Lesson IV: The King's Wives (part 1)
Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn
When we last saw Katherine of Aragon, she was newly widowed at only sixteen years old, adrift in a foreign land. She had been ill at the same time as her husband but had recovered, though at first it was feared that telling her that Arthur was dead might cause a relapse. Her parents had sent her to England expecting her to be queen; instead she was now the Dowager Princess of Wales, her future deeply uncertain. The portrait of her to the right was painted while she was a young widow and gives some hint of how unhappy she was. Her father, King Ferdinand of Aragon (now part of Spain), didn't trust Henry VII and tried to reclaim his daughter's dowry. Henry, being somewhat miserly, refused to give it up.
Katherine's betrothal to the future Henry VIII, then not quite 12 years old, was by way of a compromise. But the troubles continued, as the elder Henry began to change his mind about a Spanish alliance. Poor Katherine was constantly short of funds while the kings argued over her fate, and she had to write several letters to her father, pleading for money with which to pay her servants. Her English was never very good, even after years of living in England, and she always felt isolated. When Queen Elizabeth, one of the few people at court who had always been kind to the unfortunate girl, died in 1503, Katherine was inconsolable.
young Katherine of Aragon
But when Henry VIII took the throne in 1509, one of his first acts was to marry Katherine at last. He was probably genuinely fond of her, after having known her for so long, but he also wanted the powerful political alliances that the marriage would bring. She was very grateful to him for freeing her from her years of uncertainty, and if she did not love him when they married, she soon fell in love with him. Though he strayed at times during their marriage, that was expected of kings and Henry was generally reasonably discreet. Katherine bore it patiently.
Katherine's chief duty was to ensure the succession, however, and there she was failing. It was about 1531 when serious trouble began. Katherine had had six children, but only one, the Princess Mary, had survived more than a few weeks. Henry may have already been in love with Anne Boleyn, the woman he would later marry, but he was also genuinely concerned about who would inherit his throne. Unlike France, England had no laws against a woman ruling in her own right, but many were still uneasy about the idea. Also, though he remained Catholic to the end of his life, Henry, like many of his advisers, felt that Rome was able to wield too much political authority in England through the Church.
Because Katherine was his brother's widow, Henry had needed special permission (called a dispensation) from the Pope to marry her. Now Henry argued that the fact they had no living sons meant that they had been wrong to marry, despite this permission, and that they were being punished. He wanted the Church to declare his first marriage invalid. Katherine, however, swore that her first marriage had not been consummated, and therefore she had never truly been Arthur's wife. Also, she felt that Mary's existence was proof that God was not trying to punish them for an unlawful marriage. Henry wanted Katherine exiled to a nunnery, but she refused.
Katherine of Aragon - Henry VIII's first wife
Forced to choose between angering Henry and angering the Holy Roman Emperor -- who was Katherine's nephew -- the Pope used every possible delaying tactic. Finally, Henry grew impatient and simply declared himself to be the head of the Catholic Church in England. He appointed Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury, and he obligingly declared Henry's first marriage null and void in 1533. Katherine, however, refused to accept this decree and continued to call herself Henry's lawful wife until her death in 1536. During the hearings as to the legality of her marriage, Katherine impressed many onlookers with her quiet dignity and determination.
Henry had already married Anne Boleyn some months before his first marriage was actually annulled. Anne's dark looks and flirtatious ways had charmed Henry utterly, and some even said that she had used witchcraft to ensnare him so completely. Her birthdate is uncertain, but she was in her late teens or early twenties when she first caught Henry's eye in 1525. In an age when being blonde and fair was considered the highest beauty, Anne was dark-haired and olive-skinned. (Her enemies claimed she had a deformity, a sixth finger on one hand, later used as evidence that she was a witch, but this was probably more like a double fingernail.) She was also witty and vivacious, however, and Henry was not the first man to be infatuated with her.
But again there was only one child, Elizabeth. Anne's often sharp wit and forthright ways, charming in an unobtainable lover, soon began to annoy Henry after they were married. When Anne had several miscarriages, much as had happened to Katherine of Aragon, Henry took drastic steps. He accused Anne of adultery, a capital crime for a Queen, as well as conspiring to kill him, a treasonous offense. Anne was almost certainly innocent of all these charges, however, which were probably mostly manufactured to give the king an easier option than another divorce.
Again like Katherine, Anne gave a determined and spirited defense at her trial. (Defendants at this time were not usually allowed lawyers.) Her situation was made even more dreadful by the fact that her own father, Thomas, served as a juror -- he was an Earl, thanks to Henry having showered him with titles for Anne's sake, and as such was expected to be there for any treason trial. As with most such trials, the verdict was a foregone conclusion, and she was found guilty of all charges. She was sentenced to be drawn and quartered, the standard punishment for a traitor, but as was traditional for a noble victim, the sentence was changed to beheading. As a last, strange gift to the woman Henry had called his sweetheart for so many years, he sent for an expert swordsman from France, so that her end would be quick and painless. Upon hearing this news, Anne was said to have remarked that his job would be easy, for she had "a little neck".
Anne was executed on 19 May 1536. In her last words, she urged the onlookers to pray for the king, "for a gentler nor more merciful prince was there never; and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord."
