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| 4 | <meta name="content" content="Primary Sources - Letter of Katharine of Aragon to her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, 2 December 1505">
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| 9 | <title>Primary Sources - Letter of Katharine of Aragon to her father, King
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| 10 | Ferdinand II of Aragon, 2 December 1505</title>
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| 30 | <td valign="top" width="70%" height="610" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
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| 31 | <p align="center"><b><FONT size=+1>
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| 32 | Letter of Katharine of Aragon to her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon <br>2 December 1505</FONT>
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| 33 | </b></p>
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| 34 | <p><FONT size=-1><b>Background</b><br>The following letter was written in Spanish by
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| 35 | Katharine while she was Princess Dowager of Wales. Katharine only wrote
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| 36 | in English after her marriage to King Henry VIII. Her mother, the famous
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| 37 | Queen Isabella of Castile, had died in the previous year; her father was beset
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| 38 | by diplomatic troubles, particularly with the English (he was unable to force
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| 39 | Castilian acceptance of a trade agreement with England, which resulted in loss
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| 40 | of money for the parsimonious King Henry VII.)</FONT> </p>
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| 41 | <p><FONT size=-1>In
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| 42 | 1502, Katharine's husband and Henry VII's heir, Prince Arthur, had died.
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| 43 | Katharine was put in an untenable position, and spent seven years of miserable
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| 44 | widowhood in England before Arthur's brother married her. Her father was
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| 45 | never able to pay the full amount of her dowry to Prince Arthur. This
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| 46 | issue became even more pressing when she was then betrothed to Prince
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| 47 | Henry. Ferdinand and Henry VII were equally wily monarchs, each
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| 48 | unwilling to compromise in order to make Katharine's life in England
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| 49 | bearable.</FONT> </p>
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| 50 | <p><FONT size=-1>The marriage to Prince Henry, though
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| 51 | formally recognized in 1504, was not to be celebrated until two years later
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| 52 | when the prince came of age. The Spanish ambassador Dr De Puebla had
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| 53 | negotiated the contract, and assumed Henry VII would gladly support Katharine
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| 54 | for those two years. But Henry gave her barely enough money for food;
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| 55 | she had no money to pay servants' wages or buy clothing, among other
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| 56 | things. She lived in extreme poverty and with a frightening lack of
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| 57 | attention or respect. Henry VII made it clear that if her dowry was not
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| 58 | paid, he would renege on the marriage to Prince Henry. And Ferdinand
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| 59 | made it clear that he lacked the funds to pay the dowry; indeed, it was not
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| 60 | even a priority in his tumultuous life.</FONT> </p>
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| 61 | <p><FONT size=-1>In this
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| 62 | letter, Katharine mentions an 'Infanta Isabel'; this was her older sister
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| 63 | Isabella. She also unfairly maligns the amiable Dr De Puebla.
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| 64 | Katharine's duenna Dona Elvira despised De Puebla for political reasons and
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| 65 | poisoned the young woman's mind against him.</FONT> </p>
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| 66 | <P><FONT size=-1>This letter, a litany of complaints - all politely phrased -
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| 67 | is fascinating, and offers invaluable insight into Katharine's life as
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| 68 | Princess of Wales. She was poor, hungry, and desperately ill; 'I shall
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| 69 | soon die,' she wrote to her father in despair. She survived, of course,
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| 70 | but these conditions explain why she considered her marriage to King Henry
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| 71 | VIII to be so miraculous.</FONT> <FONT size=-1>This letter also offers a
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| 72 | funny glimpse into Henry VII's miserly nature.</FONT>
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| 73 | <P>
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| 74 | <HR width="100%">
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| 75 |
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| 76 | <p><font face="Times New Roman">Most high and most puissant lord, <BR>Hitherto I have not wished
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| 77 | to let your highness know the affairs here, that I might not give you
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| 78 | annoyance, and also thinking that they would improve; but it appears that
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| 79 | the contrary is the case, and that each day my troubles increase; and all
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| 80 | this on account of the doctor de Puebla, to whom it has not sufficed that
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| 81 | from the beginning he transacted a thousand falsities against the service of
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| 82 | your highness, but now he has given me new trouble; and because I believe
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| 83 | your highness will think I complain without reason, I desire to tell you all
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| 84 | that has passed. <BR>Your highness shall know, as I have often written to
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| 85 | you, that since I came into England, I have not had a single maravedi,
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| 86 | except a certain sum which was given me for food, and this such a sum that
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| 87 | it did not suffice without my having many debts in London; and that which
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| 88 | troubles me more is to see my servants and maidens so at a loss, and that
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| 89 | they have not the wherewith to get clothes; and this I believe is all done
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| 90 | by hand of the doctor, who, notwithstanding your highness has written,
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| 91 | sending him word that he should have money from the king of England, my lord
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| 92 | that their costs should be given them, yet, in order not to trouble him,
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| 93 | will rather entrench upon and neglect the service of your highness.
