of Lady Eleanor Fitzalan [wife of Sir Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk].
  
• By Sir Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, she descended from Edward I and Marguerite of France through their son, Thomas of Brotherton Plantagenet, Duke of Norfolk [Hampton Court Pedigree shows this line from Edward I's son, Thomas of Brotherton onwards]
  

     3.  Jane Seymour - daughter of Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth [twice]

• By her maternal great-grandmother, Hon. Margaret Clifford, whose father John Clifford, 7th Lord descended from Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile.
  
• By Margaret Clifford's mother, whose mother descended from Edward III of England by his second son, Lionel of Antwerp. [Hampton Court Pedigree shows this line from Edward I's son, Edward II, onward]

     4.  Anne of Cleves - daughter of John III, Duke of Cleves and Marie von Julich [twice]

• By both great-grandparents, Johan I of Cleves and Elizabeth of Nevers; who were great-grandchildren of Marguerite of Dampierre, suo jure Countess of Flanders. Marguerite was the great-granddaughter of Margaret of England, Duchess of Brabant; daughter of Edward I and Eleanor. [Hampton Court Pedigree shows the lineage of Johan I of Cleves from Edward's daughter, Margaret of England]
  

     5.  Katherine Howard - daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Jocasa Culpepper [3 times]

• Like Anne Boleyn, by her paternal line [Howard] she descended from Edward I and Eleanor by, Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, by way of Lady Eleanor Fitzalan [wife of Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk].
  
• By Sir Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, she descended from Edward I and Marguerite of France through their son, Thomas of Brotherton Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Norfolk [Hampton Court Pedigree shows this line from Edward I's son, Thomas of Brotherton onwards]
• By her maternal great-great-grandfather, Sir William Ferrers, 5th Baron Groby, she descends from Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I and Eleanor.

     6.  Katherine Parr - daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal and Maud Greene [6 times]

• By her paternal great-great-grandfather, Sir Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury; she descends from Edward I and Eleanor by their son Edward II of England. [Hampton Court Pedigree comes from this line coming from Edward I's son, Edward II onwards]
  
• By her paternal great-great-grandmother, Alice Montacute, suo jure Countess of Salisbury [wife of Sir Richard], by Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I and Eleanor; and Edmund of Woodstock, son of Edward I and Marguerite of France.
• By her maternal great-great-grandfather, Sir Thomas Greene, Sheriff of Northamptonshire she descended from Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, daughter of Edward I and Eleanor. His wife, Lady Philippa de Ferrers also descended from Elizabeth's elder sister, Princess Joan of Acre, TWICE.
  

For more on their pedigrees, featuring the windows from Hampton Court Palace -- see also -- 

The Hampton Court Pedigrees

Hot or Not: the six wives exhibition of Hampton Court

The Tudors King Henry as portrayed by Jonathan Myers and Queen Katherine Parr as portrayed by Joely Richardson

 What did they really looked like during their reign?

Thanks to countless interpretations of Henry VIII's six wives on film we have certain pre-conceived ideas as to what they look like. When the exhibition of Henry's six wives at Hampton Court displayed portraits in 2009, it was of the ones below. Compared to the authentic portraits -- these seem contemporary and make some of the wives look ugly! What's your take? Would Henry really marry these women if they were so plain and ugly? Are these really true to life portraits?

King Henry VIII c.1520

At the time of Henry's marriage to Queen Katherine of Aragon, Henry was still a young man; fit. By the time of Queen Katherine Parr, Henry looked like --

King Henry VIII c.1545

-- The Queens of Henry VIII --

The Tudors Queen Katherine of Aragon portrayed by Maria Doyle Kennedy

Katherine of Aragon by an unknown artist, 1530s.

The Tudors Queen Anne Boleyn as portrayed by Natalie Dormer

Anne Boleyn by an unknown artist, possibly contemporary.

The Tudors Queen Jane Seymour as portrayed by Annabelle Wallis

Jane Seymour by one of the ‘Cast Shadow Workshop’, c 1536.

The Tudors Queen Anne of Cleves as portrayed by Joss Stone

Anne of Cleves by Barthel Bruyn, 1530s.

The Tudors Queen Katherine Howard as portrayed by Tazmin Merchant

Katherine Howard, probably a copy of a contemporary work by Holbein. This painting is interesting because it was originally identified as being of Katherine Howard but then this was rejected in the last century and it was decided that it either depicted Henry VIII’s niece Lady Margaret Douglas or Jane Seymour’s sister, Elizabeth, who married Cromwell's son. However, opinion would appear to have swung in the opposite direction thanks to its close resemblance to the only known likenesses of Katherine.

The Tudors Queen Katherine Parr as portrayed by Joely Richardson

Katherine Parr by an unknown artist, probably contemporary. Recently identified by biographer Susan James, author of "Catherine Parr: Henry VIII's Last Love". Not all are in agreement as to if this is really Queen Katherine.

The Hampton Court Pedigrees; the six wives of King Henry VIII

All of King Henry's wives had one thing in common, they all descended from Edward I; some by his first wife Eleanor of Castile or by his second, Marguerite of France; and in some cases both! In Hampton Court Palace in King Henry VIII's apartment there are six stained glassed windows showing his wives pedigrees from King Edward I. As some were descended mutiple times or by both wives the more prominent ancestry was featured. It is quite a site and if you ever have the chance to visit when the light is right you will be in awe!

