So, Karma, the idea that what goes around comes around, payment for your sins, whatever you want to call it, you might argue that it doesn't exist, but maybe, just maybe this post will convince you otherwise. Yes, all of my posts up until now have been about Henry VIII, and so is this one. Karma really had it in for him, or maybe God did, either way, if you ask me, he got what he deserved.
First, let's look at his treatment of his first wife. Poor Katherine was "divorced" and exiled to Kimbolton Castle, where she was forbidden to see her daughter Mary and died in misery, probably of cancer at the age of 50, writing to Henry on her death bed that "mine eyes desire you above all things." Henry hardened his heart towards her and persisted in his relationship with Anne Boleyn, not waiting until he was divorced, not accepting the church's verdict on the subject of his marriage. He refused to accept that his marriage to Katherine was valid according to the Catholic church and demanded the submission of the clergy in England to his authority. His brash behavior resulted in the excommunication of his entire country. He basically said "to hell with that" and declared himself the representative of God on Earth in England. Fine, he's head of the church. His whole goal in this is to marry Anne and have a son. Karma came back with a vengeance and denied him the son he desired as Anne only ever gave birth to a girl, the future Elizabeth I. His relationship with Anne also deteriorated and his seperation with her ended in her execution. Ironic that the woman he fought to marry he had killed. Karma came for Anne too, bringing the same fate upon her that she brought upon Katherine, she became a spurned queen.
On the day that Katherine died, January 7, 1536, Anne and Henry celebrated. They actually celebrated her death, the death of an "enemy." They paraded around, Henry wearing a suit of yellow satin and Anne wearing a yellow gown. Henry even hosted a tournament to celebrate. When Katherine was interred in Peterborough Cathedral several days later Anne miscarried the child she was carrying, a male child. As Chapuy's said she "miscarried of her savior," needing a son to save her place as queen. Anne's own death came just a few months later when Henry had her executed on May 19, 1536. Once again Henry paid for this action when fate swooped in and his only living male child, Henry Fitzroy, a bastard child that had none the less been named the Duke of Richmond, died on July 23rd of the same year. Though I would never deny a parent grief over the death of a child, an unimaginable loss, to this I can only say Ha, and Ha Ha. He should have known better. The saying is that you reap what you sow right? If you sow violence and death, that is what you get back. If you persist in divorce, which the Bible says that God hates (Malachi 2:16) not just mildly dislikes, but hates, then heartache will come back to you. It seems pretty black and white to me. You knowingly do wrong, you get a bad lot in life, really pretty simple right?
The theory of reincarnation says that you must carry and repay your karmic debts throughout different lifetimes, such is the basis of the book "Threads" by Nell Gavin. She writes about the reincarnations of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn and their attempts to repay their karmic debt to one another, and her debt is learning how to forgive the husband who turned on her and brought about her murder. Yes, murder, for the execution of the innocent is nothing less. During her last confession she professed her innocence to Archbishop Cranmer and to quote William Kingston, the keeper of the tower, she "took much joy and happiness in death." At that point death was her only way out of a world that was falling down around her. So, one might ask, what did she do to deserve that? I don't know, she had already paid her dues several times over, but sometimes life is unfair. Henry died with a wife who tended and took care of him, his sixth wife Katherine Parr. How I wish he had died alone, writhing in the blackness of his nightmares with the ghosts of his wives taunting him on his trip to hell. But then, who knows, God is good and he forgives, I suppose that's probably where I fall short.
Sources:
The Anne Boleyn Files http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/
"Great Harry" by Carolly Erickson
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
The Tudors Season 4, Katherine Howard
Season 4 of "The Tudors" started last night, I couldn't let that go by unnoticed. Tamzin Merchant, an actress I have never seen before does a wonderful job of playing a teenager who should never have been queen. What was Henry thinking? Ok, I know what he was thinking, sex, but really? Although we will never know the day to day temperment and actions of this young queen the charachter designed by Michael Hirst fits much of what I think she would have been like.
Merchant plays a young, frivolous girl with no grace, no bearing, no resemblance to any of Henry's other wives in terms of dignity. She was not raised to be a noble woman, much less a queen and it shows. She has no idea how to behave, court etiquette is foreign to her and dignity is something she could only pray to possess. She is a skinny little thing, all elbows and knees, and shoulder blades, pretty, but meant to appear awkward. Merchant does a magnificent job playing this petulant, ridiculous queen who met a tragic end.
