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| 14 | <title>Katharine / Catherine / Katherine Parr: Biography, Portraits, Primary
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| 15 | Sources</title>
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| 25 | <td valign="top" width="50%" height="1"><p></td>
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| 31 | </td>
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| 32 | <td width="50%" height="3">
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| 33 | <p align="center"><font size="4">'They curse and ban my words
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| 34 | everyday, and all their thoughts be set to do me harm.... I am so
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| 35 | vexed that I am utterly weary.' </font> <i><font size="4"> </font><font
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| 36 | size="2"><br>
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| 37 | Katharine Parr in 1544, regarding Catholic attempts to discredit her</font></i></p>
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| 38 | </td>
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| 46 | <p align="center"> </p>
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| 47 | <p align="center">
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| 48 | <img border="0" src="parrcardinal.gif" alt="Katharine Parr" width="355" height="97"></p>
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| 49 | <p align="center">
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| 50 | <img height="324"
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| 51 | alt="miniature portrait of Katharine Parr by Lucas Horenbout"
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| 52 | src="parrhorenbout.jpg"
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| 53 | width="324"> </p>
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| 54 | <p align="center"> <i><font size="2">miniature portrait of Katharine Parr
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| 55 | by Lucas Horenbout</font></i></p>
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| 56 | <p align="left"> <b><br>Katharine Parr was the sixth and last
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| 57 | wife of King Henry VIII, destined to outlive the mercurial ruler.
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| 58 | She was already twice-widowed and childless when they wed in 1543; she
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| 59 | was also in love with Thomas Seymour, the brother of Henry's third
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| 60 | queen Jane. But the king's will was law and Katharine bowed to
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| 61 | his demands with grace. She was an admirable wife to Henry and a
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| 62 | loving stepmother to his two youngest children, Elizabeth and
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| 63 | Edward. She was also the most intellectual of Henry's wives,
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| 64 | caught up in the turbulent religious climate of the times. And it
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| 65 | was this passionate interest in theology which nearly ended her life,
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| 66 | for the king was old and sickly but still capable of destroying those
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| 67 | closest to him. Katharine saved herself and earned Henry's
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| 68 | respect enough to be appointed Regent of England during his military
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| 69 | campaign in Boulogne. Upon his death in 1547, she married Seymour
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| 70 | with indecent haste, the only one of four husbands she had chosen
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| 71 | herself. Her greatest achievement was the popularity of her
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| 72 | devotional works; they were 16th century bestsellers and capture
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| 73 | Katharine's complex and abiding piety.</b></p>
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| 74 | <blockquote>
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| 75 | <p align="left"> </p>
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| 76 | <blockquote>
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| 77 | <p><a
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| 78 | href="parr.html#Biography"> <font
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| 79 | size="4">Read the biography of Katharine Parr.</font></a></p>
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| 80 | <p><b><br>
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| 81 | Primary Sources</b> <br>
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| 82 | Read <a href="../letters.html">letters
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| 83 | written by Katharine</a>.</p>
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| 84 | </blockquote>
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| 85 | <blockquote>
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| 86 | <p>Visit <a href="http://www.marileecody.com/images.html">Tudor
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| 87 | England: Images</a> to view portraits of Katharine. </p>
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| 88 | <p>Test your knowledge of Katharine's life and times at <a
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| 89 | href="../tudor1.html">Tudor Quizzes</a>.</p>
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| 90 | <p><font size="2"><b><br>
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| 91 | Interact<br>
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| 92 | </b> Meet other Six Wives enthusiasts at <a
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| 93 | href="http://ladiesallfanlist.cjb.net/">Ladies All: A Fanlisting for
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| 94 | the Six Wives of Henry VIII</a>.<br>
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| 95 | <a href="http://tudorhistory.org/lists/list.html"> Tudor Talk
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| 96 | </a> This email discussion list is sponsored by
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| 97 | Tudorhistory.org.<br>
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| 98 | <a
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| 99 | href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Reign_of_the_Tudors_rpg/">Reign of
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| 100 | the Tudors</a> This is a role-playing game set in 16th century
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| 101 | England. If you would like to 'play' Jane Grey or Anne Boleyn or
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| 102 | other Tudors, click the link to join.</font></p>
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| 103 | </blockquote>
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| 104 | </blockquote>
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| 105 | </td>
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| 106 | <td width="25%" height="610"><br>
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| 107 | </td>
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| 108 | </tr>
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| 109 | </tbody>
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| 110 | </table>
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| 111 | <blockquote>
