Queen and consort of King Henry VIII Born to the most Catholic monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile on 16 December 1485, Catherine of Aragon began her life during one of the most tumultuous eras of Spanish history. Throughout the first six years of her life, Catherine experienced the Spanish Reconquista first hand, and when Isabella exposed her youngest daughter to the rigors of military campaigning, Catherine and her sisters also experienced the training necessary to serve as the next generation of queens throughout Western Europe. Isabella hired the best humanist educators of the late medieval period, mixing nontraditional instruction in the humanities with the traditional training in the domestic arts. Catherine learned Latin and read biblical literature and works of devotion, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Christian and
Catherine of Aragon, queen and wife of King Henry VIII of England. Portrait by unknown artist. National Portrait Gallery, London. (Corel)
Pagan classics, and some civil and canon law. She also learned dancing, sewing, spinning, and baking. Her classical education was such that Erasmus later remarked that Catherine was a miracle of feminine learning.
From the age of three, Ferdinand and Isabella had pursued a match for Catherine with Arthur, prince of Wales, the eldest son of Henry VII, king of England. After many years of negotiation and delay, Catherine finally set sail for England and arrived at Plymouth on 2 October 1501, with her marriage at St. Paul’s Cathedral taking place a little more than a month later. The English crowds greeted Catherine warmly, and every indication suggested she would have a long, healthy, and successful life first as princess ofWales, and eventually as queen.
The reality of life for Catherine between the fall of 1501 and the spring of 1509 was entirely different. Arthur died just five months into the marriage, never having consummated their relationship. To make matters worse for Catherine, dowry payments from Spain were late, and Henry VII blamed Catherine’s father and chose to mistreat Catherine. For almost eight years, Catherine’s position in England was tenuous at best. Though Henry VII had agreed to another marriage arrangement in 1503, this time between Catherine and his remaining son, Henry, Duke ofYork, the English, king took every opportunity to neglect his daughter-in-law, often failing to provide for her and her dwindling household beyond the barest of necessities. During these dark times Catherine also believed her father and his ambassadors had abandoned her since they failed to provide sufficient finances for her. Upon Henry Vll’s death in April 1509, Catherine’s position once again changed for the better, but not before circumstances had taught her that she was her own best counsel and support.
HenryVIII, claiming it was his father’s wish, married Catherine in May 1509. Through 1515, Catherine’s place as chief confidant and advisor to Henry had no rival, and she filled her duties as consort and wife, making great use of her education in all fields. Catherine’s chief accomplishments during this period included the continued preservation of the Anglo-Spanish alliance and the defeat ofJames IV, king of Scotland, at Flodden Field. Though Catherine did not actually partake in the battle, the responsibility of maintaining a secure realm was hers alone, since Henry had made her governor of the realm and captain-general of all forces left in England while he went off to war in France. Her loyalty to Henry was unequivocal.
Catherine’s chief fault, however, was her inability to produce a healthy male heir. While she had given birth to Princess Mary in 1516 and had had several stillbirths and miscarriages, Henry and many of his nobility were unwilling to lay the destiny of the country in the hands of a woman. Thus by the early 1520s, Henry believed himself in a desperate situation dynastically and sought a way out of the marriage. Through Cardinal Wolsey, in 1529 Henry pushed for an annulment of his twenty-year marriage based upon the belief that he had sinned in marrying his brother’s wife. Further complicating the picture and Henry’s motive was a young woman with whom he had fallen in love, Anne Boleyn.
From 1527 to 1533, Henry’s chief aim was to separate himself from Catherine, regardless of the cost. For Catherine’s part, she fought Henry at every turn, wanting to protect her daughter’s rights to the throne and her own reputation as queen. Yet, Henry was far too powerful and fearsome a king, who made use of a weakened papacy and a strengthening English parliament to break away from the Catholic church, annul his marriage to Catherine, and marry his then pregnant mistress.
Now the dowager princess of Wales, Catherine spent her remaining years in England believing herself a martyr for the Catholic faith and for her daughter. Henry had Catherine shipped from palace to palace, each succeeding house in worse condition than the one before. Nevertheless, Catherine showed remarkable fortitude during the years 1533— 1536, refusing to bend to Henry’s demands and always believing she was his legitimate wife. Her death in January 1536, probably of a rare form of cancer, saw her striving to the end in a failed bid to bring Henry back to his senses and to her arms.
Timothy G. Elston
See also Boleyn, Anne; Education, Humanism, and Women; Power, Politics, and Women.
Bibliography
Claremont, Francesca. Catherine of Aragon. London: Robert Hale Limited, 1939.
Fraser, Antonia. The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Lon-don:Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1992.
Loades, David. Henry VIII and His Queens.
Gloucestershire, UK: Sutton, 1994. (Reprinted in 1997.)
Mattingly, Garrett. Catherine of Aragon. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1941.
Starkey, David. Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. New York: Harper Collins, 2003.
World History
