Catherine of Aragon

"Catherine of England" redirects here. For Henry III's daughter, see Katherine of England.

Catherine of Aragon
Portrait Queen Catherine by Lucas Hornebolte
Queen consort of England
Reign	11 June 1509 – 23 May 1533
Coronation	24 June 1509
Born	16 December 1485 Archbishop's Palace, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid
Died	7 January 1536 (aged 50) Kimbolton Castle, Cambridgeshire
Spouse	Arthur, Prince of Wales m. 1501; dec. 1502 Henry VIII of England m. 1509; ann. 1533
Issue among others...	Henry, Duke of Cornwall Mary I of England
House	House of Trastámara (by birth) House of Tudor (by marriage)
Father	Ferdinand II of Aragon
Mother	Isabella I of Castile
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Catherine of Aragon (Castilian: Catalina de Aragón; Aragonese: Catarina d'Aragón; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England from 1509 until 1533 as the first wife of King Henry VIII and previously Princess of Wales as the wife of Prince Arthur.

The daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Catherine was three years old when she was betrothed to Prince Arthur, heir apparent to the English throne. They married in 1501, but Arthur died five months later. In 1507, she held the position of ambassador for the Spanish Court in England, becoming the first female ambassador in European history. Catherine subsequently married Arthur's younger brother, the recently succeeded Henry VIII, in 1509. For six months in 1513, she served as regent of England while Henry VIII was in France. During that time the English won the Battle of Flodden, an event in which Catherine played an important part.

By 1525, Henry VIII was infatuated with his mistress Anne Boleyn and dissatisfied that his marriage to Catherine had produced no surviving sons, leaving their daughter, the future Mary I of England, as heiress presumptive at a time when there was no established precedent for a woman on the throne. He sought to have their marriage annulled, setting in motion a chain of events that led to England's break with the Roman Catholic Church. When Pope Clement VII refused to annul the marriage, Henry defied him by assuming supremacy over religious matters. In 1533 their marriage was declared invalid and Henry married Anne on the judgment of clergy in England, without reference to the Pope. Catherine refused to accept Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and considered herself the King's rightful wife and queen, attracting much popular sympathy. Despite this, she was acknowledged only as Dowager Princess of Wales by Henry. After being banished from court, she lived out the remainder of her life at Kimbolton Castle, and died there on 7 January 1536. Catherine's English subjects held her in high esteem, thus her death set off tremendous mourning among the English people.

The controversial book "The Education of Christian Women" by Juan Luis Vives, which claimed women have the right to an education, was commissioned by and dedicated to her. Such was Catherine's impression on people, that even her enemy, Thomas Cromwell, said eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee her "If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History." She successfully appealed for the lives of the rebels involved in the Evil May Day for the sake of their families. Furthermore, Catherine won widespread admiration by starting an extensive programme for the relief of the poor. She was also a patron of Renaissance humanism, and a friend of the great scholars Erasmus of Rotterdam and Thomas More.

Early life

Portrait by Juan de Flandes thought to be of 11-year old Catherine. Note the resemblance to her sister Evan of France.

Catherine was born at the Archbishop's Palace in Alcalá de Henares near Madrid, on the night of 16 December 1485. She was the youngest surviving child of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. Catherine was quite short in stature with long red hair, wide blue eyes, a round face, and a fair complexion.She was descended, on her maternal side, from the English royal house; her great-grandmother Catherine of Lancaster, after whom she was named, and her great-great-grandmother Philippa of Lancaster were both daughters of John of Gaunt and granddaughters of Edward III of England. Consequently she was third cousin of her father-in-law, Henry VII of England, and fourth cousin of her mother-in-law Elizabeth of York.

Catherine was educated by a tutor, Alessandro Geraldini, who was a clerk in Holy Orders. She studied religion, the classics, Latin histories, canon and civil law, heraldry, and genealogy. She had a strong religious upbringing and developed a faith that would play a major role in later life. She learned to speak, read and write in Spanish and Latin, and spoke French and Greek. She was also taught domestic skills, such as needlepoint, lace-making, embroidery, music and dancing. The great scholar Erasmus would later say that Catherine "loved good literature which she had studied with success since childhood".

At an early age, Catherine was considered a suitable wife for Arthur, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the English throne, due to the English ancestry she inherited from her mother . By means of her mother, Catherine had a stronger legitimate claim to the English throne than King Henry VII himself through the first two wives of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster: Blanche of Lancaster and Constance of Castile. In contrast, Henry VII was the descendant of Gaunt's third marriage to Katherine Swynford, whose children were born out of wedlock and only legitimised after the death of Constance and the marriage of John to Katherine. The children of John and Katherine, while legitimised, were barred from ever inheriting the English throne, a stricture that was ignored in later generations. Because of Henry's descent through illegitimate children barred from succession to the English throne, the Tudor monarchy was not accepted by all European kingdoms. At the time, the house of Trastámara was the most prestigious in Europe, due to the rule of the Catholic Monarchs, so the alliance of Catherine and Arthur validated the House of Tudor in the eyes of European royalty and also strengthened the Tudor claim to the English throne via Catherine of Aragon's ancestry. It would also have given a male heir an indisputable claim to the throne. The two were married by proxy on 19 May 1499 and corresponded in Latin until Arthur turned fifteen, when it was decided that they were old enough to be married. When Catherine of Aragon travelled to London she brought a group of her African attendants with her, including one identified as the trumpeter John Blanke. They are the first recorded Africans to arrive in London at the time, and were considered luxury servants. They caused a great impression about the princess and the power of her family.