Some people refuse to learn from the past and the mistakes, or said mistakes of others. You would think Katherine would have been wary enough after the death of her cousin Anne and would have behaved herself. But no, she slept her way to her death. She also trusted Jane Rochford, who was instrumental to Anne's downfall, how stupid was that? But it's a C minus world right? Watch the video below to see Katherine in a showdown with princess Mary. Watch the ridiculous posture, the flouncing about and the hand on the hip. It's great, but not if you're a queen.
Merchant plays a young, frivolous girl with no grace, no bearing, no resemblance to any of Henry's other wives in terms of dignity. She was not raised to be a noble woman, much less a queen and it shows. She has no idea how to behave, court etiquette is foreign to her and dignity is something she could only pray to possess. She is a skinny little thing, all elbows and knees, and shoulder blades, pretty, but meant to appear awkward. Merchant does a magnificent job playing this petulant, ridiculous queen who met a tragic end.
Some people refuse to learn from the past and the mistakes, or said mistakes of others. You would think Katherine would have been wary enough after the death of her cousin Anne and would have behaved herself. But no, she slept her way to her death. She also trusted Jane Rochford, who was instrumental to Anne's downfall, how stupid was that? But it's a C minus world right? Watch the video below to see Katherine in a showdown with princess Mary. Watch the ridiculous posture, the flouncing about and the hand on the hip. It's great, but not if you're a queen.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
A Special Thanks
I just wanted to say a special thank you to Claire Ridgway, owner and author of The Anne Boleyn files at
http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/ for stopping by and giving me some suggestions for the improvement of my blog! She also said the content was great! Thank you Claire, that means a lot coming from someone with such an amazing site!
http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/ for stopping by and giving me some suggestions for the improvement of my blog! She also said the content was great! Thank you Claire, that means a lot coming from someone with such an amazing site!
Henry VIII, Sadistic Killer, Nutjob, or Your Average Every Day King?
This post is about Henry and Anne. I think we look at their situation and many of us see the same old story, he got tired of her, he beheaded her, blah blah blah. There are funny songs written about it, parodies done by musicians at Ren faires, but who really stops to think about this? I think many times even historians look at it from a purely historical perspective and stick to the facts, speculation is left out and left to novelists, and even they fail to capture the raw emotion and the confusing events that surround the death of this woman, for that's what she was, not just a queen, not a living embodiment of evil, not a martyr, she was a person, a girl who grew to womanhood in a swirl of intrigue and rivalry. Who was Henry? I read a comment in a USA Today article on "The Tudors" that said that Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were not the great people we think they were, they were vicious killers. True, they were, and so were most world leaders, and are they not today? Do they not hide behind agencies like the KGB or the CIA, or not hide at all like Saddam Hussein? The question I asked my husband this morning was "Do you think power corrupts or do you think that the only people crazy enough to take power, to fight for it, were nuts to begin with? Interesting question isn't it? Though I am sure that Anne Boleyn would not have liked to think of her daughter as a vicious killer. Some would say that to be a ruler you must make hard choices, and this is true. All potential competitors to the throne had to be eliminated, especially in times of unrest. Hundreds of years before Henry ruled England the real MacBeth did not kill Duncan's children, he allowed them to escape to England. He realized his mistake when Duncan's son came for him, killed him, and took the throne of Scotland. Pity and mercy could mean the downfall of a ruler in this time so it's hard to say if kings and queens regretted killing or not.
What could possibly make Henry hate Anne so much? Hate her enough to have her executed? He fought to marry her for ten years, changed the religion of his country, had some of his closest friends killed or disgraced. Poor Wolsey, his chief advisor, disgraced because he could not convince the church to grant Henry a divorce so that he could marry Anne. Thomas More executed because he would not recognize Henry as head of the church. Is this part of it? Did the killing of his friends somehow make him think that it was nothing to see his wife executed as well? Did he blame her for these deaths when really, it was his choice? Wolsey died a natural death, although it was no doubt hurried along by his being banished from court. At the end of his life Henry had executed so many people, including two of his wives. He had signed an arrest warrent for his last wife, Katherine Parr, but it was dropped and was picked up by one of her ladies who quickly brought it to her. She was able to change Henry's mind, something no other woman had managed to do. Was he tired of killing? Was he mad by then? I think he was mad for much of his life, maybe not when he was younger, but certainly by the time he had Anne executed. When his third wife Jane died he stayed in mourning and even went crazy enough during this time to think that he could rewrite the ten commandments, a fact that Michael Hirst, screenwriter for "The Tudors" put into the show. Henry is buried beside his third wife Jane, I've stood on top of their graves. A pity the great passion of his life Anne was stuffed into an arrow box and buried beneath the chapel floor in the tower.
