Details

Name

Catherine Aragon

Brief Biography

1485 - 1536, Spanish

Description

Catherine of Aragon (also Katherine) was the first wife of King Henry VIII and Queen of England from 1509-1533.

Born in 1485, Catherine was the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and his wife Queen Isabella I of Castile, whose marriage had united the Kingdom of Spain.

At three years of age Catherine was betrothed to Arthur, eldest son and heir to King Henry VII of England. Arthur and Catherine were married in 1501, but Arthur was to die just five months later in April 1502. Following the death of Arthur, plans were made for the marital union of Catherine to Arthur’s younger brother, and new heir to the English throne, Henry (future King Henry VIII). Although canon law forbade a man to marry his brother’s window, the Pope granted permission for the match and anulled the marriage on the grounds that the union had not been consummated. This would later be challenged by King Henry VIII and his court as Henry sought to annul his own marriage and separate from Catherine.

Henry and Catherine would not be married until shortly after his accession in 1509. In the intervening years Catherine’s position was far from certain. Catherine’s mother, Queen Isabella, died in 1504, and with the dowry only half paid for her marriage to Arthur, the union of Henry and Catherine was thrown into doubt. During these years Catherine was largely without financial support. From 1507 she was to serve as Spanish ambassador to England, becoming the first female ambassador in European history. However, with the death of King Henry VII in April 1509, the 17 year old Henry VIII chose the 24 year old Catherine as his bride and Queen.

Despite their later estrangement, Henry and Catherine were married for over two decades and were devoted to each other for many years. When Henry was fighting in France in 1513, Catherine served as regent, and successfully defended the realm against the threat of invasion from King James IV of Scotland, riding north herself to address her troops at the Battle of Flodden.

By 1522 Catherine had suffered a number of miscarriages and had only one surviving child in Mary, born in 1516 (future Queen Mary of England). Desperate for a legitimate male heir and increasingly infatuated with Catherine’s lady-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn, Henry sought to have his marriage to Catherine annulled. After years of frustration and failure to secure an annulment from the Pope, Henry broke from the Catholic Church, establishing himself as the Supreme Head of the Church in England.

Catherine and Henry last saw each other 1531, and the marriage was finally annulled 23 May 1533 by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Henry had already married Anne Boleyn in January of this year. Isolated and banished from the court, Catherine refused to accept Henry’s new church, his new wife, or her new proposed title of ‘Dowager Princess of Wales’, in recognition of her marriage to Arthur.

Moved from house to house with an ever decreasing retinue, Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle. Rumours circulated that she was poisoned, although cancer is now thought the most likely cause of death. Catherine was buried at Peterborough Cathedral as Dowager Princess of Wales, and not Queen. Her daughter Mary, who had been forcibly separated from Catherine for many years, was forbade by her father to attend the funeral.