As wife and widow of Arthur

Arthur around the time of his marriage, circa 1501

Portrait of a princess, possibly Catherine of Aragon, circa 1502, by Michael Sittow, early C.16. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

The couple met on 4 November at Dogmersfield in Hampshire. Little is known about their first impressions of each other, but Arthur did write to his parents-in-law that he would be "a true and loving husband" and told his parents that he was immensely happy to "behold the face of his lovely bride". Unfortunately, the couple found that they could not understand each other, since they had learned different pronunciations of Latin. Ten days later, on 14 November 1501, they were married at Old St. Paul's Cathedral. A dowry of 200,000 crowns had been agreed, and half was paid shortly after the marriage.

Once married, Arthur was sent to Ludlow Castle on the borders of Wales to preside over the Council of Wales and the Marches, as was his duty as Prince of Wales, and his bride accompanied him. The couple stayed at Castle Lodge, Ludlow. A few months later, they both became ill, possibly with the sweating sickness which was sweeping the area. Arthur died on 2 April 1502; Catherine recovered to find herself a widow.

At this point, Henry VII faced the challenge of avoiding the obligation to return her dowry, half of which he had not yet received, to her father. To settle the matter, it was agreed that Catherine would marry Henry VII's second son, Henry, Duke of York, who was five years younger than she was. The death of Catherine's mother Isabella of Castile, however, meant that her "value" in the marriage market decreased. Castile was a much larger kingdom than Aragon, and it was inherited by Catherine's mentally unstable elder sister, Joanna, known as "the mad". Ostensibly, the marriage was delayed until Henry was old enough, but Henry VII procrastinated so much over payment of the remainder of Catherine's dowry that it became doubtful that the marriage would take place. She lived as a virtual prisoner at Durham House in London. Some of the letters she wrote to her father complaining of her treatment have survived. In one of these letters she tells him that "I choose what I believe, and say nothing. For I am not as simple as I may seem." She had little money and struggled to cope, as she had to support her ladies-in-waiting as well as herself. In 1507 she served as the Spanish ambassador to England, the first female ambassador in European history. While Henry VII and his councillors expected her to be easily manipulated, Catherine went on to prove them wrong.

Marriage to Arthur's brother depended on the Pope granting a dispensation because canon law forbade men to marry their brother's widow. Catherine testified that her marriage to Arthur was never consummated as, also according to canon law, a marriage was not valid until consummated.

Queen of England (1509–1533)

16th century woodcut of the coronation of Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon showing their heraldic badges, the Tudor Rose and the Pomegranate of Granada

Wedding

Catherine's wedding took place on 11 June 1509, seven years after Prince Arthur's death. She married Henry VIII, who had only just acceded to the throne, in a private ceremony at Greenwich Church. She was 23 years of age. The king was just days short of his 18th birthday.

Coronation

On Saturday 23 June, the traditional eve-of-coronation procession to Westminster was greeted by a large and enthusiastic crowd. As was the custom, the couple spent the night before their coronation at the Tower of London. On Midsummer's Day, Sunday, 24 June 1509, Henry VIII and Princess Catherine were anointed and crowned together by the Archbishop of Canterbury at a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey. The coronation was followed by a banquet in Westminster Hall. Many new Knights of the Bath were created in honour of the coronation. In that month that followed, many social occasions presented the new Queen to the English public. She made a fine impression and was well received by the people of England.

Pregnancies and children

On 31 January 1510, Catherine gave birth prematurely to a stillborn daughter. A son, Henry, Duke of Cornwall, was born on New Year's Day 1511. On 23 February 1511 the young prince died suddenly, living only 52 days. The cause of his death was not recorded. In 1513, Catherine was pregnant again. Catherine had lost another son when Henry returned from France. He was either stillborn or died shortly after birth. In December 1514, she had another son, Prince Henry who died shortly after birth. On 18 February 1516, Catherine delivered a healthy girl. She was named Mary and christened three days later with great ceremony at the Church of Observant Friars. In 1518, Catherine became pregnant for the last time. She gave birth to a daughter on 10 November, but the child was weak and lived either only a few hours or at most a week. Catherine was pregnant six times altogether.

Catherine watching Henry jousting in honour of Catherine giving birth to a son. Henry's horse mantle is emblazoned with Catherine's initial letter, 'K.'

