Catherine of Aragon’s deep faith shaped many aspects of her life, including her practice of fasting. But could her religious devotion have impacted her ability to carry healthy pregnancies to term?
Join me as I explore the fascinating theory that Catherine’s fasting and the immense pressure to produce a male heir may have contributed to her tragic history of stillbirths. What does modern research say about nutrition, fasting, and fertility? Let’s find out!
Book recommendation: Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s Spanish Queen by Giles Tremlett
Transcript:
Catherine of Aragon was a deeply pious woman whose faith played a significant role in her daily life and personal practices. As a devout Catholic, she adhered strictly to the observances of the church, which included regular fasting and acts of self-denial. Today, her tragic reproductive history, which included at least four stillbirths, has prompted questions from some about whether her religious fasting and the stress surrounding her need to produce a male heir may have affected her health and contributed to her sad losses.
Today, I’m going to explore the possible impact of Catherine’s faith-based practices, including fasting, on her ability to carry a pregnancy to term, and what modern research says about the relationship between nutrition, fasting, and stillbirth.
Catherine of Aragon’s piety was one of her defining traits. Her faith gave her strength throughout her many trials, including the loss of multiple pregnancies. Catherine often engaged in fasting, which was a significant part of her spiritual discipline. Fasting was not only done during religious seasons like Lent but also as an act of penance and devotion.
Catherine’s biographer, Giles Tremlett, writes of how fasting and vigils were “a common reaction to bad times” amongst Catherine and her sisters, and that at one point during her early years in England, the pope had to write to Catherine giving her stern instructions, as Tremlett explains, to “avoid the self-harm of excessive fasting”. And it was recorded that “irregularity in her eating and the food which she takes make her unwell which is why she does not menstruate well”. So her fasting was clearly unusual and she appears to have taken fasting and abstinence to extremes. Tremlett believes that she displayed classic symptoms of anorexia, which, of course, can play havoc on the reproductive system leading to irregular periods or periods stopping altogether.
Even if Catherine didn’t have anorexia, she clearly fasted excessively, enough to affect her periods. And, of course, nutrition is critical for a healthy pregnancy, and poor nutritional practices during pregnancy can have serious consequences for both the mother and the child.
In the 16th century, the understanding of maternal health and nutrition was limited, and many factors contributing to pregnancy complications were unknown. Fasting, especially during key stages of pregnancy, can negatively affect foetal development. Modern research tells us that a mother’s body needs additional calories, vitamins, and minerals during pregnancy to support both her own health and the development of her child. Catherine’s fasting and acts of self-denial may have deprived her body of essential nutrients during critical times. Unicef states that poor diets can lead to “anaemia, pre-eclampsia, haemorrhage and death in mothers” and “stillbirth, low birthweight, wasting and developmental delays for children.” Obviously, Catherine wasn’t living in a country affected by famine, but she was excessively fasting and when she did eat, her diet at court would have been very focused on meat, or fish on fish days, rather than fruit and vegetables. While she was in a privileged position as queen, Catherine’s strict fasting could have led to similar issues experienced by women in developing countries by limiting her intake of calories and nutrients during pregnancy, something which could have affected placental function, which is responsible for providing the foetus with oxygen and nutrients, and caused stillbirths and infant death.
We don’t know anything about the birth of Henry, Duke of Cornwall, who was born on New Year’s Day 1511 and died fifty-two days later. While there is nothing in the records at all about him being small or sickly, perhaps he did have a low birth-weight and was vulnerable. We know that Catherine’s daughter, Mary was petite. In 1557, a year before she died, she was described as being “low” in stature and “of spare and delicate frame, quite unlike her father, who was tall and stout”. However, we don’t know whether she had a low birthweight.
By the way, I’m not talking about intermittent fasting here, something that many people practise today for health reasons or to lose weight, I’m talking about excessive fasting.
As Catherine came under increasing pressure to give the king a son, she turned to her faith more and more. She’d always prayed, fasted and gone on pilgrimages, so I’m sure it was natural for her to be even stricter in her observance of these practices, not realising the harm she could have been doing to her body and, during her pregnancies, the baby she was carrying. She would have believed that her losses were God’s will and perhaps even a test of her spiritual strength, and so put even more effort into her religious practices.
And that pressure she was under must have caused her stress and that could also have affected her reproductive health. An article on WebMD explains that women’s levels of day to day stress can significantly lower their chances of getting pregnant and Sarah Berga, MD, an infertility specialist, says that “stress hormones such as cortisol disrupt signaling between the brain and the ovaries, which can trip up ovulation.” And what about the effects of stress on pregnancies, with Catherine worrying about the health of the baby and whether it was a boy? Well, stress can lead to high blood pressure, which, in turn, can lead to premature labour and low birthweight; and it can exacerbate issues with the placenta, which can restricts the growth of the foetus and cause things like pre-eclampsia and eclampsia.
Catherine’s repeated losses likely intensified the emotional stress of future pregnancies, creating a cycle of anxiety and grief that could have contributed to further losses.
It’s important to note that Catherine’s losses cannot be fully attributed to fasting or stress. The medical understanding of pregnancy and childbirth during the Tudor period was extremely limited. Miscarriages, stillbirths, and maternal death were common, and doctors lacked the knowledge and tools to prevent or manage many of the complications that arose.
While we cannot definitively state that Catherine of Aragon’s fasting caused her miscarriages and stillbirths, it is an interesting and, I think, compelling theory. Modern research on the effects of poor nutrition and fasting during pregnancy suggests that these practices could have contributed to her tragic reproductive history. Coupled with the psychological stress of producing a male heir and the limited medical care available at the time, Catherine’s faith-based fasting may have inadvertently affected her ability to carry a healthy pregnancy to term.
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
