Arthur, Prince of Wales

Arthur
Prince of Wales
Burial	Worcester Cathedral
Spouse	Catherine of Aragon
House	House of Tudor
Father	Henry VII
Mother	Elizabeth of York

Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales (19/20 September 1486 – 2 April 1502) was the first son of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and therefore, heir to the throne of England. As he predeceased his father, Arthur never became king. At Henry VII's death, the throne passed to Arthur's younger brother, who became King Henry VIII.

Early life

Name Arthur

Arthur's parents Elizabeth of York and Henry VII married January 1486. In order to strengthen his claim to the English throne, Henry set his personal genealogists to trace back his heritage to Cadwaladr and ancient British kings. The royal historians proclaimed that Henry was related to King Arthur, identifying Winchester in Hampshire as Camelot. Henry insisted that Elizabeth, now pregnant, would give birth to a son who would bring a golden age back into England, and Henry would name the boy Arthur in honour of his 'ancestor'.

Moving the court

Henry moved the court to Winchester for the birth of his unborn child, no doubt taking a huge gamble that the baby was in fact a son and not a daughter. It was there that the first Tudor Prince of Wales, Arthur, was born. His christening took place at Winchester Cathedral, his godfathers were Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby and John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford who was late for the ceremony. Elizabeth Woodville, his maternal grandmother, was his godmother and carried him during the ceremony. He was made a Knight of the Bath at his christening. It is not known if Arthur was a robust child when born. In Arthur's Church History it says: ". . . [Arthur Tudor was] yet vital and vigorous", while Francis Bacon describes him as, "Born in the eighth month, as the physicians do prejudge," yet "strong and able". Some historians suggest that his death resulted from a life-long weakness, but others disagree. Philipa Jones has pointed out that there was never any discussion of Arthur being ill or weak during his lifetime. She argues that Arthur was betrothed to Catherine of Aragon from the age of two: if he had been weak and sickly it would have been reported to Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, Catherine's parents.

Arthur's earliest surviving portrait, painted in his early or pre-teens, shows him with red Tudor hair, small eyes, and a high-bridged nose.

Betrothal and alliance

Arthur's father, Henry VII, was eager to strengthen his kingdom through an alliance with newly-united Spain, seeking the support of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, against French interests and possible aggression. When Arthur was two years old, a marriage with the Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon (in Spain, Catalina de Aragón) was arranged for him as part of the Treaty of Medina del Campo. The auburn-haired Catherine was the youngest daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand. Isabella and Ferdinand were in no hurry to have their daughter married, and, although the treaty had been made, they were still open to other options. Ferdinand was more than ready to break the treaty if the pretenders to the throne of England did not vanish. Therefore, in 1499, Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick was beheaded, and the pretender Perkin Warbeck, who some contemporaries asserted was Edward IV's illegitimate son, was hanged.

Childhood

In 1489, just after Arthur had turned three, his father decided it was time for Arthur to be created Prince of Wales. Arthur was brought to Westminster in November 1489; it was hoped that the ceremony would coincide with the birth of the next royal child. His mother Elizabeth of York went into labour during his creation as a Knight of the Bath on the 29th and Elizabeth gave birth to Margaret Tudor on St Andrew's Day. The following day he was formally created Prince of Wales in the Parliament Chamber.

As heir apparent, Arthur was carefully educated. His tutors were John Rede and the blind poet Bernard André (who, in his unfinished biography of Henry VII, stated that Arthur was familiar with all the best Latin and Greek authors). Arthur was known to be studious, thoughtful and reserved. When Arthur was fourteen or fifteen years old, Thomas Linacre (or Lynaker) began to teach him. The Prince's governor and treasurer was Sir Henry Vernon, and Arthur may frequently have lived at Sir Henry's residence, Haddon Hall, in Derbyshire: in the house was an apartment, called "The Prince's Chamber", adorned with Arthur's coat of arms. Some historians maintain that Arthur had a bond with Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, who defended the northern border of England against the Scots.

It is unknown if Arthur was close to his siblings; their reaction to his death is not recorded. His sister Margaret Tudor would later name one of her short-lived sons Arthur, Duke of Rothesay in honour of her deceased older brother in 1509, at the time of their father's death and her younger brother Henry's accession to the throne, the year in which Arthur should have become King. As for Arthur's relationship with his brother, it is unknown if they knew each other well as Arthur had been sent to Ludlow Castle when the young future Henry VIII was only a year old.

In 1492 at the age of 6, Arthur was sent to live at Ludlow Castle in the Welsh marches to begin his proper training for kingship. This model of residing at Ludlow was copied by Henry VII from the model his predecessor and father in law Edward IV of England had used for the education of his son Edward V of England. Arthur was served by sons of prominent members of English, Welsh and Irish society, such as Gearoid Óg FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare the son of Gerald Fitzgerald, 8th Earl of Kildare who was brought to the English court over his father's role in assisting and crowning of Lambert Simnel in Ireland in Henry VII's early reign. The Fitzgeralds of Kildare at this time more or less ruled Ireland, Anthony Willoughby a son of Robert Willoughby, Baron Willoughby of Broke, Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex, the heir of Lord Fitzwalter, Maurice St John (a favourite nephew of Arthur's grandmother Lady Margaret Beaufort), and Gruffydd ap Rhys the son of Thomas ap Rhys (a powerful Welsh nobleman). Arthur seems to have been developed a close friendship with Gruffydd, and when Gruffydd himself died in 1521 prematurely his tomb was placed in Worcester Cathedral where Arthur himself rests.