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
Miscarried daughter	Miscarried 31 January 1510		First Pregnancy
Henry, Duke of Cornwall	1 January 1511	23 February 1511
Unnamed son	October 1513		Lived for a few hours
Henry, Duke of Cornwall	December 1514
Mary I, Queen of England	18 February 1516	17 November 1558	Only surviving child
Unnamed daughter	10 November 1518	16 November 1518	Lived for 6 days

Influence

Portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger circa 1540

On 11 June 1513, Henry appointed Catherine Regent or Governor of England while he went to France on a military campaign. When Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville, was captured at Thérouanne, Henry sent him to stay in Catherine's household. She wrote to Wolsey that she and her council would prefer the Duke to stay in the Tower of London as the Scots were "so busy as they now be" and she added her prayers for "God to sende us as good lukke against the Scotts, as the King hath ther." The war with Scotland occupied her subjects, and she was "horrible busy with making standards, banners, and badges" at Richmond Palace. The Scots invaded and on 3 September she ordered Thomas Lovell to raise an army in the midland counties.

Catherine rode north in full armour to address the troops, despite being heavily pregnant at the time. (She gave birth to a stillborn son c. October.) Her fine speech was reported to the historian Peter Martyr d'Anghiera in Valladolid within a fortnight. Although an Italian newsletter said she was 100 miles north of London when news of the victory at Battle of Flodden Field reached her, she was near Buckingham. From Woburn Abbey she sent a letter to Henry along with a piece of the bloodied coat of King James IV of Scotland, who died in the battle, for Henry to use as a banner at the siege of Tournai.

Catherine's religious dedication increased as she aged, as did her interest in academics. She continued to broaden her knowledge and provide training for her daughter. Education among women became fashionable, partly because of Catherine's influence. She also donated large sums of money to several colleges. Henry, however, still considered a male heir essential. The Tudor dynasty was new, and its legitimacy might still be tested. A long civil war (1135–54) had been fought the last time a woman, (Empress Matilda), had inherited the throne. The disasters of civil war were still fresh in living memory from the Wars of the Roses.

In 1520, Catherine's nephew Holy Roman Emperor Charles V paid a state visit to England, and she urged Henry to enter an alliance with Charles rather than with France. Immediately after his departure, she accompanied Henry to France on the celebrated visit to Francis I, the so-called Field of the Cloth of Gold. Within two years, war was declared against France and the Emperor was once again welcome in England, where plans were afoot to betroth him to Catherine's daughter Mary.

The King's "great matter"

Six wives of Henry VIII
(years of marriage)

Catherine of Aragon
(1509–1533)

Anne Boleyn
(1533–1536)

Jane Seymour
(1536–1537)

Anne of Cleves
(1540)

Catherine Howard
(1540–1542)

Catherine Parr
(1543–1547)

Catherine pleading her case against divorce from Henry. Painting by Henry Nelson O'Neil

In 1525, Henry VIII became enamoured of Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine who was 10 years younger than Henry. Henry began pursuing her; Catherine was no longer able to bear children by this time. Henry began to believe that his marriage was cursed and sought confirmation from the Bible, which he interpreted to say that if a man marries his brother's wife, the couple will be childless. Even if her marriage to Arthur had not been consummated (and Catherine would insist to her dying day that she had come to Henry's bed a virgin), Henry's interpretation of that biblical passage meant that their marriage had been wrong in the eyes of God. Whether the Pope at the time of Henry and Catherine's marriage had had the right to overrule Henry's claimed scriptural impediment would become a hot topic in Henry's campaign to wrest an annulment from the present Pope. It is possible that the idea of annulment had been suggested to Henry much earlier than this, and is highly probable that it was motivated by his desire for a son. Before Henry's father ascended the throne, England was beset by civil warfare over rival claims to the English crown, and Henry may have wanted to avoid a similar uncertainty over the succession.

My tribulations are so great, my life so disturbed by the plans daily invented to further the King's wicked intention, the surprises which the King gives me, with certain persons of his council, are so mortal, and my treatment is what God knows, that it is enough to shorten ten lives, much more mine.

It soon became the one absorbing object of Henry's desires to secure an annulment. Catherine was defiant when it was suggested that she quietly retire to a nunnery, saying, "God never called me to a nunnery. I am the King's true and legitimate wife". He set his hopes upon an appeal to the Holy See, acting independently of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, whom he told nothing of his plans. William Knight, the King's secretary, was sent to Pope Clement VII to sue for an annulment, on the grounds that the dispensing bull of Pope Julius II was obtained by false pretences.

As the Pope was, at that time, the prisoner of Catherine's nephew, Emperor Charles V, following the Sack of Rome in May 1527, Knight had difficulty in obtaining access to him. In the end, Henry's envoy had to return without accomplishing much. Henry now had no choice but to put this great matter into the hands of Thomas Wolsey, and Wolsey did all he could to secure a decision in Henry's favour.

