Katherine of Aragon (1485-1536), the first
Henry VIII may have claimed her only as his brother's wife at her death, but England remembers her as one of its most beloved queens. Even now, people will find fresh flowers adorning her tomb in the beautiful Peterborough Cathedral. Katherine's love changed history forever.
Catherine of Aragon ruled as queen of England from 1509 to 1533. She also served as regent while her husband, King Henry VIII, was away fighting wars in France. During his absence, and while pregnant, she led the English to a significant victory in the war with Scotland.
Catherine of Aragon was born into a family of kings and queens and was destined to become one herself. She was betrothed since she was about four years old to the future king of England. She fulfilled this destiny, but became victim of Henry VIII's inability to produce a male heir.
Katherine was the daughter of the powerful couple Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon, whose own marriage had united Spain. Having King Ferdinand as an ally against the French was extremely useful for England. Princess Katherine was well-educated and politically astute, and a good match for Henry.
But for Henry VIII his wedding night proved to him Katherine was indeed a virgin – or so he believed at the time. He would later claim that his own sexual inexperience and ignorance – despite being almost three years older than Arthur – had not made him the most competent of judges.
Katherine was very well educated, beloved by her people, and talented in her role as queen, acting as regent in 1513, with the title of Governor of the Realm and Captain General, whilst Henry made war in France.
Jane's sweet and charming demeanor captured Henry's heart. Married just days after her predecessor's death, she was to become Henry's favorite wife. Jane, unlike any of Henry's other wives, gave Henry the one thing he wanted most -- a son, an act that would lead to her death.
Katherine of Aragon was devoutly religious and was known to fast regularly and it has been suggested that this fasting while pregnant may have harmed the unborn child.
Given that Katherine of Aragon went to her death insisting that when she entered her second marriage to King Henry VIII, she did so as a virgin despite the fact she had briefly been married to his brother, I've always tended to believed her.
When Henry VIII became tired of Catherine and her inability to produce a male heir he asked the Pope to annul the marriage, claiming the earlier dispensation to be was invalid.
Finally Henry separated from Catherine in July 1531. On May 23, 1533—five months after he married Anne Boleyn—he had his own archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, annul the marriage to Catherine.
Answer and Explanation: Catherine of Aragon spoke Castilian Spanish, Latin, English, Greek, and French. She was very well educated by a tutor, Alessandro Geraldini. She also studied math, law, religion, philosophy, and literature.
Henry Duke of Cornwall was the first-born son of Henry and his first wife Katherine of Aragon. He only survived for a few weeks in 1511. Aside from their daughter Mary, Katherine's many other pregnancies only resulted in tragic still-births or miscarriages.
Still married. But Catherine soon threw Henry's argument into disarray. She and Arthur, she claimed, had never had full sex. They had slept together only seven times and the results had been disappointing.
Curiously, she had a black growth on her heart which sparked rumours of her being poisoned as it was common knowledge at the time that King Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, was believed to have wanted her dead. But historians now believe that Catherine Of Aragon's black heart was cancerous growth.
Edward VI. Edward VI, born 12 October 1537, was Henry VIII's first surviving and only legitimate son and the heir to the throne. Henry VIII described him as 'his most noble and most precious jewel.'
Catherine of Aragon | PBS. atherine was said to have been a charming young girl, with red-gold hair she could sit on and prized pink-and-white coloring. Though fairly short and plump, her bearing was described as regal. Her voice, low and resounding, commanded respect.
Answer and Explanation: Queen Mary was born on February 18, 1516 when Catherine was thirty years old. She was a sickly child, but unlike many of the other children she'd had, sons who died far too soon, she managed to survive to reach adulthood.
Even though Catherine Howard, who married Henry as a teenager at just 17 years of age was only queen for less than a year and a half, her tragic end on the scaffold along with her illicit lovers makes her a contender for taking the shortest straw of all Henry's wives.
The last of Henry VIII wives was Katherine Parr, who he married in July 1543. She proved to be a kind wife who looked after Henry in his sickness, and a good stepmother to the king's three children, Mary, Elizabeth and Edward. Katherine had many ties to the royal family from a young age.
Jane Seymour
However, there was a time when Henry regretted marrying Jane and mentioned this to one of his companions, having recently taken notice another woman at court.
Execution and Burial
On 19 May 1536, Anne was beheaded on Tower Green. She protested her innocence until the last, but her final reported words were uncontroversial, “I am come hither to die, for according to the law and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it …
Catherine remained at Henry's side for 23 years and is even thought to be the only woman the king ever truly loved. “Henry viewed her as a model wife in every respect bar one… her failure to give him a son,” says Tudor historian Tracy Borman.