Marriage

Arthur around the time of his marriage c.1501

For two years, Arthur wrote numerous letters in Latin to his bride-to-be, and she would formally reply. However, as the young couple had never met, the letters were written as instructed by their tutors and were more polite than passionate. When Arthur was fourteen, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile promised to send their daughter Catalina (later known as Catherine) to England, but it was not until after Arthur turned fifteen that Catherine and her retinue finally started their journey. The Spanish Infanta finally landed in the autumn, and on 4 November 1501, the couple met at last 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 he later told his parents that he was immensely happy to behold the face of his lovely bride. Ten days later, on 14 November 1501, they were married at Old St Paul's Cathedral. At the end of the festive day came the bedding ceremony, in which most of the court put the young couple to bed.

Death and aftermath

Catherine as a young widow, by Henry VII's court painter, Michael Sittow, c.1502

The couple soon travelled to Ludlow Castle on the Welsh border, where Arthur resided in his capacity as Prince of Wales and President of The Council of Wales and Marches. He died suddenly at the young age of fifteen. The cause of his death is unknown but may have been consumption, diabetes, or the mysterious sweating sickness, which some modern theorists tie to a hantavirus. Catherine also fell ill, but survived. Arthur's brother, Henry, Duke of York, was not created Prince of Wales until it was certain Catherine wasn't carrying Arthur's child. She lived in relative obscurity until becoming Henry's first wife after his coronation.

Henry became heir upon Arthur's death and would come to the throne in 1509. He was somewhat unprepared for the position, as it had been intended that he would enter the Church and perhaps become Archbishop of Canterbury. This lack of preparation and education is seen in the heavy influence during the early years of Henry's reign of older statesmen such as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and the queen Catherine of Aragon, his elder by five years.

Funeral

Arthur was buried in Worcester Cathedral where "Prince Arthur's Chantry" stands today. Sir Griffith Ryce, a member of Arthur's household, was an official mourner, and his tomb is located near Arthur's. Arthur's father, the King, did not attend the funeral. The reasons for his absence are unknown, though many conjecture that the journey was too long or that Henry VII was too distressed. Arthur's mother, Elizabeth of York did not attend the funeral either, and as was the custom, Catherine of Aragon also remained at home as she was still extremely ill with the same disease that had killed Arthur.

Question of consummation

Immense controversy surrounds the question of whether or not Arthur and Catherine consummated their brief marriage, for the subsequent history of England and even of British Christianity was strongly influenced by the issue. Modern readers may think it likely that a teenaged couple sharing a bed would also engage in sexual intercourse. Further, Catherine and Arthur understood the production of heirs as a pressing and essential duty. At the time, a girl often consummated her marriage at a very young age: Lady Margaret Beaufort was only twelve years old when she married Edmund Tudor.

Catherine's dueña Doña Elvira Manuel said that the marriage was not consummated, though some historians argue that Doña Elvira was never close to the girl, whom she would later betray. Yet Arthur himself, before the wedding night, had stated that he was feeling very 'lusty and amorous', and his friends claimed that on the following day he had proudly called for some water, saying that he had "been in Spain" and that being a husband was "thirsty work." Though, Arthur may have jested merely to cover up a failure in his marital duty.

Some find it difficult to believe that the fervently devout Catherine, who insisted that her marriage to Arthur had never been consummated, would lie: Leviticus 20:21 states that it is unclean for a man to take his brother's wife and that, if a man did, the union would be childless. (Contrarily, another biblical passage, Deuteronomy 25:5–10, enjoins a man to marry his childless brother's widow and to father children on her, so that the deceased man's line will officially continue.) Others point out that, considering Catherine's difficult situation after Arthur's death, it is very likely she did lie. Arguably, given the disparity between the above Biblical passages, it's very likely she believed she had committed no sin in marrying Arthur's brother, even after having consummated their marriage.

Indeed, Catherine argued during the annulment hearing that the verse in Leviticus applies to a living man taking his living brother's wife (not the situation in which Henry and she had found themselves) and the passage in Deuteronomy to a dead brother's wife (which fitted Catherine's marriage to Henry). During the annulment hearing, Henry VIII looked at the Hebrew version of Leviticus 25:5-10, which specified that a union with his brother's wife would produce no sons - which had been the case with himself and Catherine. He therefore decided to use Leviticus as the basis of his annulment argument, against the advice of Cardinal Wolsey.