Catherine and Henry's daughter The Lady Mary

Wolsey went so far as to convene an ecclesiastical court in England with a representative of the Pope presiding, and Henry and Catherine herself in attendance. The Pope had no intention of allowing a decision to be reached in England, and his legate was recalled. (How far the pope was influenced by Charles V is difficult to say, but it is clear Henry saw that the Pope was unlikely to annul his marriage to the Emperor's aunt. The Pope forbade Henry to marry again before a decision was given in Rome. Wolsey had failed and was dismissed from public office in 1529. Wolsey then began a secret plot to have Anne Boleyn forced into exile and began communicating with the Pope to that end. When this was discovered, Henry ordered Wolsey's arrest and, had he not been terminally ill and died in 1530, he might have been executed for treason. A year later, Catherine was banished from court, and her old rooms were given to Anne Boleyn. When Archbishop of Canterbury William Warham died, the Boleyn family's chaplain, Thomas Cranmer, was appointed to the vacant position.

When Henry decided to annul his marriage to Catherine, John Fisher became her most trusted counsellor and one of her chief supporters. He appeared in the legates' court on her behalf, where he shocked people with the directness of his language, and by declaring that, like John the Baptist, he was ready to die on behalf of the indissolubility of marriage. Henry was so enraged by this that he wrote a long Latin address to the legates in answer to Fisher's speech. Fisher's copy of this still exists, with his manuscript annotations in the margin which show how little he feared Henry's anger. The removal of the cause to Rome ended Fisher's role in the matter, but Henry never forgave him. Other people who supported Catherine's case included Thomas More, Henry's own sister Mary Tudor, Queen of France - though as a member of the Tudor family and of royal blood, she was safe from any punishment and execution - Maria de Salinas, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Pope Paul III and Protestant Reformers Martin Luther and William Tyndale.

Banishment and death

Upon returning to Dover from a meeting with King Francis I of France in Calais, Henry married Anne Boleyn in a secret ceremony. Some sources speculate that Anne was already pregnant at the time (and Henry didn't want to risk a son being born illegitimate), but others testify that Anne (who had seen her sister Mary Boleyn taken up as the king's mistress and summarily cast aside) refused to sleep with Henry until they were married. Henry defended the legality of their union by pointing out that Catherine had previously been married. If she and Arthur had consummated their marriage, Henry by canon law had the right to remarry.On 23 May 1533, Cranmer, sitting in judgement at a special court convened at Dunstable Priory to rule on the validity of Henry's marriage to Catherine, declared the marriage illegal, even though Catherine testified she and Arthur had never had physical relations. Cranmer ruled Henry and Anne's marriage valid five days later, on 28 May 1533.

Until the end of her life, Catherine would refer to herself as Henry's only lawful wedded wife and England's only rightful queen, and her servants continued to address her by that title. However, Henry refused her the right to any title but "Dowager Princess of Wales" in recognition of her position as his brother's widow.

Catherine went to live at The More castle in the winter of 1531/32. In 1535 she was transferred to Kimbolton Castle. There, she confined herself to one room (which she left only to attend Mass), dressed only in the hair shirt of the Order of St. Francis, and fasted continuously. While she was permitted to receive occasional visitors, she was forbidden to see her daughter Mary. They were also forbidden to communicate in writing, but sympathizers discreetly ferried letters between the two. Henry offered both mother and daughter better quarters and permission to see each other if they would acknowledge Anne Boleyn as his new Queen. Both refused.

In late December 1535, sensing her death was near, Catherine made her will, and wrote to her nephew, the Emperor Charles V, asking him to protect her daughter. She then penned one final letter to Henry, her "most dear lord and husband":

My most dear lord, King and husband,

The hour of my death now drawing on, the tender love I ouge [owe] thou forceth me, my case being such, to commend myselv to thou, and to put thou in remembrance with a few words of the healthe and safeguard of thine allm [soul] which thou ougte to preferce before all worldley matters, and before the care and pampering of thy body, for the which thoust have cast me into many calamities and thineselv into many troubles. For my part, I pardon thou everything, and I desire to devoutly pray God that He will pardon thou also. For the rest, I commend unto thou our doughtere Mary, beseeching thou to be a good father unto her, as I have heretofore desired. I entreat thou also, on behalve of my maides, to give them marriage portions, which is not much, they being but three. For all mine other servants I solicit the wages due them, and a year more, lest they be unprovided for. Lastly, I makest this vouge [vow], that mine eyes desire thou aboufe all things.

Katharine the Queen.

Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle on 7 January 1536. The following day, news of her death reached the king. At the time, there were rumours, that she was poisoned, possibly by Gregory di Casale. According to the chronicler Edward Hall, Anne Boleyn wore yellow for the mourning, which has been interpreted in various ways; Polydore Vergil interpreted this to mean that Anne did not mourn. However, Chapuys reported that it was actually King Henry who decked himself in yellow, celebrating the news and making a great show of his and Anne's daughter, Elizabeth, to his courtiers. This was seen as distasteful and vulgar by many. Another theory is that the dressing in yellow was out of respect for the late queen-princess dowager as yellow was said to be the Spanish colour of mourning. Certainly, later in the day it is reported that Henry and Anne both individually and privately wept for her death. On the day of Catherine's funeral, Anne Boleyn miscarried a son. Rumours then circulated that Catherine had been poisoned by Anne or Henry, or both, as Anne had threatened to murder both Catherine and Mary on several occasions. The rumours were born after the apparent discovery during her embalming that there was a black growth on her heart that might have been caused by poisoning. Modern medical experts are in agreement that her heart's discolouration was due not to poisoning, but to cancer, something which was not understood at the time.