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| 112 | <blockquote>
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| 113 | <blockquote>
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| 114 | <p> </p>
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| 115 | <p><a name="Biography"></a><font size="4">'Lord, hearken to my
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| 116 | words. Consider the thought of mine heart. Behold, how loud
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| 117 | I cry unto thee. Let my just prayer enter into thine ears, which
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| 118 | unfeignedly cometh from mine heart. Hear me, Lord, for I am poor
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| 119 | and destitute of man's help. Take care for my soul. Save
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| 120 | me, thy servant, which wholly trust in thee. Have mercy upon me,
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| 121 | O Lord, for I will never cease crying to thee for help.' </font><i><font
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| 122 | size="2">a prayer written by Katharine Parr</font></i></p>
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| 123 | <p> </p>
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| 124 | </blockquote>
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| 125 | </blockquote>
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| 126 | <p> </p>
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| 127 | <p><b>Biography</b> <br>
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| 128 | After the debacle of his fifth marriage to a girl thirty years his
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| 129 | junior, Henry VIII found himself in a novel position. For the
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| 130 | first time in his tangled marital career, a future wife was not waiting
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| 131 | to be claimed. The king turned fifty-one the year <a
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| 132 | href="howard.html">Catherine
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| 133 | Howard</a> was executed; he was obese, often bedridden and in great
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| 134 | pain. His moods grew dark and vengeful. The Tudor court
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| 135 | vacillated between the opposing factions of Catholicism and the
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| 136 | reformed faith; they waited expectantly for Henry to choose his next
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| 137 | wife, knowing she would tip the balance in favor of one party.
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| 138 | But which? And was there a woman at court who would risk marrying
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| 139 | the elderly king? </p>
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| 140 | <p>The position of Queen was the greatest honor for an Englishwoman;
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| 141 | but in the last years of Henry's reign, it was also the most dangerous
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| 142 | honor. After the humiliation of Catherine Howard's infidelity,
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| 143 | Henry was determined his next wife would not dare cuckold him.
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| 144 | And so there was an interesting clause in the Act of Attainder which
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| 145 | had condemned Catherine to death. It stated that 'to avoid doubts
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| 146 | for the future', anyone who knew anything 'incontinent' about the queen
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| 147 | must reveal it - or be condemned for treason. And if the king
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| 148 | chose to marry a woman whom he 'took to be a pure and clean maid' and
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| 149 | she turned out to be otherwise, the charge of treason would apply to
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| 150 | both the woman and 'all who knew it and did not reveal it'. In
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| 151 | other words, you must speak up - either before or after the royal
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| 152 | marriage - or die. </p>
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| 153 | <p>This new law was enough to frighten even the most seasoned
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| 154 | courtier. Before, the chance to parade a young girl before the
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| 155 | king was a chance to make a family's fortune; now, it was merely a
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| 156 | chance to risk death. For who could be completely certain of a
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| 157 | young woman's chastity? Furthermore, who could trust the old
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| 158 | king's judgment on the matter? Henry had declared he 'somewhat
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| 159 | suspected' the virginity of <a
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| 160 | href="cleves.html">Anne of
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| 161 | Cleves</a>, but he had believed Catherine Howard to be a virgin when
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| 162 | she was not. If one was relying solely upon the king's word.....
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| 163 | What if a chaste young woman did marry Henry and he then mistakenly
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| 164 | declared she was 'incontinent'? No one could impugn the word of
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| 165 | the king, nor escape his wrath. </p>
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| 166 | <p>Understandably enough, the mood at court was hesitant and
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| 167 | frightened. And so when the king's eye turned favorably to one
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| 168 | Lady Latimer, thirty-one years old and twice-widowed, courtiers
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| 169 | breathed a sigh of relief and her family could safely encourage the
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| 170 | royal interest. After all, a widow need not prove her nebulous
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| 171 | virginity to a credulous monarch. </p>
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| 172 | <p>Katharine Parr, Lady Latimer, had many other admirable qualities
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| 173 | which attracted the king. She has the historical reputation of a
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| 174 | doting stepmother and devoted scholar, but she<img height="381"
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| 175 | alt="portrait of Katharine Parr by William Scrots, c1546"
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| 176 | src="parrbiography.jpg" width="300"
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| 177 | border="2" align="right"> was also a woman as dedicated to finery and
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| 178 | amusements as any of Henry's previous wives. And though
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| 179 | twice-widowed, she was still twenty years younger than the king.
