Catherine of Aragon
Although I have not written a full bio on Catherine of Aragon yet, I have written a few articles about her and Anne Boleyn:-
- Catherine of Aragon – The Boring One?
- Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon Part 1
- Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon Part 2
- Anne Boleyn The Other Woman
- Anne Boleyn the Homewrecker
- The Death of Catherine of Aragon
- RIP Catherine of Aragon
- Did an Eating Disorder Prevent Catherine of Aragon having a Son
- Catherine Sets Sail for England
- The Coronation of King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine
There is also a video from Historic Royal Palaces about her – click here to view it.
I am trying to find sources on the dower estates of Catherine of Aragon, in particular in East Anglia, but so far I find information only about the court and only throwaway comments about her interest in poor relief and so on. Can anyone point me anywhere? It seems mad to have be START at Kew.
Anne Boleyn was nothing but a manipulative , wh*re, I have seen a documentary, she was a manipulative being and used Henry Viii’s love for her as leverage to “control” him and have power. Katherine Howard is even worse for her having those affairs with Mannix, Durham, and Culpepper what a “fine” girl she was I would have enjoyed interrogating her with the Archbishop of Canterbury. My most dearest of tribute to Catherine of Aragon(the true and rightful queen:0), Jane Seymour (The kind one , a shame she died so young) , Anne of Cleves (there is a difference between cunning and manipulative ), and of course may I not forget Catherine Parr(the model queen for anyone who wanted to become one may god bless her soul).
Can you please explain the reasoning behind your conclusions as the majority of historians believe Anne Boleyn to have been innocent of the charges laid against her. The historical sources do not back up the idea that Anne manipulated Henry in any way. When Henry started pursuing her, we know that Anne rebuffed him and left court to get away from him. He then bombarded her with love letters. None of that points to a woman trying to trap or manipulate a man. She was just a young woman with no power, he was God’s anointed King of England.
As for Catherine Howard, I’ll repeat what I said in another reply to you:
“Her birthdate was around 1523/4 so she was about 12 or 13 when she had a flirtation with Henry Manox. It was not a full sexual relationship, but a romance, and it didn’t last long. She then went on to have a relationship with Francis Dereham when she was about 14. This was a full sexual relationship and they referred to each other as husband and wife, so could actually be seen by the church to be married. Dereham was under the impression that they would marry, but he ended up going to Ireland and Catherine went to court to serve Anne of Cleves. I don’t think Catherine was any different to some of the other girls in the Dowager Duchess’s household, who were having relationships with men of the household and sneaking them into the “dormitory” at night. She could not have known that she was going to marry the king.
Once she was at court, she fell in love with Thomas Culpeper, but it appears that he broke up with her and then she married the king. Their romance was resurrected later and they had secret meetings. They both denied having sex, but they appear to have been in love and perhaps thought they could be together properly once the king died. This was all reckless and silly, and treasonous.
It tells me more about you than them that you have no sympathy for these women who both lost their lives in a very brutal way. One a girl of 18/19 who was not brought up to be queen, and one a woman whose only crime was not giving her husband a living son.”
That’s a bit strong, Anne was in the unenviable position of being persued by the most powerful man in the kingdom – the King, whilst other would be suitors knew they dared not show interest in a woman the King had marked for himself, Anne also knew that she could never encourage or dare commit to anyone whilst the King was there, her behaviour does not show her to be a wh*re or manipulative, she was in a sense caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, she must have found it very difficult living at court as she was in the service of the queen, as Claire explains Anne tried to escape him by leaving for her home in Kent, she had no wish to be his mistress and that was her right, you say she was a wh*re but her behaviour does not bear this out, she had been educated under the tutelage of Margaret of Austria who taught all her pupils good bearing grace dignity and a high value of oneself, it was not her fault if Henry offered her marriage, and once offered she accepted, granted she knew Henry was already married but Kings have divorced wives or had their marriages annulled throughout history, it was Henry who was to blame for his treatment of his wife and child not Anne, she may have seen to have manipulated Henry but he was always very much his own person and it was always his decision that decided anything, wether to put away Katherine, break from the Catholic Church, destroy the monasteries, behead Sir Thomas More etc, seperate Katherine from her daughter, with Catherine Howard she was just a young ignorant girl who had no guidance on how to behave in what was considered suitable for a young girl of her background, she had no training on how to be a queen and as for her alleged lovers, Manox was quite possibly just a schoolgirl crush, he was her music tutor and he abused his position, she was the minor and he should have known better, so what if she had a love affair with Francis Dereham, one love affair does not mean the woman is immoral, it was tragic how she lost her life because her only crime seemed to be just ignorance, and Anne Boleyn died because the King wanted a hasty end to a marriage he began to feel was unbearable to him, and it was fair easier to kill her than go through another lengthy divorce/ anullment, people knew it at the time.
Katharine was queen of England before time began. We Catholics don’t accept any other woman as queenexcept pf course blessed Mary I
When was the last time Katherine saw her daughter Mary? Do historians know? I think it’s so sad that King Henry VIII wouldn’t even allow her to visit her mother when he allowed Chapuys to visit her during her final days. I know he was worried about them conspiring together but if Katherine was on her deathbed as she was rumored to be, it seems like it would have been a final show of generosity and kindness of Henry’s part, to let them see one another. I’m reading your books right now, I love the format of how it’s like having a conversation with you!!