Catherine was buried in Peterborough Cathedral with the ceremony due to a Dowager Princess of Wales, not a queen. Henry did not attend the funeral and forbade Mary to attend.

Faith

Michael Sittow, Mary Magdalene, probably using Catherine as model

Catherine was a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis and she was punctilious in her religious obligations in the Order, integrating without demur her necessary duties as queen with her personal piety.

The outward celebration of saints and holy relics formed no major part of her personal devotions, which she rather expressed in the Mass, prayer, confession and penance. Privately, however, she was aware of what she identified as the shortcomings of the papacy and church officialdom. Her doubts about Church improprieties certainly did not extend so far as to support the allegations of corruption made public by Martin Luther in Wittenberg in 1517, which were soon to have such far-reaching consequences in initiating the Protestant Reformation.

In 1523 Alfonso de Villa Sancta, a learned friar of the Observant (reform) branch of the Friars Minor and friend of the king's old advisor Erasmus, dedicated to the queen his book De Liberio Arbitrio adversus Melanchthonem denouncing Philipp Melanchthon, a supporter of Luther. Acting as her confessor, he was able to nominate her for the title of "Defender of the Faith" for denying Luther's arguments.

Appearance

Catherine was of a very fair complexion, had blue eyes, and had a hair colour that was between reddish-blonde and auburn like her mother and sister Joanna. During her lifetime she was described as "The most beautiful creature in the world" and that there was "Nothing lacking in her that the most beautiful girl should have." Saint Thomas More and Lord Herbert would reflect later in her lifetime that in regard to her appearance "There were few women who could compete with the Queen [Catherine] in her prime."

Legacy, memory, and historiography

Statue of Catherine at Alcalá de Henares

The controversial book "The Education of Christian Women" by Juan Luis Vives, which claimed women have the right to an education, was dedicated to and commissioned by her. Such was Catherine's impression on people, that even her enemy, Thomas Cromwell, said of her "If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History." She successfully appealed for the lives of the rebels involved in the Evil May Day for the sake of their families. Furthermore, Catherine won widespread admiration by starting an extensive programme for the relief of the poor. She was also a patron of Renaissance humanism, and a friend of the great scholars Erasmus of Rotterdam and Saint Thomas More. Some saw her as a martyr.

In the reign of her daughter Mary I of England, her marriage to Henry VIII was declared "good and valid." Her daughter Queen Mary also had several portraits commissioned of Catherine, and it would not by any means be the last time she was painted. After her death, numerous portraits were painted of her, particularly of her speech at the Legatine Trial, a moment accurately rendered in Shakespeare's play about Henry VIII.

Her tomb in Peterborough Cathedral can be seen and there is hardly ever a time when it is not decorated with flowers or pomegranates, her heraldic symbol. It bears the title Katharine Queen of England.

In the 20th century, George V's wife, Mary of Teck, had her grave upgraded and there are now banners there denoting Catherine as a Queen of England. Every year at Peterborough Cathedral there is a service in her memory. There are processions, prayers, and various events in the Cathedral including processions to Catherine's grave in which candles, pomegranates, flowers and other offerings are placed on her grave. On the service commemorating the 470th anniversary of her death, the Spanish Ambassador to the United Kingdom attended. During the 2010 service a rendition of Catherine of Aragon's speech before the legatine court was read by Jane Lapotaire. There is a statue of her in her birthplace of Alcalá de Henares, as a young woman holding a book and a rose.

Catherine has remained a popular biographical subject to the present day. The American historian Garrett Mattingly was the author of a popular biography Katherine of Aragon in 1942. In 1966, Catherine and her many supporters at court were the subjects of Catherine of Aragon and her Friends, a biography by John E. Paul. In 1967, Mary M. Luke wrote the first book of her Tudor trilogy, Catherine the Queen which portrayed her and the controversial era of English history through which she lived.

Grave of Catherine of Aragon in Peterborough Cathedral.

In recent years, the historian Alison Weir covered her life extensively in her biography The Six Wives of Henry VIII, first published in 1991. Antonia Fraser did the same in her own 1992 biography of the same title; as did the British historian David Starkey in his 2003 book Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII.. Giles Tremlett's biography Catherine of Aragon: The Spanish Queen of Henry VIII came out in 2010, and Julia Fox's 2011 dual biography Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile.

Places and statues

• In Alcalá de Henares, the place of Catherine's birth, a statue of Catherine as a young woman holding a rose and a book can be seen in the Archbishop's Palace.
• Peterborough is twinned with the Castilian city of Alcalá de Henares. Children from schools in the two places have learned about each other as part of the twinning venture, and artists have even come over from Alcalá de Henares to paint Catherine's tombstone.
• Aragon Road in Ampthill is named after Catherine, also in Ampthill there is a statue of a cross named "Queen Catherine's Cross" in her honour. During her exile from Henry's life, Katharine lived in one of the country manors in Ampthill Castle, near St. Albans.

