Katherine was intelligent and studied every subject a 16th-century European girl would be expected to learn - the classics, languages, history, civil law, heraldry, etc. She excelled in languages - her mother tongue being Spanish, of course - but also spoke French and Greek.
As a child, Katherine was considered to be a suitable match to Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, who was one year younger than her. Actually, technically, Katherine had a better claim to the English throne through her mother's ancestry - but of course Henry VII was King at the time and therefore Arthur was next in line. In 1499, Arthur and Katherine were married by proxy and only corresponded by letters to each other written in Latin until Arthur reached age fifteen and it was deemed appropriate that they were truly married.
The two met for the first time on 4 November 1501, and although neither of them could understand each other in their respective languages, Arthur did write to his mother Elizabeth of York and declare himself "immensely happy to behold the face of his lovely bride." On 14 November, they were married at Old St. Paul's Cathedral and soon after, they were sent to Ludlow Castle to preside over the Council of Wales and the Marches. In only a few months, they both became ill with what is believed to have been the sweating sickness. Katherine recovered relatively easily, but Arthur unfortunately died. Seventeen-year-old Katherine was now a widow in a foreign country.
King Henry VII then had to make the decision whether or not to return Katherine's dowry to King Ferdinand, or to find a way to keep the young woman in England so that her dowry could be useful to him. Therefore, it was decided that Katherine would marry Arthur's younger brother, Henry Tudor - who was now next in line to the throne of England. Unfortunately, because of indecision on Henry VII's part, as well as Prince Henry's minority, the marriage was delayed and at times it was questioned whether or not it would happen at all. During this period of indecision, Katherine was held as a relative prisoner at Durham House, London - where she frequently wrote to her father and complained about her treatment.
Whether or not Katherine and Arthur consummated their marriage, a dispensation was granted and Katherine married Henry, who was five years younger than her, on 11 June 1509. This was also the year that Henry took the throne of England, and Katherine's own coronation as Queen Consort at Westminster Abbey took place on 23 June.
Though this was thought to be a marriage greeted with happiness on both sides, this began the many difficult years of childbearing and stillborn babies for the couple. Almost immediately, Katherine became pregnant and delivered a stillborn daughter in 1510. In 1511, the couple's son Henry was born, but died only months later. Katherine lost at least one more child within the following year, and in 1514 another son (also Henry) was born and died soon after birth. On 18 February 1516, the couple's only healthy and surviving child was born - a daughter named Mary, who became precious to her parents, although she was not the hoped-for son and heir. Katherine became pregnant at least one more time following Mary's birth, and gave birth to a daughter who soon died.
Despite the couple's difficult experiences with parenthood, Katherine remained very much beloved by her husband, who was at this time in his prime and thought to be extremely handsome. By all accounts, it seems that the couple was a very attractive match - Katherine being fair and pretty, and Henry being athletic, thin and tall. Katherine's influence in England was also great - In 1513, she was appointed regent of England while Henry was in France on a military campaign. During this time, the Battle of Flodden Field between England and Scotland took place. Katherine, being the leader of the country's army at the time, dressed in full armor and addressed the troops, and was luckily able to send her husband the bloodied coat of King James IV of Scotland after the Scottish defeat. This was just one way that Katherine proved her capability as an English Queen - she was clearly a very successful regent.
Unfortunately, her influence was coming to an end after a long, successful marriage to Henry. Sometime around 1525, Henry became infatuated with Anne Boleyn, one of Katherine's ladies. Of course, Henry had had other mistresses before - including Bessie Blount, who had given birth to the King's son Henry FitzRoy, and who had been paraded around court and given impressive titles. These affairs surely hurt Katherine - and certainly rubbed it in her face that she couldn't provide Henry with a male heir - but she knew that her proper place as Henry's wife was to endure his liaisons with other women. This was, of course, until the beautiful and exotic Anne Boleyn came around and ensnared Henry with her flirtatious and hard-to-get attitude. This was the beginning of the end for Katherine, who recognized Anne's desire to displace her and become Henry's wife and queen, but she certainly would not back down without a fight. This period of Tudor history, when Henry became consumed with the prospect of annulment and remarriage, is commonly known as the King's "Great Matter." It was then that Henry began questioning the legitimacy of his marriage to Katherine after so many years. Whether he truly believed that Katherine may have in fact consummated her marriage to Arthur and was therefore not his own true wife before God, we don't know. In any case, he certainly saw this as an excuse to push an annulment, and Rome refused to grant it. Because of this, as we know already, Henry made that fateful decision to cut ties with Rome and the Pope, and to establish himself as the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Now he had no need for Papal permission - he could and would divorce Katherine and remarry.
My most dear lord, King and husband,
The hour of my death now drawing on, the tender love I ouge [owe] thou forceth me, my case being such, to commend myselv to thou, and to put thou in remembrance with a few words of the healthe and safeguard of thine allm [soul] which thou ougte to preferce before all worldley matters, and before the care and pampering of thy body, for the which thoust have cast me into many calamities and thineselv into many troubles. For my part, I pardon thou everything, and I desire to devoutly pray God that He will pardon thou also. For the rest, I commend unto thou our doughtere Mary, beseeching thou to be a good father unto her, as I have heretofore desired. I entreat thou also, on behalve of my maides, to give them marriage portions, which is not much, they being but three. For all mine other servants I solicit the wages due them, and a year more, lest they be unprovided for. Lastly, I makest this vouge [vow], that mine eyes desire thou aboufe all things.
Katharine the Quene.
Katherine was buried at Peterborough Cathedral in a ceremony appropriate for a Dowager Princess, not a Queen. Henry did not attend and he forbade Mary from attending also.
Katherine was and is remembered for being incredibly passionate about her Catholic faith. Through her difficult life, it seemed to have been her main comfort, and she instilled a devotion to Rome in her daughter Mary, who would honor the memory of her mother for her entire life. Katherine was beloved by England, and by her husband for roughly twenty-four years. She was devoted, intelligent, and kind - and she paid dearly for her stubbornness in remaining by the king's side. Her memory mustn't be brushed over or forgotten, because she was in fact an incredibly important part of the Tudor dynasty and King Henry VIII's life.
I hope you've enjoyed this special blog post in honor of my first poll! I personally find Katherine of Aragon a very interesting figure in history, and I'm glad you all agree!