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    <Metadata name="Content">Catherine Howard, fifth queen of Henry VIII</Metadata>
    <Metadata name="Page_topic">Catherine Howard, fifth queen of Henry VIII</Metadata>
    <Metadata name="Author">Marilee Mongello</Metadata>
    <Metadata name="Title">Catherine Howard: Biography, Portraits, Primary Sources</Metadata>
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    <Metadata name="dc.Subject">Tudor period|Monarchs</Metadata>
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&lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;3&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; height=&quot;631&quot;&gt;
  &lt;tbody&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;1&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td valign=&quot;top&quot; width=&quot;50%&quot; height=&quot;1&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;1&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
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    &lt;/tr&gt;
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      &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot; height=&quot;3&quot;&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;'The King's affection was so
marvelously set upon that gentlewoman [Catherine], as it was never
known that he had the like to any woman.'&lt;/font&gt;&lt;br&gt;
      &lt;i&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;Thomas Cranmer's secretary, Ralph Morice, in a
letter to his master, 1540&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;610&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td valign=&quot;top&quot; width=&quot;50%&quot; height=&quot;610&quot;&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;img height=&quot;95&quot; alt=&quot;Catherine Howard&quot;
 src=&quot;_httpdocimg_/howardcardinal.gif&quot; width=&quot;389&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt; 
      &lt;img height=&quot;252&quot;
 alt=&quot;portrait of Catherine Howard by Holbein, on the back of a playing-card&quot;
 src=&quot;_httpdocimg_/howard-crop.jpg&quot;
 width=&quot;250&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;miniature portrait of Catherine 
      Howard by Hans Holbein the Younger&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Catherine Howard was a cousin of Henry
VIII's ill-fated second queen, Anne Boleyn; and like Anne, Catherine
would die on the scaffold at Tower Green.&amp;nbsp; Her birthdate is
unknown, but her father was the younger brother of the duke of
Norfolk.&amp;nbsp; Though personally impoverished, Catherine had a powerful
family name and thus secured an appointment as lady-in-waiting to
Henry's fourth queen, Anne of Cleves.&amp;nbsp; While at court, she caught
the eye of the middle-aged king and became a political pawn of her
family and its Catholic allies.&amp;nbsp; Catherine's greatest crime was
her silliness.&amp;nbsp; Raised in the far too permissive household of her
grandmother, she was a flirtatious and emotional girl who rarely
understood the consequences of her actions.&amp;nbsp; She made the mistake
of continuing her girlish indiscretions as queen.&amp;nbsp; Henry was
besotted with her, calling her his 'Rose without a Thorn' and showering
her with gifts and public affection.&amp;nbsp; Catherine was understandably
more attracted to men her own age and, after just seventeen months of
marriage to the king, she was arrested for adultery.&amp;nbsp; The
distraught king at first refused to believe the evidence but it was
persuasive.&amp;nbsp; Unlike Anne Boleyn, Catherine had betrayed the
king.&amp;nbsp; She was beheaded on 13 February 1542, only nineteen or
twenty years old.&amp;nbsp; &lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman,Times&quot;
 color=&quot;#000000&quot;&gt;The drama of her execution lends gravity to a brief
life which would otherwise pass unnoticed.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;blockquote&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2fhoward.html#Biography&quot;&gt;
        &lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Read the biography of Catherine Howard.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;
        &lt;b&gt;Primary Sources&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br&gt;
Read &lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fletter13.html&quot;&gt;Catherine's
letter to Thomas Culpeper&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br&gt;
        &lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fpricath.html&quot;&gt;The fall
of Catherine Howard&lt;/a&gt;, 1540&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;Visit &lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=0&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fwww.marileecody.com%2fimages.html&quot;&gt;Tudor
England: Images&lt;/a&gt; to view the only known portrait of Catherine. &lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;Test your knowledge of Catherine's life at &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2ftudor1.html&quot;&gt;Tudor Quizzes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
        Interact&lt;br&gt;
        &lt;/b&gt; Meet other Six Wives enthusiasts at &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=0&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fladiesallfanlist.cjb.net&quot;&gt;Ladies All: A Fanlisting for
the Six Wives of Henry VIII&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;
        &lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=0&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2ftudorhistory.org%2flists%2flist.html&quot;&gt; Tudor Talk &lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;This
email discussion list is sponsored by Tudorhistory.org.&lt;br&gt;