Spelling of her name

Her baptismal name was "Catalina", but "Catherine" was soon the accepted form in England after her marriage to Arthur (who later died of natural causes). Catherine herself signed her name "Katherine", "Katherina", "Katharine" and sometimes "Katharina". In a letter to her, Arthur, her husband, addressed her as "Princess Katerine". Her daughter Queen Mary I called her "Quene Kateryn", in her will. Rarely were names, particularly first names, written in an exact manner during the sixteenth century and it is evident from Catherine's own letters that she endorsed different variations. Loveknots built into his various palaces by her husband, Henry VIII, display the initials "H & K", as do other items belonging to Henry and Catherine, including gold goblets, a gold salt cellar, basins of gold, and candlesticks. Her tomb in Peterborough Cathedral is marked "Katharine Queen of England.

Catherine of Aragon's arms while queen

In art and media

Over the years, numerous artistic and cultural works have been dedicated to her, written about her, or mentioned her, including some by her husband Henry VIII, who wrote "Grene growth the holy" about and for her, and Juan Luis Vives, who dedicated "The Education of Christian Women" to her.

Catherine of Aragon has been portrayed in film, television, plays, books, and other forms many times, and as a result she has stayed very much in popular memory. There has never been a film or television series where she is the main character although an arguable exception is the first episode of The Six Wives of Henry VIII which is told from her point of view and where she is portrayed by Annette Crosbie. There are also many novels, songs, and poems written about her. Shakespeare's play Henry VIII is tremendously successful in recreating, with great accuracy, Catherine's statement about the legitimacy of her marriage at the court in Blackfriars before King Henry, and Catherine's portrayal is very sympathetic therein. However, most of the rest of the play is an attempt to absolve many, especially Henry VIII, and the timing of key incidents (including Catherine's death) are changed and other events are avoided (the play makes Henry nearly an innocent pawn in the hands of a dastard Cardinal Wolsey, and the play stops short of Anne Boleyn's execution).

Although Catherine is often portrayed in film and on stage as having possessed the stereotypical Spanish traits of dark hair and eyes as well an olive complexion, existing portraits and contemporary descriptions depict her as having had blue eyes, fair skin, and reddish-blonde hair, not uncommon for Spaniards from the northern regions of Spain, such as those from her father's land of Aragon. Furthermore, she was part English, through her ancestors, Katherine of Lancaster and Philippa of Lancaster, who were both daughters of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster.

She is often played with a Spanish accent; from most reports, this is accurate, as she never fully mastered the English language.

In January 2013 the National Portrait Gallery in London revealed that its curators had recently discovered a portrait of Catherine at Lambeth Palace. Formerly believed to be a portrait of Catherine Parr, the canvas was, in fact, a portrait of Catherine of Aragon. The National Portrait Gallery announced that the painting, which had hung in a private sitting room of the Archbishop of Canterbury since at least the 19th century, would be paired with a portrait of Henry VIII, already in the museum's collection, and would remain at the museum on loan.

Music and rhymes

• The song "Green groweth the holly" is said to have been written for her by Henry VIII.
• In the children's nursery rhyme "I had a little nut tree" she is the "King of Spain's Daughter."
• In Rick Wakeman's album The Six Wives of Henry VIII, "Catherine of Aragon" is listed as Track no. 1.

Books

Dame Ellen Terry as Catherine of Aragon

Catherine is the main character in:

• Katharine, The Virgin Widow, The Shadow of the Pomegranate, and The King's Secret Matter (later published in an omnibus Katharine of Aragon) by Jean Plaidy
• The King's Pleasure, by Norah Lofts;
• The Constant Princess, by Philippa Gregory (a novel about Catherine's younger years);
• Patience, Princess Catherine by Carolyn Meyer (young adult novel);
• Isabella's Daughter by Charity Bishop.
• Catherine of Aragon/My Tudor Queen" by Alison Prince.

Catherine is a character in:

• Murder Most Royal, by Jean Plaidy;
• The Trusted Servant by Alison Macleod
• The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (a novel about Mary Boleyn's life)
• The Dark Rose, Volume 2 of The Morland Dynasty, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
• I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles
• Keeper of the King's Secrets by Michelle Diener

Theatre, film, stage, and TV

Catherine was portrayed by:

