Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon was born at the Archbishop's Palace of Alcalá de Henares in the early hours of the 16th of December 1485. She was the youngest surviving child of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. Her siblings included Joanna, Queen of Castile and of Aragon; Isabella, Queen of Portugal; John, Prince of Asturias; and Maria, Queen of Portugal. 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 House of Lancaster, an English royal house. Her great-grandmother Catherine of Lancaster 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 named Alessandro Geraldini, who was a clerk in Holy Orders. She studied arithmetic, canon and civil law, classical literature, genealogy and heraldry, history, philosophy, religion, and theology. She had a strong religious upbringing and developed her Roman Catholic faith that would play a major role in later life. She learned to speak, read and write in Castilian Spanish and Latin, and spoke French and Greek. Erasmus later said that Catherine loved good literature which she had studied with success since childhood. She had been given lessons in domestic skills such as cooking, embroidery, lace-making, needlepoint, sewing, spinning, and weaving. She was also taught music, dancing, drawing, as well as being carefully educated in good manners and court etiquette.
Then-15-year-old Catherine departed from A Coruña on the 17th of August 1501 and met Arthur on the 4th of November at Dogmersfield in Hampshire. The couple had corresponded in Latin, but found that they could not understand each other's spoken conversation because they had learned different Latin pronunciations. Ten days later, on the 14th of November 1501, they were married at Old St. Paul's Cathedral, both 15 years old. A dowry of 200,000 ducats 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. A few months later, they both became ill, possibly with the sweating sickness, which was sweeping the area. Arthur died on the 2nd of April 1502; 16-year-old Catherine recovered to find herself a widow. At this point, Henry VII faced the challenge of avoiding the obligation to return her 200,000-ducat dowry, half of which he had not yet received, to her father. It was agreed that Catherine would marry Henry VII's second son, Henry, Duke of York, who was five years younger than she was. 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.
On the 11th of June 1513, Henry appointed Catherine Regent in England with the titles Governor of the Realm and Captain General while he went to France on a military campaign. Catherine was issued with banners at Richmond on the 8th of September and rode north in full armour to address the troops despite being heavily pregnant at the time. The Scots invaded and on the 3rd of September 1513, she ordered Thomas Lovell to raise an army in the midland counties. Her fine speech was reported to the historian Peter Martyr d'Anghiera in Valladolid within a fortnight. Although an Italian newsletter said she was 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 wrote to towns including Gloucester asking them to send muster lists of men able to serve as soldiers. She was horrible busy with making standards, banners, and badges at Richmond Palace. When Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville, was captured at Thérouanne, Henry sent him to stay in Catherine's household.
In 1525, Henry VIII became enamoured of Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine; Anne was between ten and seventeen years younger than Henry, being born between 1501 and 1507. 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. Leviticus 20:21. 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. 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. She 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 pretenses. 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.
A year later, Catherine was banished from court and her old rooms were given to Anne Boleyn. Catherine wrote in a letter to Charles V in 1531 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. Catherine went to live at The More Castle Hertfordshire late in 1531. After that she was successively moved to the Royal Palace of Hatfield Hertfordshire from May to September 1532 Elsyng Palace Enfield from September 1532 to February 1533 Ampthill Castle Bedfordshire from February to July 1533 and Buckden Towers Cambridgeshire from July 1533 to May 1534. She was then finally transferred to Kimbolton Castle Cambridgeshire where she confined herself to one room which she left only to attend Mass dressed only in the hair shirt of the Franciscans 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 sympathisers discreetly conveyed 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 the new queen; both refused. Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle on the 7th of January 1536.
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. After the annulment, she was quoted I would rather be a poor beggar's wife and be sure of heaven than queen of all the world and stand in doubt thereof by reason of my own consent. 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 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. The book denounced Philip 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.
The controversial book The Education of a Christian Woman 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 confirmed to be lawful and its annulment from 1533 was reversed by parliament in 1553. Queen Mary also had several portraits commissioned of Catherine and it would not by any means be the last time she was painted. 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.
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Common questions
When was Catherine of Aragon born and where?
Catherine of Aragon was born at the Archbishop's Palace of Alcalá de Henares in the early hours of the 16th of December 1485. She was the youngest surviving child of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile.
Who did Catherine of Aragon marry first and when did they wed?
Catherine of Aragon married Arthur, Prince of Wales on the 14th of November 1501 at Old St. Paul's Cathedral. The couple were both 15 years old at the time of their marriage.
What role did Catherine of Aragon play during Henry VIII's military campaign to France?
Henry appointed Catherine of Aragon Regent in England with the titles Governor of the Realm and Captain General on the 11th of June 1513 while he went to France. She ordered Thomas Lovell to raise an army and successfully oversaw the English victory at the Battle of Flodden Field against the Scots.
Why did Henry VIII seek an annulment from Catherine of Aragon?
Henry VIII sought an annulment because he became enamoured of Anne Boleyn and believed his marriage to Catherine was cursed since she could no longer bear children. He interpreted Leviticus 20:21 to mean that marrying his brother's wife would result in childlessness.
Where did Catherine of Aragon die and what date is recorded for her death?
Catherine of Aragon died at Kimbolton Castle Cambridgeshire on the 7th of January 1536. She had been confined to one room there where she fasted continuously and dressed only in the hair shirt of the Franciscans.