        &lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=0&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fgroups.yahoo.com%2fgroup%2fReign%5fof%5fthe%5fTudors%5frpg&quot;&gt;Reign
of the Tudors&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; This is a role-playing game set in 16th century
England.&amp;nbsp; If you would like to 'play' Jane Grey or Anne Boleyn or
other Tudors, click the link to join.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;/blockquote&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;610&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
  &lt;blockquote&gt;
    &lt;blockquote&gt;
      &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a name=&quot;Biography&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;'I found her in
such lamentation and heaviness, as I never saw no creature, so that it
would have pitied any man's heart in the world, to have looked upon
her.'&lt;/font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;i&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;Thomas Cranmer describes
visiting Catherine after her arrest, 1542&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Biography&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br&gt;
Catherine Howard's short life is one of the great cautionary tales of
Henry VIII's reign; there is about it something strangely pathetic and
small, but also powerful and moving.&amp;nbsp; Catherine was neither
particularly beautiful or intelligent, but she was a charming,
flirtatious girl who rose, virtually overnight, from obscurity to
become queen of England. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;She was the daughter of the 2d duke of Norfolk's youngest son,
Edmund, and his wife, Jocasta (Joyce) Culpeper.&amp;nbsp; She was one of
too many children for her impoverished parents and the date of her
birth was not recorded; most historians believe it was 1521.&amp;nbsp;
Edmund was not an auspicious individual and, like most younger sons,
spent most of his life in constant need of money.&amp;nbsp; He complained
to the king's chief minister &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fcitizens%2fcromwell.html&quot;&gt;Thomas
Cromwell&lt;/a&gt; that he wished to be a poor man's son for at least then he
could work without shame.&amp;nbsp; But he was an aristocrat, a member of
one of the greatest noble families of England, and he could do little
but beg for help from one relation to another.&amp;nbsp; He sent his
daughter to live with her grandmother, the dowager duchess of Norfolk,
and thus avoided responsibility for Catherine's upbringing.&amp;nbsp; This
should not reflect badly upon him since it was typical of the times;
and though Catherine's grandmother complained ceaselessly about the
expense of supporting numerous grandchildren, she did provide a
comfortable home.&amp;nbsp; She did not, however, provide strict
supervision - a fact which would have dire consequences for the entire
Norfolk family after Catherine became queen. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Catherine was raised in a type of dormitory at Lambeth Palace,
crowded in with other young girls (some were servants to her
grandmother) and her education was not intellectual.&amp;nbsp; Rather, her
days were spent passing the time in the most pleasant manner
possible.&amp;nbsp; The duchess's household was not wealthy and Catherine
understandably chafed at her constricted lifestyle.&amp;nbsp; There was
within her a strong love of luxury and inability to control her
desires; this was a lack of self-control, a realization that certain
things should not be done, must not be risked, no matter how much she
wanted something.&amp;nbsp; While she was simply one of many daughters of
an impoverished lord, this immaturity did not matter.&amp;nbsp; But when
she became queen, it remained and past indiscretions also returned to
haunt her.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Catherine grew into a merry and vivacious girl, not conventionally
beautiful but graceful and charming.&amp;nbsp; She possessed all the
vitality of youth, something which proved irresistible to her aged
king.&amp;nbsp; The only part of her sporadic education which she seemed to
enjoy were her music lessons; in particular, she enjoyed the attentions
of her music teacher, a man named Henry Mannox.&amp;nbsp; They first met in
1536, when Catherine was just fifteen years old.&amp;nbsp; Hired to teach
her the virginal and lute, Mannox soon began a practiced seduction of
his young pupil.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Catherine later swore the relationship was not consummated.&amp;nbsp;
'At the flattering and fair persuasions of Mannox being but a young
girl I suffered him at sundry times to handle and touch the secret
parts of my body which neither became me with honesty to permit nor him
to require,' she later told interrogators.&amp;nbsp; Mannox admitted the
same.&amp;nbsp; Since Catherine later confessed to more serious
transgressions, there was no reason for her to lie in this
instance.&amp;nbsp; And one can certainly condemn Mannox for taking
advantage of his young student. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;As a mere music teacher, Mannox was too far below her in social
status for a serious relationship to develop.&amp;nbsp; Though he followed
the duchess's household to London in 1538, Catherine's attentions soon
turned elsewhere.&amp;nbsp; She fell in love with a gentleman-pensioner in
her grandmother's household named Francis Dereham.&amp;nbsp; This
relationship was far more serious and undoubtedly consummated.&amp;nbsp;
There is much evidence on this point, including Catherine's own
confession: 'Francis Dereham by many persuasions procured me to his
vicious purpose and obtained first to lie upon my bed with his doublet