But the question remains, why did he have Anne put to death? Their relationship is known to have been stormy, Chapuys wrote that "sunshine followed storm, followed sunshine," if this is true then how great were the storms? How much rage was spewed out between them? What was said that could not be forgotten or taken back? His treatment of her after her last miscarriage was terrible, when, not bothering to hide his rage and disappointment he stalked out of her room telling her he would "speak to her when she was up." Her failure to bare a son surely contributed to the downfall of their relationship, but it's not enough reason to kill someone. Did he believe the charges against her? Such hatred is often borne of intense love gone wrong. Perhaps his hurt turned to rage. Really, we'll never know. This post has gone on long enough. I got a little off track. More tomorrow I think. Enjoy this video and decide was he crazy or not after all that blood was spilled? I love these videos and the music, so I can't resist posting them!
Sources:http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2010-04-08-tudors08_CV_N.htm
Anne Boleyn by Joanna Denny
The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir
What could possibly make Henry hate Anne so much? Hate her enough to have her executed? He fought to marry her for ten years, changed the religion of his country, had some of his closest friends killed or disgraced. Poor Wolsey, his chief advisor, disgraced because he could not convince the church to grant Henry a divorce so that he could marry Anne. Thomas More executed because he would not recognize Henry as head of the church. Is this part of it? Did the killing of his friends somehow make him think that it was nothing to see his wife executed as well? Did he blame her for these deaths when really, it was his choice? Wolsey died a natural death, although it was no doubt hurried along by his being banished from court. At the end of his life Henry had executed so many people, including two of his wives. He had signed an arrest warrent for his last wife, Katherine Parr, but it was dropped and was picked up by one of her ladies who quickly brought it to her. She was able to change Henry's mind, something no other woman had managed to do. Was he tired of killing? Was he mad by then? I think he was mad for much of his life, maybe not when he was younger, but certainly by the time he had Anne executed. When his third wife Jane died he stayed in mourning and even went crazy enough during this time to think that he could rewrite the ten commandments, a fact that Michael Hirst, screenwriter for "The Tudors" put into the show. Henry is buried beside his third wife Jane, I've stood on top of their graves. A pity the great passion of his life Anne was stuffed into an arrow box and buried beneath the chapel floor in the tower.
But the question remains, why did he have Anne put to death? Their relationship is known to have been stormy, Chapuys wrote that "sunshine followed storm, followed sunshine," if this is true then how great were the storms? How much rage was spewed out between them? What was said that could not be forgotten or taken back? His treatment of her after her last miscarriage was terrible, when, not bothering to hide his rage and disappointment he stalked out of her room telling her he would "speak to her when she was up." Her failure to bare a son surely contributed to the downfall of their relationship, but it's not enough reason to kill someone. Did he believe the charges against her? Such hatred is often borne of intense love gone wrong. Perhaps his hurt turned to rage. Really, we'll never know. This post has gone on long enough. I got a little off track. More tomorrow I think. Enjoy this video and decide was he crazy or not after all that blood was spilled? I love these videos and the music, so I can't resist posting them!
Sources:http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2010-04-08-tudors08_CV_N.htm
Anne Boleyn by Joanna Denny
The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir
Saturday, April 10, 2010
"The Most Happy" and the most Betrayed
What can I say, how do I even begin to discuss this tragic and doomed marriage? Nothing I can write, nothing I can say can even begin to convey how I feel about this woman, and her relationship to her husband and what I can only call his savage destruction of their marriage and of her. I think Natalie Dormer brought Anne's pain to life in a way that no words ever could. Maybe, after having felt that blinding pain of love gone terribly wrong I know that there is nothing to explain the raw cold of it. The sense of living in a state of alternate reality, the disbelief, it's horrifying in it's magnitude. So, today, while I'm thinking about what to say, I'll leave you with another video, if I can't get the whole video to display just click on the video and you'll be taken to YouTube.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Katherine of Aragon, The Good and Humiliated Queen
So, how did Katherine feel about Henry's bad behavior? Though she kept quiet and remained dignified, we can only assume that she was deeply hurt and saddened by Henry's casting off of her as his wife. In 1533 he declared himself head of the Church of England, nullified his marriage to Catherine, made his daughter Mary illegitimate, and changed Catherine's title from "Queen of England" to "Dowager Princess of Wales. Katherine refused to acknowledge this title, and until the day she died she signed her letters "Katherine the Queen."