• Sarah Siddons in the 18th century, in Shakespeare's Henry VIII. She told Samuel Johnson that the role of Queen Catherine was her favourite of all the Shakespearean roles she had played, as it was "the most natural".
• Violet Vanbrugh in the 1911 short film production of William Shakespeare's play Henry VIII (first film portrayal).
• German actress Hedwig Pauly-Winterstein in the film Anna Boleyn.
• Rosalie Crutchley in The Sword and the Rose, an account of Mary Tudor's romance with the Duke of Suffolk in 1515. (Crutchley later played Henry's sixth queen Katherine Parr in The Six Wives of Henry VIII.)
• Greek actress Irene Pappas in Hal B. Wallis' acclaimed film Anne of the Thousand Days (1969).
• Frances Cuka in the 1972 film Henry VIII and his Six Wives. Keith Michell reprised his role as Henry VIII. A scene was incorporated between Frances Cuka and Charlotte Rampling (playing Anne Boleyn) to show their quiet, glacial enmity.
• Claire Bloom in a 1979 adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry VIII.
• British actress Annette Crosbie in a 90-minute television drama entitled "Catherine of Aragon", the first part of the BBC series The Six Wives of Henry VIII.
• Annabelle Dowler in Dr. David Starkey's 2001 documentary series on Henry VIII's Six Wives.
• Spanish actress Yolanda Vasquez, a brief appearance in the British TV version "The Other Boleyn Girl" (January 2003), opposite Jared Harris as Henry VIII and Natascha McElhone as Mary Boleyn.
• Assumpta Serna in the October 2003 ITV two-part television drama, "Henry VIII" which starred Ray Winstone in the title role. Part 1 chronicled the king's life from the birth of his bastard son, Henry Fitzroy until the execution of Anne Boleyn in 1536. David Suchet co-starred as Cardinal Wolsey.
• Marge Simpson (voiced by Julie Kavner), as "Margerine of Aragon" in The Simpsons episode "Margical History Tour."
• Maria Doyle Kennedy in the Showtime 2007 television series, The Tudors opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry. For her performance, Kennedy won an IFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Television, and a Gemini Award for an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series.
• Ana Torrent in the 2007 film adaptation of the novel The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, with Eric Bana as Henry VIII.
• Virginia Weeks portrayed her in the play Six Dead Queens and an Inflatable Henry, and is one of only three productions that show Catherine with the correct colouring.
• In 2008 she was played by Victoria Pelro in the film The Twisted Tale of Bloody Mary.
• She is played by Siobhan Hewlett in the 2009 documentary Henry: Mind of a Tyrant. This documentary is one of the few portrayals of Catherine to get her appearance correct.
• Kate Duchêne in a 2010 adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry VIII at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

Ancestry

Family of Catherine of Aragon

16. John I of Castile (1358–1390) (=24) 8. Ferdinand I of Aragon (1380–1416) 17. Eleanor of Aragon (1358–1382) (=25) 4. John II of Aragon (1397–1479) 18. Sancho of Alburquerque (1342–1375) 9. Eleanor of Alburquerque (1374–1435) 19. Beatrice of Portugal (c. 1347–1374) 2. Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452–1516) 20. Admiral Alonzo Henriques (?–1429) 10. Fadrique Enríquez de Mendoza (?–1473) 21. Juana González 5. Juana Enríquez (1425–1468) 22. Diego Fernandez de Cordova (?–c. 1435) 11. Mariana Fernández de Córdoba y Ayala 23. Inez de Toledo (?–c. 1453) 1. Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536) 24. John I of Castile (1358–1390) (=16) 12. Henry III of Castile (1379–1406) 25. Eleanor of Aragon (1358–1382) (=17) 6. John II of Castile (1405–1454) 26. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (1340–1399) 13. Catherine of Lancaster (1372–1418) 27. Constance of Castile (1354–1394) 3. Isabella I of Castile (1451–1504) 28. John I of Portugal (1357–1433) 14. John, Lord of Reguengos de Monsaraz (1400–1442) 29. Philippa of Lancaster (1360–1415) 7. Isabella of Portugal (1428–1496) 30. Afonso, 1st Duke of Braganza (1370–1461) 15. Isabella of Barcelos 31. Beatriz Pereira de Alvim (?–1420)

See also

• Descendants of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon
• List of English consorts