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| 180 | She was tall, vivacious and witty, with a kindly and sensible
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| 181 | nature. She was the daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal and
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| 182 | Maud Greene; Katharine was the eldest of three children, born probably
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| 183 | in 1512, followed the next year by her brother William and a year later
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| 184 | by her sister Anne. Thomas and Maud were courtiers during the
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| 185 | early years of Henry VIII's reign. Thomas was knighted at the
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| 186 | king's coronation in 1509 and Maud was a lady-in-waiting to his first
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| 187 | queen, <a href="aragon.html">Katharine
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| 188 | of Aragon</a>. But Thomas died unexpectedly in 1517, and
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| 189 | Katharine's mother dedicated herself to securing good marriages for her
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| 190 | children. Katharine was raised in Northamptonshire in the
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| 191 | household of her uncle Sir William Parr. Her education was good,
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| 192 | but not comprehensive. Later in life, she would undertake the
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| 193 | difficult task of learning Greek and Latin; this was indicative of her
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| 194 | genuine love and respect for scholarship, particularly with regard to
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| 195 | women. It was Katharine Parr who encouraged Elizabeth I's
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| 196 | education, thus creating the most learned monarch in English
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| 197 | history. She also made John Cheke and Roger Ascham tutors to
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| 198 | young Prince Edward; the influence of these Cambridge 'reformers' upon
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| 199 | both Elizabeth and Edward was profound. </p>
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| 200 | <p>Katharine's first marriage was in 1529; her mother died two years
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| 201 | later. Her first husband was young Edward Borough, son of a minor
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| 202 | lord in Lincolnshire. The marriage was childless and Edward, who
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| 203 | had a history of lingering illness, died in 1532. Katharine's
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| 204 | next husband, John Neville, Lord Latimer, was forty years old, twice
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| 205 | Katharine's age and with a son and daughter. They wed in late
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| 206 | spring 1533; Katharine was his third wife. Latimer was a wealthy
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| 207 | northern landowner and Katharine quickly adapted to her new lifestyle
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| 208 | as mistress of a large household. She also became - at the young
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| 209 | age of twenty-one - the beloved stepmother of Latimer's daughter.
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| 210 | The most trying time of their marriage was the infamous Pilgrimage of
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| 211 | Grace, which forced the conservative North against Henry VIII's
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| 212 | religious policies. Poor Latimer was torn between the demands of
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| 213 | the rebels (who kidnapped him and, later, his wife and daughter) and
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| 214 | those of his angry king. Called to London to explain himself,
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| 215 | Latimer was eventually cleared of complicity. But his health was
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| 216 | broken from the stress and never recovered. Katharine began to
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| 217 | spend more time in London, nursing her husband and visiting with her
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| 218 | younger sister Anne. Anne Parr had married William Herbert, the
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| 219 | illegitimate grandson of the powerful earl of Pembroke, and was also a
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| 220 | lady-in-waiting to Henry VIII's fourth and fifth wives. </p>
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| 221 | <p>Katharine was still a young woman, and this time at court opened
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| 222 | her eyes in many ways. First, she was at last in the presence of
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| 223 | healthy, dynamic men her own age; unlike her invalid husbands, these
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| 224 | men were flirtatious and charming. There was never a hint of
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| 225 | impropriety in Katharine's actions, and she continued to nurse the
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| 226 | ailing Lord Latimer with notable care and compassion. But she
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| 227 | would have been less than human if she did not notice the contrast
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| 228 | between her life in northern England and the glittering, challenging
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| 229 | court of Henry VIII. </p>
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| 230 | <p>She became increasingly interested in the theological debates of
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| 231 | the court, but she also enjoyed its less intellectual pleasures -
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| 232 | dancing, music, banquets, grand costumes. When she became queen,
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| 233 | this love of clothes and jewels would be indulged on the grandest
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| 234 | scale. </p>
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| 235 | <p>While Lord Latimer lingered on his deathbed throughout 1541 and
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| 236 | 1542, Katharine realistically assessed her future. She would soon
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| 237 | be a very wealthy widow, finally free to make her own choices and with
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| 238 | the youth to enjoy them. Soon enough, she had fallen in love with
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| 239 | the charming Thomas Seymour, brother of the late Queen Jane and uncle
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| 240 | to Henry VIII's only male heir. But she had also caught Henry
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| 241 | VIII's jaded eye. His first gifts to Katharine were delivered on
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| 242 | 16 February 1543, a year after Catherine Howard's execution. On 2
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| 243 | March, her husband Lord Latimer at last passed away. Katharine
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| 244 | looked to Seymour as her future husband, to a life of passionate
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| 245 | fulfillment rather than one of duty. Seymour, meanwhile, took
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| 246 | note of the king's interest and wisely stepped back. </p>
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| 247 | <p>And so Katharine Parr once again followed a dutiful course,
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| 248 | entering into a third marriage with an older, sickly husband. But
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| 249 | though she followed her duty, it was not an easy choice. She
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| 250 | wrote to Seymour, 'As truly as God is God, my mind was fully bent....