Katherine must have been devastated, for obviously she adored her husband. Having once been put in the situation of having my husband say he wanted a divorce I know that Katherine must have felt fear, pain, and revulsion. She said as much in a letter to her nephew Charles V in a letter she wrote to him in 1531. Her letter stated that "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." Maria Doyle Kennedy's reaction to Henry VIII's announcement that their marriage is no longer valid in "The Tudors" is much how I believe poor Katherine would have reacted. She falls to her knees in disbelief and shock.
Katherine truly believed though that she would be saved by the fact that Henry took his divorce suit before a court of papal legates after petitioning the pope, who was being held hostage by Katherine's nephew Charles V. She knew that their marriage would stand up under church scrutiny, and indeed she was right. The court refused to grant the divorce. But this is not the remarkable part, the remarkable part of the court proceeding was Katherine herself who walked into court, walked up to Henry and knelt and said: "Sir, I beseech you for all the love that hath been between us, let me have justice and right, take of me some pity and compassion, for I am a poor woman, and a stranger, born out of your dominion. I have here no friend and much less indifferent counsel. I flee to you, as to the head of justice within this realm . . . I take God and all the world to witness that I have been to you a true, humble and obedient wife, ever comfortable to your will and pleasure . . . being always well pleased and contented with all things wherein you had any delight or dalliance . . . I loved all those whom ye loved, only for your sake, whether I had cause or no, and whether they were my friends or enemies. This 20 years or more I have been your true wife and by me ye have had divers children, although it hath pleased God to call them from this world, which hath been no default in me. . . And when ye had me at first, I take God to my judge, I was a true maid, without touch of man. And whether this be true or no, I put it to your conscience . . . Therefore, I humbly require you to spare me the extremity of this new court . . . And if ye will not, to God I commit my cause". She then turned and walked out of court, ignoring the calls of the clerics to come back, ever the royal woman.
Perhaps the cruelest thing Henry did to Katherine however was deny her the right to see their daughter Mary. As a mother I can't imagine spending years without seeing or speaking to my child. How Katherine's heart must have broken as she yearned to see her only surviving child. After the pain and loss of so many babies, to be denied the joy of being a parent in her last years must have been more painful to bare than any other aspect of her "divorce." How she must have yearned to embrace her child one last time. How she must have worried for her future and feared that she would be harmed by the Boleyn faction. A hole of this magnitude in my heart would have debilitated me, and perhaps, in the end, grief is some of what contributed to her death. She died on January 7, 1536 at the age of 50.
Her last letter to Henry on her deathbed reads as follows:
My most dear lord, king and husband,
The hour of my death now drawing on, the tender love I owe you forceth me, my case being such, to commend myself to you, and to put you in remembrance with a few words of the health and safeguard of your soul which you ought to prefer before all worldly matters, and before the care and pampering of your body, for the which you have cast me into many calamities and yourself into many troubles. For my part, I pardon you everything, and I wish to devoutly pray God that He will pardon you also. For the rest, I commend unto you our daughter Mary, beseeching you to be a good father unto her, as I have heretofore desired. I entreat you also, on behalf of my maids, to give them marriage portions, which is not much, they being but three. For all my other servants I solicit the wages due them, and a year more, lest they be unprovided for. Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things.
Katharine the Quene.
Mine eyes desire you above all things, such words of love for a husband who had treated her so horribly.
Sources:
http://www.the-tudors.org.uk/catherine-of-aragon.htm
Katherine must have been devastated, for obviously she adored her husband. Having once been put in the situation of having my husband say he wanted a divorce I know that Katherine must have felt fear, pain, and revulsion. She said as much in a letter to her nephew Charles V in a letter she wrote to him in 1531. Her letter stated that "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." Maria Doyle Kennedy's reaction to Henry VIII's announcement that their marriage is no longer valid in "The Tudors" is much how I believe poor Katherine would have reacted. She falls to her knees in disbelief and shock.