From Atonia Fraser's The Wives of Henry VIII, pg 363:

The following genealogy should be seen as a reflection of the narrowness of aristocratic society in a world of small population, rather than as some unconscious desire [that King Henry VIII might have] to commit forms of incest as has been suggested. The wives of Henry VIII were not "closely" related or to King Henry himself. The exception would be of the first cousins Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard; Henry's 2nd and 5th wife whom shared the same grandfather, Sir Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk by his 1st wife Elizabeth Tilney (herself the daughter of Elizabeth Cheney by her first husband Sir Philip Tilney. Elizabeth married secondly Sir John Say. Her daughter Anne would become grandmother to Queen consort Jane Seymour, thus making Queen Anne, Queen Jane, and Queen Catherine Howard second cousins).

 The Hampton Court Pedigrees 

The SIX pedigrees of Henry VIII's Wives, Henry's Apartments;
linking them all back to King Edward I

Queen Katherine of Aragon 

 (1509-1533)

"Not for my Crown" (As Princess of Wales) & "Humble and Loyal" (As queen consort)

Katherine of Aragon

daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile

daughter of King John II Castile y Leon and Isabel of Portugal

daughter of Infante João of Portugal and Isabel of Braganza

daughter of King John I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster [Plantagenet]

daughter of Blanche of Lancaster and John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster [Plantagenet]

son of Philippa of Hainault and King Edward III of England

son of Isabella of France and King Edward II of England

son of Eleanor of Castile and King Edward I of England

Queen Anne Boleyn

(1533-1536)

"The Most Happy"

Anne Boleyn

daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire and Lady Elizabeth Howard

daughter of Elizabeth Tilney and Sir Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk

son of Katherine Moleyns and Sir John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk

son of Sir Robert Howard and Lady Margaret Mowbray

daughter of Lady Elizabeth FitzAlan and Sir Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk

son of Sir John Mowbray, 4th Baron and Lady Elizabeth Segrave, suo jure 5th Baroness Segrave

daughter of Sir John Segrave, 4th Baron and Lady Margaret, suo jure 2nd Duchess of Norfolk [Plantagenet]

daughter of Alice Hayles and Prince Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk [Plantagenet]

son of Margaret of France and King Edward I of England

Queen Jane Seymour

(1536-1537)

"Bound to Serve and Obey"

Jane Seymour

daughter of Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth

daughter of Anne Say and Sir Henry Wentworth

son of Sir Philip Wentworth and Mary Clifford

daughter of Sir John, 7th Baron Clifford and Lady Elizabeth Percy

daughter of Sir Henry, Lord Percy and Lady Elizabeth Mortimer

daughter of Sir Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March and Lady Philippa, suo jure 5th Countess of Ulster [Plantagenet]

daughter of Lady Elizabeth Burgh, suo jure 4th Countess of Ulster and Prince Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence [Plantagenet]

son of Philippa of Hainault and King Edward III of England

son of Isabella of France and King Edward II of England

son of Eleanor of Castile and King Edward I of England

Queen Anne of Cleves

(1540)

"God Send Me Well to Keep"

Anne of Cleves

daughter of Mary of Jülich-Berg and John, Duke of Cleves

son of Maud of Hesse and John, Duke of Cleves

son of Elizabeth de Nevers Bourgogne and John, Duke of Cleves

son of Adolf, Duke of Cleves and Marie of Burgundy

daughter of Margaret of Bavaria von Wittelsbach and John, Duke of Burgundy

son of Philip, Duke of Burgundy and Marguerite of Flanders

daughter of Louis, Count of Flanders and Margaret of Brabant

daughter of Margaret of Evreux and John, Duke of Brabant

son of John II, Duke of Brabant and Princess Mary of England [Plantagenet]

daughter of Eleanor of Castile and King Edward I of England

Queen Katherine Howard

(1540-1541)

"No Other Will But His"

Katherine Howard

 daughter of Jocasa Culpepper and Lord Edmund Howard

son of Elizabeth Tilney and Sir Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk

son of Katherine Moleyns and Sir John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk

son of Sir Robert Howard and Lady Margaret Mowbray

daughter of Lady Elizabeth FitzAlan and Sir Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk

son of Sir John Mowbray, 4th Baron and Lady Elizabeth Segrave, suo jure 5th Baroness Segrave

daughter of Sir John Segrave, 4th Baron and Lady Margaret, suo jure 2nd Duchess of Norfolk [Plantagenet]

daughter of Alice Hayles and Prince Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk [Plantagenet]

son of Margaret of France and King Edward I of England

 Queen Katherine Parr

(1543-1547)

"To be Useful in All That I Do"

Katherine Parr

daughter of Maud Green and Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal

son of Sir William, Baron Parr of Kendal and Lady Elizabeth FitzHugh

daughter of Henry, Baron FitzHugh of Ravensworth and Lady Alice Neville

daughter of Alice Montacute, suo jure 5th Countess of Salisbury and Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury

son of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and Lady Joan Beaufort

daughter of Katherine Roët and Prince John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster

son of Philippa of Hainault and King Edward III of England

son of Isabella of France and King Edward II of England

son of Eleanor of Castile and King Edward I of England