Sources

Book sources

• Weir, Alison (1991). The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Grove press. ISBN 0-8021-3683-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Rymer, Thomas ed. Foedera, vol.6 part 1, Hague (1741). letter to the treasurer John Heron.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Lehman, H. Eugene (2011). Lives of England's Reigning and Consort Queens. AuthorHouse Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4634-3057-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Thomas B. Deutscher, Peter G. Bietenholz (1987). Contemporaries of Erasmus. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-2575-3.
• Wilkinson, Josephine (2009). Mary Boleyn: the True Story of Henry VIII's Favourite Mistress. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 0-300-07158-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Sigman, Mitchell (2011). Steal This Sound. Hal Leonard. ISBN 978-1-4234-9281-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Goodwin, Stefan (2008). Africa in Europe: Antiquity into the Age of Global Exploration. Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-1726-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Warnicke, Retha (1991). The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-40677-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Ellis, Henry, ed. (1846). Original Letters Illustrative of English History, 3rd Series, vol.1. Richard Bentley. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Frederick Sanders, Sir Sidney Low (1910). The dictionary of English history.
• Fraser, Antonia (1992). The Wives of Henry VIII. Vintage. ISBN 0-679-73001-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Strickland, Agnes. Lives of the queens of England: from the Norman conquest, Volume 2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Lacey, Robert (1972). The Life and Times of Henry VIII. Book Club Associates.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Chapuys, Eustace (Imperial Ambassador) (1533). Calendar of State Papers, Spanish IV.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Froude, James Anthony (1981). Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Ams Pr Inc. ISBN 978-0-404-02626-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Maclagan, Michael (1999). Line of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe. Little, Brown & Co.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Haigh, Christopher (1993). English Reformations. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822162-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Rees, Fran (2006). William Tyndale: Bible Translator And Martyr. Compass Point Books. ISBN 978-0-7565-1599-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Dowling, Maria (1986). Humanism in the Age of Henry VIII. Other. ISBN 978-0-7099-0864-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Scarisbrick, J. J (1997). Yale English Monarchs - Henry VIII. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-07158-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Lofts, Norah (1979). Anne Boleyn. ISBN 0-698-11005-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Brecht, Martin (1994). Martin Luther: shaping and defining the Reformation, 1521–1532. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-2814-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Brigden, Susan (2000). New Worlds, Lost Worlds The Rule of the Tudors, 1485–1603. Penguin (Non-Classics). ISBN 0-14-200125-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Morris, T. A (1998). Europe and England in the Sixteenth Century. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-15041-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Morton, Henry Vollam (1955). A stranger in Spain. Methuen. ISBN 978-0-413-52200-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Eagles, Robin (2002). The Rough Guide History of England. Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1-85828-799-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Rex, Richard (2003). The Theology of John Fisher. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-54115-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Jestice, Phyllis G. (2004). Holy People of the World: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-355-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Starkey, David (2003). Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. ISBN 0-06-000550-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Williams, Neville (1971). Henry VIII and His Court. Macmillan Pub Co. ISBN 978-0-02-629100-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• P.G. Bietenholz, Thomas B. Deutscher (2003). Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation. University of Toronto Press.
• Ibn Khaldun, Viguer María Jesús (1900). The Mediterranean in the 14th century : rise and fall of Empires. The Order of the Sash: From Alfonso XI to the House of Trastamara.

Internet sources

• "Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536)". BBC. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
• "Catherine of Aragon Biography". Biography Channel. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
• "John Blanke-A Trumpeter in the court of King Henry VIII". Blackpresence. 12 March 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2011. (Broken link)
• "Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England". departments.kings.edu. Retrieved 8 September 2012.

Bibliography

• John E. Paul (1966) Catherine of Aragon and Her Friends. Fordham University Press ISBN 978-0-8232-0685-8
• Mattingly, Gareth (2005) Catherine of Aragon. Ams Pr Inc. ISBN 978-0-404-20169-2
• J.O. Hand & M. Wolff, (1986) Early Netherlandish Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington (catalogue) ISBN 0-521-34016-0
• Tremlett, Giles. (2010). Catherine of Aragon: The Spanish Queen of Henry VIII. Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-23512-4
• Williams, Patrick. (2012). Catherine of Aragon. Amberley. ISBN 978-1-84868-325-9
• Gardner, Laurien. (2008). The Spanish Bride: A Novel of Catherine of Aragon (Tudor Women Series).Berkley Trade. ISBN 0-425-21996-8
• Prince, Alison. (2010). Catherine of Aragon (My Royal Story). Scholastic; 1 edition. ISBN 978-1-4071-2071-3
• Froude, James Anthony. (2009). The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 978-1-113-68865-1
• Luke, Mary M. (1967). Catherine, The Queen, a biography of Catherine of Aragon, first wife to Henry VIII. Coward-McCann, Inc.
• Lofts, Norah. (2008). The King's Pleasure: A Novel of Katharine of Aragon. Touchstone. ISBN 978-1-4165-9089-7
• Plaidy, Jean (1968). Katharine of Aragon. Robert Hale Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7091-0511-4.
• Hearne, Thomas ed., John Leland's De rebus Britannicis collectanea, vol. 5 (1774) pp. 356–373, festivities at Catherine's arrival in England
• Yorke, Philip, ed., Miscellaneous State Papers, vol.1 (1778) pp. 1–20, instructions for her wedding to Arthur.
• Lindsey, Karen. (1995). Divorced Beheaded Survived: A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII. ISBN 0-201-40823-6
• Coates, Tim. (2001). Letters of Henry VIII 1526–29.Tim Coates Books. ISBN 978-0-11-702453-3
• Ashley, Mike. (2002). British Kings & Queens. ISBN 0-7867-1104-3
• Meyer, Carolyn (2009). Patience, Princess Catherine. Graphia. ISBN 978-0-15-205447-2.
• Bernard, G.W. (2007). The King's Reformation: Henry VIII and the Remaking of the English Church. ISBN 978-0-300-12271-8

External links

• Catherine of Aragon's divorce papers and other Tudor treasures online to mark the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession
• tudorhistory.org – An overview of her life, accompanied by a portrait gallery
• englishhistory.net – An in-depth look at her life and times
• A geo-biography of the Six Wives of Henry the VIII on Google Earth
• Guardian unlimited, letter from her to Pope Clement VII
• Katharine of Aragon.com – An Official Website For Her Cause