Katherine truly believed though that she would be saved by the fact that Henry took his divorce suit before a court of papal legates after petitioning the pope, who was being held hostage by Katherine's nephew Charles V. She knew that their marriage would stand up under church scrutiny, and indeed she was right. The court refused to grant the divorce. But this is not the remarkable part, the remarkable part of the court proceeding was Katherine herself who walked into court, walked up to Henry and knelt and said: "Sir, I beseech you for all the love that hath been between us, let me have justice and right, take of me some pity and compassion, for I am a poor woman, and a stranger, born out of your dominion. I have here no friend and much less indifferent counsel. I flee to you, as to the head of justice within this realm . . . I take God and all the world to witness that I have been to you a true, humble and obedient wife, ever comfortable to your will and pleasure . . . being always well pleased and contented with all things wherein you had any delight or dalliance . . . I loved all those whom ye loved, only for your sake, whether I had cause or no, and whether they were my friends or enemies. This 20 years or more I have been your true wife and by me ye have had divers children, although it hath pleased God to call them from this world, which hath been no default in me. . . And when ye had me at first, I take God to my judge, I was a true maid, without touch of man. And whether this be true or no, I put it to your conscience . . . Therefore, I humbly require you to spare me the extremity of this new court . . . And if ye will not, to God I commit my cause". She then turned and walked out of court, ignoring the calls of the clerics to come back, ever the royal woman.
Perhaps the cruelest thing Henry did to Katherine however was deny her the right to see their daughter Mary. As a mother I can't imagine spending years without seeing or speaking to my child. How Katherine's heart must have broken as she yearned to see her only surviving child. After the pain and loss of so many babies, to be denied the joy of being a parent in her last years must have been more painful to bare than any other aspect of her "divorce." How she must have yearned to embrace her child one last time. How she must have worried for her future and feared that she would be harmed by the Boleyn faction. A hole of this magnitude in my heart would have debilitated me, and perhaps, in the end, grief is some of what contributed to her death. She died on January 7, 1536 at the age of 50.
Her last letter to Henry on her deathbed reads as follows:
My most dear lord, king and husband,
The hour of my death now drawing on, the tender love I owe you forceth me, my case being such, to commend myself to you, and to put you in remembrance with a few words of the health and safeguard of your soul which you ought to prefer before all worldly matters, and before the care and pampering of your body, for the which you have cast me into many calamities and yourself into many troubles. For my part, I pardon you everything, and I wish to devoutly pray God that He will pardon you also. For the rest, I commend unto you our daughter Mary, beseeching you to be a good father unto her, as I have heretofore desired. I entreat you also, on behalf of my maids, to give them marriage portions, which is not much, they being but three. For all my other servants I solicit the wages due them, and a year more, lest they be unprovided for. Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things.
Katharine the Quene.
Mine eyes desire you above all things, such words of love for a husband who had treated her so horribly.
Sources:
http://www.the-tudors.org.uk/catherine-of-aragon.htm
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Betrayal is Betrayal, Even if You Are Royalty Part 1
Keeping in mind yesterday's historical time period today's post will revolve around Henry's betrayals of his first wife, and will be the first in a series of 3. Today women are allowed to villify and divorce cheating spouses and cheating is looked upon with disdain and disgust but in the 1500s it was a different story. Women had almost no rights and faced the spectre of death if they were caught in adultery, no matter how badly they were treated by their husbands. They, however, were expected to be quiet and endure whatever humiliations were heaped on them by the men they were married to. This isn't new information though and not what the focus of the blog post will be. This particular post will take a look at Catherine of Aragon and Henry and give some background information on a situation that got very, very ugly.