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| 251 | to marry you before any man I know.' But the will of God was
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| 252 | different than her own, she continued, and after a great spiritual
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| 253 | struggle, she had no choice but obedience. She and Seymour parted
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| 254 | with some promises for the future (after all, the king was ill and
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| 255 | failing) and their feelings undiminished. The ascendancy of the
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| 256 | Parr family had now begun.</p>
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| 257 | <p>Events moved quickly. She and Henry were married by Stephen
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| 258 | Gardiner in the 'Queen's closet' at Hampton Court Palace on 12 July
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| 259 | 1543, with all the royal children present. </p>
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| 260 | <p> The marriage was an immediate success.
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| 261 | Katharine chose as her motto 'To be useful in all I do.' And she
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| 262 | had a truly endearing personality, as proven by the genuine affection
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| 263 | which a variety of people felt for her. To the king, she was the
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| 264 | perfect companion and nursemaid; to his children, she was a loving
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| 265 | stepmother. As queen, she attracted those courtiers sympathetic
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| 266 | to the reformed faith. Her rooms became famous for their
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| 267 | theological debates, a fact which soon incensed Stephen Gardiner and
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| 268 | other Catholics. </p>
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| 269 | <p>When the king left for France on yet another expensive military
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| 270 | campaign in July 1544, Katharine - his 'most dearly and most entirely
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| 271 | beloved wife' - was made Regent of England. The only other wife
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| 272 | accorded this honor had been Henry's first, Katharine of Aragon.
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| 273 | Henry returned in October to find his affairs in good order. </p>
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| 274 | <p>Their marriage had its physical side as well. Though
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| 275 | occasionally impotent, the king did consummate their marriage and
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| 276 | Katharine was fond of ordering black satin nightdresses. She
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| 277 | would often sit with the king's sore leg in her lap, or in his lap
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| 278 | herself. The king enjoyed her dancing and they both loved music;
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| 279 | they also exchanged rich gifts. It was only when Katharine waded
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| 280 | into the complicated morass of Tudor theology that she roused Henry's
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| 281 | temper. </p>
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| 282 | <p>The king's religious beliefs remain confusing centuries later; one
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| 283 | can only sympathize with his contemporaries who had to guess at them
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| 284 | and hope for the best. Raised a Catholic, Henry was forced to
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| 285 | repudiate the papacy in order to marry Anne Boleyn; for several years
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| 286 | afterwards, Protestants and Catholics alike were struck down by the
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| 287 | king. To lean too far one way or the other risked certain
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| 288 | death. As the king grew older, he came to appreciate the mess he
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| 289 | had created. Where did he stand? Was he an ally of the
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| 290 | Lutheran princes? Or did he miss the faith of his youth? It
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| 291 | is probable that even Henry did not know the answer. But even if
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| 292 | he didn't know what he believed, he did know heresy when he heard it -
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| 293 | or so he thought. Encouraged by Gardiner and other Catholic
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| 294 | councilors, he was soon persuaded that Katharine Parr was a heretic. </p>
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| 295 | <p>Katharine was coming dangerously attracted to evangelical
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| 296 | Protestantism. Her companions were of a younger generation than
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| 297 | the king, having grown up in the decades following Martin Luther's
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| 298 | triumph in Germany. Theology was no longer only the province of
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| 299 | churchmen; the laity - and women especially - could now question and
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| 300 | debate the most important issues for themselves. As an
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| 301 | intelligent woman with a deep love of scholarship, this new faith
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| 302 | appealed to Katharine. There was no room for her in Catholicism,
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| 303 | but she could be a guiding light for the reformers. </p>
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| 304 | <p>And so she was, attracting Mile Coverdale, John Parkhurst, Anthony
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| 305 | Cope and others. She had also become close friends with Thomas
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| 306 | Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury, and Catherine Willoughby, the
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| 307 | duchess of Suffolk, another young wife of an elderly husband.
