CATHERINE OF ARAGON: The Forgotten First Wife

The previous picture was the wax figures of the first three wives of Henry VIII of England.  Thus, this post is the first in a line of six that cover the wives of the now famously multi-wedded king.  His first wife, covered in this post, was Catherine of Aragon.  She was followed by Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr

CATHERINE OF ARAGON

Catherine of Aragon was born December 16, 1485 in Spain.  She was the daughter of Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella (the same monarchs who were the financiers to Christopher Columbus).  The way she came to marry Henry VIII is very awkward.  At the age of three, she was betrothed to the current Prince of Wales, Arthur.  This would have been Henry VIII's brother.  After Arthur's death, some dealings were made that eventually allowed the much older Catherine to marry Henry, now Prince of Wales and future king of England.  As with all wives of the time, Catherine strove to give Henry that which he sorely wanted.  He wanted an heir to the throne.  Through many pregnancies, Catherine only produced one surviving child, a daughter named Mary who will be discussed later in this blog.  After it was revealed that Catherine could no longer bear children, Henry sought to find a replacement for his frumpy first wife.  Staunchly Catholic, Catherine refused to recognize any authority over her marriage except the Pope.  Well, a short time after splitting with the Catholic Church and creating the Church of England (where the Monarch supposedly had more power than God), Henry got his way.  He was divorced to hopefully conceive an heir with his younger second wife, Anne Boleyn.  His current daughter, Mary was disinherited of the throne, and Catherine was cast aside from her queenship.  She never really recognized any of this, and she kept referring to herself as queen even after her marriage was dissolved.  Henry, on the other hand, refused her the title of queen and gave her the title of "Dowager Duchess of Wales" (for being the widow of his older brother).  She confined herself to one room of the house she kept in the Mores, and lived out the rest of her life with little outside contact.

Catherine is a sad story on the role and power of women in Tudor England.  She tried in vain to save her own marriage and livelihood, but in the end, her husband won because the system was so cruel to her.

Her Wikipedia Page

Her Tudor History Page


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