I’ve found some very bizzarre ideas to do with birth control. whether they worked is a matter of speculation.
• A sponge soaked in lemon juice and inserted into the v*gina.
A pessary made of nettle leaves .
The woman must drink sheep urine or rabbit blood.
A numbing genital bath of either cold water or a mixture of ginger and vinegar.
The woman must wear weasel testicles on her thigh or the amputated foot of a live weasel around her neck.
Women of the time still used a number of birth control measures such as coitus interruptus, inserting lily root and rue into the v*gina.
Emetics and diuretics, which reduced the desire for sex or simply made it impossible
Weird.
In Suzzanne Dunn’s book Katherine Howard(fiction) she mentions about a half a lemon. Ie inserting half a lemon into her v*gina so that she could have sex without fear of pregnancy. I remember many years ago I really can’t remember what book it was but it was a book about K.H again fictional, but the Duchess had inserted a stone into K.H v*gina, which she personally removed when she married Lard arse.
I know that half an orange was allegdely used as a rudimentary form of what we now know to be used as a cap.

I believe Sheep’s intestine was also used as a type of condom..
In >K.H’s case it’s difficult to know if she was using rudimentary birth control or not. I’m inclined that Lardarse was firing blanks, but I also feel tha K.H may have had gyno problems as well. As from what we know her affair with Dereham was of a very torrid nature and they had sex on many occations, and yet there was no hint of pregnancy or miscarriage, as I’ve already mentioned.
Slightly off topic but still reletive to what we are talking about.. Henry 2nd of France and Cathy de Medici, had a few problems in that ara, she had been married to him for 12 years I believe and yet there was no hint of a baby. Their doctor soon spotted what the problem was, however he noted there was a slight difference in their sexual organs, and suggested they try a different position to solve this. Whatever he suggested worked because within weeks Cathy was pregnant, and had no trouble conceiving afterwards. It could well be that if K.H and Lardarse had tried a different position other than missionary she might have got pregnant, may have taken some time if Lardarse was nearly out of Ammo. I think Missionary position was the accepted norm because it was considered decent.
It was only wh*res or commoners that had sex in different positions if that makes sence.

The lemon soaked sponge may have worked, as lemon juice itself is an acid and would possibly kill off the sperm. I certainly wouldn’t want to try it though even if it was to prove if it worked or not.

One of the weirder birth control methods I read was one that was used in ancient Greece was that a woman sneezed when the man ejectulated, and after he had pulled out she sat up, bent her knees up to her chest and sneezed again, this was meant to expel the semen from her v*gina. If this actually worked I don’t know.

TudorFan said

Another thing that has always struck me as odd … I am under the impression (correct me if I’m wrong) that Henry was usually attracted to mature women. Why did he suddenly fall for such a young girl as Katherine Howard?</blockquote

I’m not entirely sure that Lardarse was solely attracted to older woman, but I can understand where this idea comes from, as K.O.A was 6 years older than him when they married.
If you look at Lardarse’s mistresses, Mary Boleyn, Bessie Blount and Anne (Duke of Buckingham’s daughter) they were younger than him. Bessie Blount was alledgely only 13 or 14 when she became his mistress.
K.O.A was as far as I can tell the only older woman in his love life, so to speak.

K.H’s DOB has always been a bit of a mystery, some scholars say she was born in 1520 whilst others say 1525. I’m inclined to think she was born around 1523 making her 17 when she married Lardarse.
I actually wonder how she got on with her stepchildren, not so much Elizabeth and Edward as they were just children themselves, but more so with Mary who was in well into her 20’s when H8 plonked K.H before Mary and told her to call her “Mummy”.
I should imagine that Mary would have been respectful but not exactly freindly. She probably felt a little embarrassed, having a stepmother who was just a few years younger than her, but there again AOC wasn’t that much older than Mary when, she married Lardarse. However AOC did at least conduct herself with quiet dignity and respect.
K.H in my opinion was a fun loving free spirit who didn’t always think before rushing head long into a burning building. She was thrown into the wolf pit by ambitious men who hoped that they could control Lardarse through her. Had they taken their time to get to know K.H they would have perhaps seen that she was completely unsuitable for a life at court. She would have been better perhaps as a mistress to Lardarse rather than a wife, at least the poor girl wouldn’t have lost her head.
Of all of H8 wifes K.H must be one of the most tragic, murdered by a fat jealous stinking old man who could accept that he wasn’t the young virile golden Sod of his youth that he thought he was.
K.H was just an immature kid who didn’t always listen to reason and made mistakes, but what can you expect from a teenager. But she had a good heart and meant well even if she went about things in the wrong way. But she didn’t deserve to die. Her only crime was being too young and naive to cope in a court filled with wolves and vampires only to willing to devour anyone who shows any form of weakness. She didn’t know how to cope with court life and ultimetily that led to her downfall for she fell back on the only thing that did work for her. The relaxed and very destructive household that she had in the duchess’s.
I blame the Duchess for most of K.H problems, to me at least it seems as if she didn’t care what the girls got up to just as long as they didn’t hassle her. She didn’t do enough in short.