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| 308 | Both she and Katharine used their youthful energy in defense of the new
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| 309 | faith. </p>
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| 310 | <p> <img height="343" alt="Katharine Parr or Lady Jane Grey?"
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| 311 | src="grey3.jpg" width="170"
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| 312 | border="2" align="left">Perhaps the central belief of this new faith was the need for
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| 313 | everyone to personally study the Bible. This was a truly
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| 314 | revolutionary idea; it also lessened the power of Henry VIII as Supreme
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| 315 | Head of the Church of England since it encouraged his subjects to think
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| 316 | for themselves. Conservatives argued that reading the Bible only
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| 317 | encouraged heresy. But as Katharine wrote angrily, 'Is it not
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| 318 | extreme wickedness to charge the holy sanctified word of God with the
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| 319 | offenses of man? To allege the Scriptures to be perilous learning
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| 320 | because certain readers thereof fall into heresies?' </p>
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| 321 | <p>In May 1543, the king's council felt sufficiently alarmed by this
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| 322 | permissive climate to pass the Act for the Advancement of the True
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| 323 | Religion. It was directed against the 'lower sort' who wished to
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| 324 | study the Bible in English, either alone or in public. It was
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| 325 | later amended to allow noblewomen the right to read the Bible but they
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| 326 | must do so alone and not engage in religious debate. </p>
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| 327 | <p>Katharine, however, seemed content to ignore this warning.
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| 328 | The king was openly affectionate; foreign ambassadors wrote home in
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| 329 | praise of her kindness; her stepchildren loved her. She was
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| 330 | secure in her position and unaware of any danger. As patroness,
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| 331 | she favored the reformers and also sought to protect those who fell
|
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| 332 | from favor. </p>
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| 333 | <p>But in 1546, Baron Thomas Wriothesley was made Lord Chancellor; he
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| 334 | was a conservative especially interested in stamping out heresy.
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| 335 | On 24 May 1546, the reformist Anne Askew was arrested and horribly
|
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| 336 | tortured. She had ties to court, particularly to the duchess of
|
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| 337 | Suffolk. But she refused to implicate the queen despite repeated
|
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| 338 | questioning; Wriothesley and his secretary Richard Rich were personally
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| 339 | involved in her torture. On 16 July she was burnt at the stake
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| 340 | for heresy. Only a few days before, the Privy Council had ordered
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| 341 | Katharine's estate books seized, presumably because she would soon be
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| 342 | arrested and her property confiscated. This indicates that her
|
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| 343 | Catholic enemies felt confident the king would follow their lead in
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| 344 | disposing of his sixth wife, much as he had destroyed <a
|
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| 345 | href="../citizens/cromwell.html">Thomas
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| 346 | Cromwell</a> four years before. And since the king possessed the
|
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| 347 | disturbing quality of acting well to those he was about to destroy, his
|
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| 348 | continued affection for Katharine did not worry them. Katharine,
|
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| 349 | however, was still lulled into a feeling of safety. In response
|
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| 350 | to Anne Askew's execution, she hurriedly threw out her most evangelical
|
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| 351 | books - but that was all. </p>
|
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| 352 | <p>Around this time, Henry VIII was in a more irritable mood than
|
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| 353 | usual. His ulcerated leg had grown worse, as had the recurrent
|
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| 354 | headaches. Katharine made the mistake of engaging the king in
|
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| 355 | theological discourse while he was physically unwell and under the
|
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| 356 | influence of his conservative courtiers. It nearly cost her her
|
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| 357 | life. </p>
|
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| 358 | <p>Shortly after Anne Askew's execution, the royal couple were
|
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| 359 | sitting in their usual position - the king's sore leg resting upon his
|
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| 360 | wife's lap. As she nursed him, Katharine began to lecture her
|
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| 361 | husband on religion. The king was in no mood for what he
|
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| 362 | considered heresy, nor to be lectured by his wife. It seemed
|
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| 363 | Katharine's enemies had won. But then the old king threw all into
|
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| 364 | confusion, possibly on purpose. He told his doctor, Thomas Wendy,
|
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| 365 | that Katharine was about to be arrested and soon enough an anonymous
|
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| 366 | courtier dropped a copy of the warrant outside Katharine's rooms.