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| 94 | Now, my lord, a few days ago, donna Elvira de Manuel asked my leave to go to
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| 95 | Flanders to be cured of a complaint which has come into her eyes, so that
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| 96 | she lost the sight of one of them; and there is a physician in Flanders who
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| 97 | cured the infanta donna Isabel of the same disease which which she is
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| 98 | affected. She labored to bring him here so as not to leave me, but
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| 99 | could never succeed with him; and I, since if she were blind she could not
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| 100 | serve me, durst not hinder her journey. I begged the king of England,
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| 101 | my lord, that until our donna Elvira should return his highness would
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| 102 | command that I should have, as a companion, an old English lady, or that he
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| 103 | would take me to his court; and I imparted all this to the doctor, thinking
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| 104 | to make of the rogue a true man; but it did not suffice me - because he not
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| 105 | only drew me to court, in which I have some pleasure, because I had
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| 106 | supplicated the king for an asylum, but he negotiated that the king should
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| 107 | dismiss all my household, and take away my chamber-equipage, and send to
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| 108 | place it in a house of his own, so that I should not in any way be mistress
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| 109 | of it. <BR>And all this does not weigh upon me, except that it concerns the
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| 110 | service of your highness, doing the contrary of that which ought to be
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| 111 | done. I entreat your highness that you will consider that I am your
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| 112 | daughter, and that consent not that on account of the doctor I should have
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| 113 | such trouble, but that you will command some ambassador to come here, who
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| 114 | may be a true servant of your highness, and for no interest will cease to do
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| 115 | that which pertains to your service. And if in this your highness
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| 116 | trusts me not, do you command some person to come here, who may inform you
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| 117 | of the truth, and then you will have one who will better serve you. As
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| 118 | for me, I have had so much pain and annoyance that I have lost my health in
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| 119 | a great measure; so that for two months I have had severe tertian fevers,
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| 120 | and this will be the cause that I shall soon die. I supplicate your
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| 121 | highness to pardon me that I presume to entreat you to do me so great favor
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| 122 | as to command that this doctor may not remain; because he certainly does not
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| 123 | fulfill the service of your highness, which he postpones to the service of
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| 124 | the worst interest which can be. Our Lord guard the life and most
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| 125 | royal estate of your highness, and ever increase it as I desire. From
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| 126 | Richmond, the second of December. <BR>My lord, I had forgotten to remind
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| 127 | your highness how you know that it was agreed that you were to give, as a
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| 128 | certain part of my dowry, the plate and jewels that I brought; and yet I am
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| 129 | certain that the king of England, my lord, will not receive anything of
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| 130 | plate nor of jewels which I have used; because he told me himself that he
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| 131 | was indignant that they should say in his kingdom that he took away from me
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| 132 | my ornaments. And as little may your highness expect that he will take
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| 133 | them in account and will return them to me; because I am certain he will not
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| 134 | do so, nor is any such thing customary here. In like wise the jewels
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| 135 | which I brought from thence [Spain] valued at a great sum. The
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| 136 | king would not take them in the half of the value, because here all these
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| 137 | things are esteemed much cheaper, and the king has so many jewels that he
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| 138 | rather desires money than them. I write thus to your highness because
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| 139 | I know that there will be great embarrassment if he will not receive them,
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| 140 | except at less price. It appears to me that it would be better if your
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| 141 | highness should take them for yourself, and should give to the king of
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| 142 | England, my lord, his money. Your highness will see what would serve
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| 143 | you best, and with this I shall be most content. <BR>The humble servant of
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| 144 | your highness, who kisses your hands.</font></p>
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| 145 | <p> </p>
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| 146 |
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| 147 | <BLOCKQUOTE>
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| 148 | <P>
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| 149 | <HR width="100%">
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| 150 | </BLOCKQUOTE>
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| 151 | <p align="center"><FONT size=-1><A
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| 152 | href="letters.html">to Letters of the Six Wives
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| 153 | of Henry VIII</A></FONT></p>
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| 154 | <P align="center"><FONT size=-1><A href="primary.html">to
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| 155 | Primary Sources</A></FONT><BR><FONT size=-1><A
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| 156 | href="http://englishhistory.net/tudor.html">to Tudor England</A></FONT><BR><FONT size=-1><A
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| 157 | href="monarchs/aragon.html">to Katharine of
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| 158 | Aragon website</A></FONT></P></td>
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