Catherine of Aragon, the queen they supportedOn this day in history, or shortly before, the Friars Observant (Observant Friars of Greenwich) were expelled from their monasteries due to their support of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife, and their refusal to accept Henry VIII as the supreme head of the Church.
Some were sent to houses of the Grey Friars where, according to Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, “they were locked up in chains and treated worse than they could be in prison”. Others were imprisoned in London and a few fled abroad.