The first time Catherine publicly claimed that her marriage to Arthur had not been consummated was when Henry sought the annulment; the subject had not been mentioned earlier, and it is possible that Catherine lied to protect her reputation, her marriage to Henry, and the rights of her daughter, Mary. To say otherwise would have been an admission of fornication as well as a condemnation of Princess Mary to illegitimacy. Catherine claimed that she and Arthur had shared a bed for only seven days, but this is unconfirmed by any extant records.

What Henry really wanted was a son, since he had historical reasons to believe that England would not accept a female monarch. During his marriage to her, Catherine had given birth to several living children, but only Mary survived infancy. Henry realized with the passing years that the aging Catherine was unlikely to produce a son and heir, and he was having notorious affairs with sisters Mary Boleyn and Anne Boleyn. His annulment from Catherine and his marriage to Anne were predicated on his claim that he and Catherine had produced no living son because he had disobeyed a Scriptural injunction and married his brother's widow — which Catherine would have been, had Arthur and she consummated their marriage.

This dispute, and Henry's inability to obtain papal dissolution of his marriage, would come to be a major cause of the English Reformation. Whatever the truth of the matter, whether Henry had found Catherine to be a virgin on their wedding night has never been recorded. However, when he was trying to annul his marriage to Catherine, he ordered bloodstained bedsheets, supposedly from his brother's marriage night, to be paraded around his palace as proof of the consummation. How or why these sheets should have been preserved for so many years was not explained.

Further research

Christopher Guy, the archaeologist of Worcester Cathedral, said he found it odd that, if Arthur had been unhealthy, he was sent to the cold remoteness of Ludlow Castle. Peter Vaughan, of the Worcester Prince Arthur Committee, finds this strange as well. He remarks: "He wasn't a strong character, unlike his younger brother. Could it be that his father was strong enough to see that the best interests of the Tudors were to be served by Henry Duke of York, rather than Arthur?" However, historians such as David Starkey and Julian Litten have dismissed theories of neglect or murder. "There is nothing fishy about his demise", said Litten. "He was in Ludlow as an ambassador for a King setting up a new dynasty." Litten believes that the real mystery in Arthur's death is the disease that killed him. If not consumption or the historical English sweating sickness, it could have been a genetic condition that might also have been expressed in his nephews, Edward VI and Henry Fitzroy.

Arthur in fiction

Arthur has appeared in several novels about Catherine of Aragon. Norah Lofts wrote The King's Pleasure in the late 1960s. Katharine, The Virgin Widow by Jean Plaidy has Arthur in it as well. The Constant Princess, by Philippa Gregory, tells the story of how Catherine and Arthur fell in love, consummated their marriage, and how he suddenly died. In it, Catherine promises Arthur she will become Queen of England by marrying his brother in order to fulfill their vision for the future of the kingdom.

Kingsley Amis wrote "The Alteration" (1976), an alternative history novel about the effects of a contested "War of the English Succession" (c 1509 CE), where the birth and reign of Prince Arthur Tudor and Katherine of Aragon's son, "Stephen II", leads Henry VIII to attempt to usurp his nephew's throne.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Arthur, Prince of Wales

16. Maredudd ap Tudur

8. Owen Tudor

17. Margaret ferch Dafydd

4. Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond

18. Charles VI of France

9. Catherine of Valois

19. Isabeau of Bavaria

2. Henry VII of England

20. John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset

10. John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset

21. Margaret Holland

5. Lady Margaret Beaufort

22. John Beauchamp of Bletso

11. Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso

23. Edith Stourton

1. Arthur, Prince of Wales

24. Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge

12. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York

25. Anne de Mortimer

6. Edward IV of England

26. Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland

13. Cecily Neville

27. Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland

3. Elizabeth of York

28. Sir Richard Wydevill

14. Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers

29. Elizabeth Bodulgate

7. Elizabeth Woodville

30. Peter of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol

15. Jacquetta of Luxembourg

31. Margaret de Baux

Additional reading

• Fraser, Antonia, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, ISBN 0-7493-1409-5
• "Royal Tutors in the Reign of Henry VII", David Carlson, Sixteenth Century Journal Vol. 22, No. 2 (Summer, 1991), pp. 253–279
• Mould, Philip. (1995) Sleepers. London: Fourth Estate. ISBN 1857022181 (paperback edition retitled The Trail of Lot 163 (1997) ISBN 1857025237)
• Weir, Alison The Six Wives of Henry VIII
• Weir, Alison The Princes in the Tower
• Steven Gunn and Linda Monckton, ed, Arthur Tudor, Pince of Wales, Boydell 2009 ISBN 9781843834809
• Jones, Philippa (2009) "The other Tudors"
• Starkey, David (2009) Henry
• Perry, Maria King Henry's sisters

External links

• Prince Arthur biographical sketch on Find-A-Grave
• "Intimate Strangers," a popular account of the hantavirus theory, and one which assumes Arthur was indeed a victim of the sickness.
• "The Death of Prince Arthur Tudor, 1502" from EnglishHistory.net
• Short biography of Prince Arthur http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/ArthurTudor.html