Small wonder really that Mary went mad (loosely worded) the pressure at court during that time must have been pretty unbarable on top of that having a stepmother who was younger than her.
At least with J.S and AOC, who was herself only a few years older than Mary they conducted themselves with the quiet dignity she had become used to with her mother, but K.H flighty behaviour must have irritated Mary somewhat.
I think Mary always believed that her father’s behaviour towards her was the result of A.B influence over him, when Lardarse murdered A.B she learnt that it wasn’t and for her that was a very bitter pill to swallow. Basically in order to get any type of love from her father she had to sacrifice her integrity, her honour, and her religion.
I think Katherine treated her with respect but saw didn’t like her that much, seeing her perhaps as a wet blanket and not a lot of fun.

She made the best of a bad situation I would say. There is no doubt she had a good heart, if my lousy memory serves she gave a furred gown and other warm clothes, (that H8 had given her) to the Countess of Sailsbury and gave money to the Tower custodian so tha the poorer prisoners could be fed. She also gave her household servants many little gifts and trinkets, as well as giving AOC little gifts. That to me at least tells me she wasn’t a bad lass. I do feel that she was perhaps overwhelmed by the whole court situation. But she knew her duty and did the best she could.
H8 did spoil her and I suppose that was part of her downfall she believed that a man who showered gifts on her so lavishly could forgive her anything. She trust H8 and he betrayed her. In the tv serious Elizabeth R Elizabeth is dicussing K.H and she says that every where K.H went she was betrayed. First there is trust, then passion, then death and I believe that just about sums up K.H’s life. She didn’t mean any harm to anyone but she was simply too young and naive to understand the dangerous game she was playing. Basically she was a lamb thrown into the lion’s den and devoured.
I often wonder what Mary Lassells hoped to acheive? (I think I’ve asked this before) Did Mary Lassells hate K.H or what?

TudorFan said

Please forgive my ignorance – who is Mary Lassells?

Mary Lascells was one of the ladies who lived in the DowagerDuchess of Norfolk’s household and told her brother and fellow reformer, John about KH’s past. Mary had also reproved Henry Manox about his interactions with a young Kathryn. John took these accounts to Archbishop Cramner paving the way for KH’s fall.

Her distaste for the way Kathryn was behaving around men was a reason as to why Mary never seeked employment in Kathryn’s household as ueen unlike some of her fellow housemates.

Shae said

It’s likely that Mary WAS jealous/embarrassed/offended by Katherine being her new stepmum. She seems to have snubbed Katherine, probably in a similar fashion to how she snubbed Anne Boleyn, and, if I remember correctly, Anne of Cleves.

I don’t think Mary ever snubbed AoC since she had no reason to.

Anne had been brought up as a Catholic but comfromed to Henry’s not-really-Catholic-but-close-enough version of early Protestantism, she had no links to those poeple who had made Mary’s life miserable and more importantly she was a member of a ruling family who understood how the life of a noblewoman was a a pawn in international politics.

If anything Anne could empathise with Mary regarding the whole wanting to be married but not having the qualities that attract a suitable match in terms of rank and age.
Anne appears to have been moderately close to Mary until the Wyatt Uprising in 1554 having had a part in Mary’s trimuphant taking of London and during her coronation.