Catherine was raised to be a queen, she was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain (the sponsors of Christopher Columbus. Isabella was a formidable and spectacular queen in her own right and she raised her daughters to be every bit as regal and intelligent as she was. Catherine received the same education as her brother, learning several languages such as Latin and French, and studying religion and court etiquette among other things. Catherine married Henry at the age of 23 and she was six years his senior. She had been in England for a little over seven years, having been sent to marry his older brother Arthur who died shortly after their wedding. She was virtually held prisoner by Henry VII, who did not want to let go of her large dowry. Only half of the dowry had been paid at the time of Arthur's death and Henry VII wanted the rest of the money he felt he was due. He kept her in England by telling her father Ferdinand that he planned to marry her to Henry, and at one time considered marrying her himself after his queen, Elizabeth, died. Ferdinand, for his part, did his daughter no better. He was preoccupied with trying to wrest control of Castile from his daughter Juana after the death of Isabella. Juana was mad and contented herself with dragging her dead husband's body around Spain in a casket. But that is a post for another time. Back to Ferdinand. He sent Katherine very little money to live on, saying he had sent an exorbitant amount with her as her dowry and that she should live off of her dower funds. These funds, however, were controlled by her father in law, who was not about to give up any gold. The poor girl lived in poverty for seven years before Henry VII died and his son took the throne. Henry immediatly declared that he would be marrying Catherine, perhaps he thought he was the mythical knight on the white horse saving a damsel in distress,and she was more than willing to be rescued. A dispensation was needed from the pope in order for them to marry since Catherine had been married to Henry's brother. This dispensation was granted based on the fact that Catherine claimed she was still a virgin, that she and Arthur had never consumated their marriage. This she would swear to until her dying day. Was it true? No one will ever know, but it would have been the end of her chances at being queen if she ever admitted otherwise. This one detail ultimately proved to be her undoing anyway as Henry used it as the basis for his divorce suit.
Henry and Catherine were married for almost 24 years and by all accounts the marriage was a happy one. Catherine was Henry's intellectual equal and he obviously trusted her and thought her capable as he left her as regent in his absence when he went to fight the French. She proved herself to be a worthy leader as she foiled a Scottish border invasion and presented Henry with the bloody coat of James IV as a gift. Apparently your dead brother-in-laws clothing was considered a fitting gift. The destruction of this otherwise happy marriage came about because Catherine could not produce a son, or any living child except one,a daughter for Henry. Henry was obsessed with producing a male heir, not wanting to leave his kingdom in the hands of a woman, even if she was his daughter.
Although Henry had many affairs during his marriage to Catherine, including Anne Stafford, Mary Boleyn, and Bessie Blount (perhaps he was the Tiger Woods or Jesse James of his day?). She, for the most part was the epitomy of the dignified queen and she kept her pain and her anger to herself. Though she loved Henry, really, truly loved him, she knew that none of his mistresses was a threat to her power and Henry respected her position as queen and did not flaunt his indiscretions. The one exception to this may have been Bessie Blount, who bore him a son in 1519, but she and her son were housed and cared for away from court. Henry named his bastard son the Duke of Richmond and Somerset, titles that Henry had held as a child. Katherine was angered by the boy's titles, and angrily objected. Henry reacted by sending away three of her Spanish ladies,something he had done once before when she had objected to one of his affairs. Perhaps these types of reactions were another reason she kept quiet.
By 1526 Katherine was nearing the end of her childbearing years and Henry still had no heir. It was around this time that Henry met the young, black-eyed Anne Boleyn. Henry's ten year quest for a divorce from Katherine is legendary and it changed the official religion of England, all this for the love of a woman who was not his wife. Henry's desire to marry Anne consumed him, and led him on a mad quest that saw the death of his chief adviser Wolsey, his excommunication from the Catholic church, and the death of his friend Thomas More. Henry reasoned that he was king, and as such he would have his way. But in the end, was he really any different than any other husband who strays? Men cheating with multiple women has been in the news lately with the Tiger Woods and Jesse James scandals, but this isn't a new phenomenon, it happened 500 years ago and it's happening now. Today we have electronic media to help demonize these men who sleep their way through a slew of women, and a term for it, "sex addiction." In the 1500s all they had were scandal sheets, pamphlets printed and distributed that told of the scandalous actions of the nobility. Maybe Henry would have behaved better if he had been shamed on television. No matter what you call it though, betrayal is betrayal, even if you are the king.
Sources:
Tudorhistory.org
Great Harry by Carolly Erikson
Tomorrow: Catherine's feelings about Henry, the good, the angry, and the sad.