|
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| 367 | The queen was devastated and immediately in fear for her
|
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| 368 | life. </p>
|
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| 369 | <p>Katharine went to the king's rooms and there he immediately began
|
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| 370 | to discuss religion with her, in particular contradicting many of her
|
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| 371 | reformist beliefs. Recognizing the test, Katharine agreed with it
|
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| 372 | all, telling Henry that 'women by their first creation were made
|
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| 373 | subject to men' and that 'men out to instruct their wives, who would do
|
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| 374 | all their learning from them'. The king was 'a prince of such
|
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| 375 | excellent learning and wisdom' that she would gladly follow his
|
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| 376 | counsel. But this appeal to Henry's vanity was not enough.
|
|---|
| 377 | 'You are become a doctor able to instruct us and not to be instructed
|
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| 378 | by us,' the king said, referring to her earlier lecture. But
|
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| 379 | Katharine replied that he had 'much mistaken the freedom she had taken
|
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| 380 | to argue with him', for she had only done it to learn from him and
|
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| 381 | distract him from his illness. 'And is it even so?' asked Henry,
|
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| 382 | with a smile. 'Then Kate, we are friends again.' Katharine Parr
|
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| 383 | had escaped. </p>
|
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| 384 | <p>But no one had told the king's council. When Wriothesley and
|
|---|
| 385 | forty guards arrived to arrest Katharine the next day, the king himself
|
|---|
| 386 | beat them about the heads and shoulders, calling them foul names.
|
|---|
| 387 | Katharine was thus saved in a most public and spectacular fashion, and
|
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| 388 | was soon gifted with more jewels and plate than before. </p>
|
|---|
| 389 | <p>Her appeal to Henry's vanity saved her life and it also allowed
|
|---|
| 390 | the king to remind everyone who was the real master. Wriothesley
|
|---|
| 391 | had sought to recreate the destruction of <a
|
|---|
| 392 | href="../citizens/wolsey.html">Wolsey</a>
|
|---|
| 393 | and Cromwell, using the king's temper to destroy his personal
|
|---|
| 394 | enemies. But Henry VIII was of a mind to do otherwise. He
|
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| 395 | had long lamented the loss of Cromwell and he disliked any manipulation
|
|---|
| 396 | by his councilors. By saving Katharine in such a public manner,
|
|---|
| 397 | he forced his courtiers to recognize his omnipotence and mutability. </p>
|
|---|
| 398 | <p>But he was not indestructible. The king's health began a
|
|---|
| 399 | decline in the spring of 1546 from which he only sporadically
|
|---|
| 400 | recovered. By the winter, he was dangerously ill.
|
|---|
| 401 | Katharine's own position gained new prominence since upon Henry's death
|
|---|
| 402 | she would be the dowager queen. She already had great influence
|
|---|
| 403 | over her stepson <a
|
|---|
| 404 | href="edward6.html">Prince
|
|---|
| 405 | Edward</a>. She continued to nurse Henry
|
|---|
| 406 | assiduously, but was sent away to Greenwich Palace with Mary and
|
|---|
| 407 | Elizabeth for Christmas celebrations. She returned to London on
|
|---|
| 408 | 10 January but never saw the king again. Henry VIII died in the
|
|---|
| 409 | early morning hours of 28 January 1547. </p>
|
|---|
| 410 | <p>After Henry's death, Thomas Seymour's elder brother Edward assumed
|
|---|
| 411 | the title Protector of the Kingdom, ruling in the name of his nine year
|
|---|
| 412 | old nephew. Katharine, meanwhile, married Thomas with what others
|
|---|
| 413 | (including her royal stepchildren) felt was indecent haste. The
|
|---|
| 414 | actual date is not known but Seymour referred to himself as her husband
|
|---|
| 415 | in a letter of 17 May. The wedding took place in the moonlit
|
|---|
| 416 | gardens of Chelsea Manor. Letters indicate that the ambitious
|
|---|
| 417 | Seymour pressed for a quick union. As a dowager queen, Katharine
|
|---|
| 418 | was expected to behave perfectly; also, it was theoretically possible
|
|---|
| 419 | she was pregnant by Henry VIII. For once, the always dutiful
|
|---|
| 420 | Katharine had acted impulsively. She had given up Thomas Seymour
|
|---|
| 421 | once and would not do so again. </p>
|
|---|
| 422 | <p>For the new king's councilors, the marriage was a disaster.
