Katherine of Aragon

Queen of England

Katherine of Aragon (16 December 1485 – 1536) is the daughter of Ferdinand of Argon and Isabella of Castile, and the aunt of the current King of Spain, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. She was married to Arthur Tudor (d. 1502), the king’s brother. And she has one daughter, Mary Tudor, but no sons.

“Thomas Cromwell: ‘If she had been a man, she would have been a greater hero than all the generals of antiquity.’”

Hilary Mantel, notes on characters

The story so far…

Week 1: Across the Narrow Sea / Paternity

Catherine arrived in England in 1501, aged 15. She married Authur Tudor, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne. He died shortly after, and the dowager princess lived in poverty until marrying the new king, Henry VIII, in 1509. She gave the king a daughter, Mary, in 1516, but no sons. In 1527, Henry has charged his chief councillor, Cardinal Wolsey, with securing a divorce.

Week 2: At Austin Friars / Visitation

By 1527, Henry is seeking to annul his marriage to Katherine.

Week 3: An Occult History of Britain (Part 1)

In 1527, the cardinal opens a court of inquiry into the marriage. Katherine has given birth to six children, but only one has lived: Mary. Katherine’s mother was Queen of Castile, so why could Mary not be Queen of England? For a while, she thinks it may happen. But now it is clear Henry’s evil counsellor, Wolsey, will move heaven and earth to stop it. Henry tells her their union has offended divine law:

You can hear what Katherine says. That wreck of a body, held together by lacing and stays, encloses a voice that you can hear as far as Calais: it resounds from here to Paris, from here to Madrid, to Rome. She is standing on her status, she is standing on her rights; the windows are rattled, from here to Constantinople.

What a woman she is, Thomas Cromwell remarks in Spanish: to no one in particular.

Week 4: An Occult History of Britain (Part 2)

In 1528, Cardinals Wolsey and Campeggio preside over a legatine court to determine the legality of Katherine’s marriage. The king’s case is that his brother Arthur consummated his marriage with Katherine, something she has always denied. No one expects her to turn up in person, but she does. Witnesses give evidence against her, recalling how Arthur said, “Last night I was in Spain”.

Week 8: The Dead Complain of Their Burial / Arrange Your Face (Part 1)

Queen Katherine to Princess Mary: “This is Master Cromwell. Who now writes all the laws.” She calls these laws “extortion” and an attack on the “Holy Mother the church.”

The king has ridden off hunting without a farewell, never to return. Cromwell warns her that her daughter may be taken from her.

“I expected this, but I did not expect he would send a man like you to tell me.”

Week 11: 'Alas, What Shall I Do For Love?' (Part 2) / Early Mass

Katherine is now only queen in name. Anne wants her royal barge and her jewels, and she will get what she wants. Jane Seymour thinks about going up country to serve Katherine, but Cromwell advises she stay south and serve Lady Anne.

Week 12: Anna Regina (Part 1)

Cromwell travels with Christophe to Ampthill to see Katherine. He reminds her that Mary may still be made heir if Anne and Henry have no children. But she will not recognise the court to consider her annulment or the new archbishop of Canterbury. She will not give way. She denies any contact with the king’s enemies and says she would not harm England.

“But you do, madam. You may not will it, but the harm is done.”
“England is not served by a lie.”

She expects the king and his archbishop to be excommunicated soon. It will free her of all bonds, “as wife, as subject.”

Week 13: Anna Regina (Part 2)

The king demands that Katherine give up for his coming child the robes in which the child Mary was christened. When he hears Katherine’s answer, he, Thomas Cromwell, laughs. Nature wronged Katherine, he says, in not making her a man; she would have surpassed all the heroes of antiquity. A paper is put before her, in whcih she is addressed as ‘Prince Dowager’; shocked, they show him how her pen has ripped through it, as she scores out the new title.

Week 16: The Map of Christendom (Part 1)

Chapuys look doleful and chilly. ‘Your poor queen keeps the season meagrely at Kimbolton. She is so afraid of the heretic councillors about her husband that she has all her food cooked over the fire in her own room. And Kimbolton is more like a stable than a house.’

Week 18: Falcons

Cromwell tells Edward Seymour that Anne is angry with him. “She has heard that once or twice I spoke favourably of Katherine, the queen that was.” She wants Lady mary to admit “her mother was never married lawfully to the king.”

Week 20: Crows (Part 2)

Cromwell finds her at Kimbolton looking jaundiced. She kicks you out of the room if you don’t address her as queen. Cromwell, diplomatically, calls her ‘madam.’ She asks him to let her see Mary and Chapuys. He says he will do what he can. But he also torments her, ‘revealing her to herself, stripping her of any illusions.’ He does this for Mary’s sake:

‘You, not he, split Christendom. And I expect that you know that, and that you think about it in the silence of the night.’

In December, Cromwell hears that she is no longer ailing. ‘Death has moved, perhaps, from the head of the bed to its foot.’ She writes her bequests.

Week 21: Angels

Katherine dies at the turn of the year, 1536. Chapuys says she blamed herself for Henry’s sin. ‘I am going out of life dragging’ the corpses of Thomas More and John Fisher. It is an idea that Cromwell stoked in her mind.

She sent Henry a final letter. ‘I don’t want it,’ the king told Cromwell.

    As he folds it he glances at it: 'And lastly I make this vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things.'