Catherine was raised to be a queen, she was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain (the sponsors of Christopher Columbus. Isabella was a formidable and spectacular queen in her own right and she raised her daughters to be every bit as regal and intelligent as she was. Catherine received the same education as her brother, learning several languages such as Latin and French, and studying religion and court etiquette among other things. Catherine married Henry at the age of 23 and she was six years his senior. She had been in England for a little over seven years, having been sent to marry his older brother Arthur who died shortly after their wedding. She was virtually held prisoner by Henry VII, who did not want to let go of her large dowry. Only half of the dowry had been paid at the time of Arthur's death and Henry VII wanted the rest of the money he felt he was due. He kept her in England by telling her father Ferdinand that he planned to marry her to Henry, and at one time considered marrying her himself after his queen, Elizabeth, died. Ferdinand, for his part, did his daughter no better. He was preoccupied with trying to wrest control of Castile from his daughter Juana after the death of Isabella. Juana was mad and contented herself with dragging her dead husband's body around Spain in a casket. But that is a post for another time. Back to Ferdinand. He sent Katherine very little money to live on, saying he had sent an exorbitant amount with her as her dowry and that she should live off of her dower funds. These funds, however, were controlled by her father in law, who was not about to give up any gold. The poor girl lived in poverty for seven years before Henry VII died and his son took the throne. Henry immediatly declared that he would be marrying Catherine, perhaps he thought he was the mythical knight on the white horse saving a damsel in distress,and she was more than willing to be rescued. A dispensation was needed from the pope in order for them to marry since Catherine had been married to Henry's brother. This dispensation was granted based on the fact that Catherine claimed she was still a virgin, that she and Arthur had never consumated their marriage. This she would swear to until her dying day. Was it true? No one will ever know, but it would have been the end of her chances at being queen if she ever admitted otherwise. This one detail ultimately proved to be her undoing anyway as Henry used it as the basis for his divorce suit.
Henry and Catherine were married for almost 24 years and by all accounts the marriage was a happy one. Catherine was Henry's intellectual equal and he obviously trusted her and thought her capable as he left her as regent in his absence when he went to fight the French. She proved herself to be a worthy leader as she foiled a Scottish border invasion and presented Henry with the bloody coat of James IV as a gift. Apparently your dead brother-in-laws clothing was considered a fitting gift. The destruction of this otherwise happy marriage came about because Catherine could not produce a son, or any living child except one,a daughter for Henry. Henry was obsessed with producing a male heir, not wanting to leave his kingdom in the hands of a woman, even if she was his daughter.
Although Henry had many affairs during his marriage to Catherine, including Anne Stafford, Mary Boleyn, and Bessie Blount (perhaps he was the Tiger Woods or Jesse James of his day?). She, for the most part was the epitomy of the dignified queen and she kept her pain and her anger to herself. Though she loved Henry, really, truly loved him, she knew that none of his mistresses was a threat to her power and Henry respected her position as queen and did not flaunt his indiscretions. The one exception to this may have been Bessie Blount, who bore him a son in 1519, but she and her son were housed and cared for away from court. Henry named his bastard son the Duke of Richmond and Somerset, titles that Henry had held as a child. Katherine was angered by the boy's titles, and angrily objected. Henry reacted by sending away three of her Spanish ladies,something he had done once before when she had objected to one of his affairs. Perhaps these types of reactions were another reason she kept quiet.
By 1526 Katherine was nearing the end of her childbearing years and Henry still had no heir. It was around this time that Henry met the young, black-eyed Anne Boleyn. Henry's ten year quest for a divorce from Katherine is legendary and it changed the official religion of England, all this for the love of a woman who was not his wife. Henry's desire to marry Anne consumed him, and led him on a mad quest that saw the death of his chief adviser Wolsey, his excommunication from the Catholic church, and the death of his friend Thomas More. Henry reasoned that he was king, and as such he would have his way. But in the end, was he really any different than any other husband who strays? Men cheating with multiple women has been in the news lately with the Tiger Woods and Jesse James scandals, but this isn't a new phenomenon, it happened 500 years ago and it's happening now. Today we have electronic media to help demonize these men who sleep their way through a slew of women, and a term for it, "sex addiction." In the 1500s all they had were scandal sheets, pamphlets printed and distributed that told of the scandalous actions of the nobility. Maybe Henry would have behaved better if he had been shamed on television. No matter what you call it though, betrayal is betrayal, even if you are the king.
Sources:
Tudorhistory.org
Great Harry by Carolly Erikson
Tomorrow: Catherine's feelings about Henry, the good, the angry, and the sad.
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