|
|---|
| 423 | They recognized Seymour's ambition even as Katharine fell even more
|
|---|
| 424 | deeply in love. Edward Seymour's wife Anne Stanhope, now the
|
|---|
| 425 | duchess of Somerset, engaged in a petty battle of precedence with
|
|---|
| 426 | Katharine. Also, there were arguments over Katharine's
|
|---|
| 427 | possessions, particularly jewelry which Henry VIII had given her.
|
|---|
| 428 | Still, there was far happier news to distract her. In late
|
|---|
| 429 | November 1547, thirty-five years old and childless through three
|
|---|
| 430 | previous marriages, Katharine Parr became pregnant. </p>
|
|---|
| 431 | <p>However, her pregnancy was not the happy triumph she had
|
|---|
| 432 | expected. Her husband proved too forward with the young Princess
|
|---|
| 433 | Elizabeth and Katharine was forced to send her step-daughter
|
|---|
| 434 | away. This breach hurt them both deeply. The young <a
|
|---|
| 435 | href="../relative/janegrey.html">Lady
|
|---|
| 436 | Jane Grey</a> remained with the household, however, for Seymour had
|
|---|
| 437 | 'bought' her from her ambitious parents, hoping to marry her to Prince
|
|---|
| 438 | Edward. </p>
|
|---|
| 439 | <p>Katharine gave birth to a girl named Mary at Sudeley Castle in
|
|---|
| 440 | Gloucestershire on 30 August. Jane Grey stood as godmother to the
|
|---|
| 441 | infant, but the happy occasion took a quick turn for the worse.
|
|---|
| 442 | Katharine Parr soon fell victim to puerperal sepsis, or 'childbed
|
|---|
| 443 | fever', which had also killed Queen Jane Seymour. She suffered
|
|---|
| 444 | painful delusions before sinking into calm, able to dictate her will
|
|---|
| 445 | and final wishes. She died on 5 September, and Jane Grey acted as
|
|---|
| 446 | chief mourner at the funeral. She was buried at Sudeley in St
|
|---|
| 447 | Mary's Church. </p>
|
|---|
| 448 | <p>Katharine's Parr life was always one of duty and kindness.
|
|---|
| 449 | She left behind a formidable tradition of scholarship and religious
|
|---|
| 450 | devotion, as evidenced by her own books. The great tragedy of her
|
|---|
| 451 | life was that, when finally able to marry for love, her happiness was
|
|---|
| 452 | all too brief. <br>
|
|---|
| 453 | <br>
|
|---|
| 454 | <br>
|
|---|
| 455 | </p>
|
|---|
| 456 | <blockquote>
|
|---|
| 457 | <center>
|
|---|
| 458 | <p><font size="-1"><a
|
|---|
| 459 | href="wives.html">to the Six
|
|---|
| 460 | Wives main page</a></font> <br>
|
|---|
| 461 | <font size="-1"><a href="http://englishhistory.net/tudor.html">to
|
|---|
| 462 | Tudor England</a></font></p>
|
|---|
| 463 | <p><font size="-1">Susan E. James wrote <a
|
|---|
| 464 | href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1840146834/qid=1068483380/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9144463-8095031?v=glance&s=books">
|
|---|
| 465 | a wonderful biography</a> of Katharine in 1999.<br>
|
|---|
| 466 | It includes extensive selections from her letters to Thomas Seymour.</font></p>
|
|---|
| 467 | </center>
|
|---|
| 468 | </blockquote>
|
|---|
| 469 | </blockquote>
|
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| 470 | </body>
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