and hose and after within the bed and finally he lay with me naked and
used me in such sort as a man doth his wife many and sundry times but
how often I know not.' &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Their affair continued throughout 1538.&amp;nbsp; They addressed one
another as 'husband' and 'wife' and when Dereham was sent to Ireland on
business, he left 100 pds in Catherine's keeping.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;But Mannox, still with the household, was infuriated; his
attraction to Catherine continued while she spurned his company for
Dereham's.&amp;nbsp; In revenge, he sent an anonymous note to the dowager
duchess.&amp;nbsp; She then discovered Catherine and Dereham together and
there was a frightful scene.&amp;nbsp; But a physical relationship between
a betrothed couple was not uncommon by sixteenth-century standards and
Catherine and Dereham parted with some understanding of marriage when
he returned from Ireland. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;But, unluckily for Dereham, Catherine's heart cooled towards him
while he was away.&amp;nbsp; And in 1539, having moved closer to court and
staying at her uncle's house, she met Thomas Culpeper.&amp;nbsp; A
gentleman of the king's Privy Chamber and cousin of Catherine's mother
Joyce Culpeper, he was a handsome and charming young man; his position
in court was considered important since it allowed personal access to
the king.&amp;nbsp; Catherine fell in love with him, though Culpeper's own
feelings are not known.&amp;nbsp; Catherine's family was powerful and she
was an attractive girl.&amp;nbsp; It is likely that he was at least
interested in her, if not immediately infatuated.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;But then the great event occurred which was to change Catherine's
life forever.&amp;nbsp; She arrived at court in late 1539 or early 1540 as
a lady-in-waiting to &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2fcleves.html&quot;&gt;Anne of
Cleves&lt;/a&gt; and Henry VIII fell in love with her. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;It is clear from Catherine's life before meeting the king that she
was a flirtatious and emotional girl.&amp;nbsp; It is also clear that she
possessed the charm and sexual allure to attract men.&amp;nbsp; These were
to be her greatest strengths and weaknesses, for while they attracted
the king, they also led her into increasingly reckless behavior.&amp;nbsp;
If she had married Dereham or Culpeper, or any other social-climber,
she would have remained a gossip and flirt, perhaps she would have
succumbed to adultery.&amp;nbsp; But behavior that could be tolerated in a
poor niece of a duke was treason in a queen of England. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Catherine's family was torn between elation and trepidation with
regard to Henry's infatuation.&amp;nbsp; T&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman,Times&quot;
 color=&quot;#000000&quot;&gt;he Norfolk name was one of the oldest in
England.&amp;nbsp; They had supported Richard III against the first Tudor
king, Henry VII, but managed to win favor with their military prowess
and servile devotion to the new dynasty.&amp;nbsp; But Henry VIII never
fully trusted Thomas Howard, the 3d duke of Norfolk, though he wed two
of Norfolk's nieces.&amp;nbsp; Their grand name, then, was both blessing
and curse.&amp;nbsp; As an old family in a court of upstarts and fond of
feudal prerogative, Catherine's relatives had made wary friends and
bitter enemies at court.&amp;nbsp; And the divisive reign of Anne Boleyn,
herself no friend of her Norfolk relations (the duke presided over her
trial), had taught them all to tread carefully about the king.&amp;nbsp;
And Catherine's personality worried them.&amp;nbsp; Could she sustain the
king's attraction?&amp;nbsp; And, if so, could she become a mature and
successful queen?&lt;/font&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman,Times&quot; color=&quot;#000000&quot;&gt;It is important
to remember that Henry's previous English queens, &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2fboleyn.html&quot;&gt;Anne Boleyn&lt;/a&gt;
and &lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2fseymour.html&quot;&gt;Jane
Seymour&lt;/a&gt;, had spent years in royal service before marrying their
king.&amp;nbsp; They were veterans of the English court and knew the
intricacies and dangers of their position.&amp;nbsp; Catherine was a mere
child by contrast, barely literate, and born in a later
generation.&amp;nbsp; But for the conservative faction at Henry's court,
those dedicated to the restoration of the Catholic faith as practiced
before the Reformation, she was their last, best hope.&amp;nbsp; Unlike
Anne Boleyn, Catherine's personal and political success was not tied to
the Protestant faith.&amp;nbsp; She had been raised Catholic by her Norfolk
grandmother and, despite her personal lapses, she represented the
conservative faith to others.&lt;/font&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman,Times&quot; color=&quot;#000000&quot;&gt;Catherine's
relatives questioned her maturity, but they were not willing to risk
the king's wrath by pointing it out.&amp;nbsp; Henry VIII was mercurial and
dangerous, and his latest marriage was a bitter disappointment.&amp;nbsp;
Woe to the courtier who spoke ill of his latest attraction!&amp;nbsp; It
was left to the Norfolk clan to coach Catherine as best they could and
hope their triumph would last.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman,Times&quot; color=&quot;#000000&quot;&gt;The king soon
publicly favored young Mistress Howard.&amp;nbsp; On 24 April she was given
lands seized from a felon; a few weeks later, she received an expensive
gift of quilted sarcanet.&amp;nbsp; It is possible their relationship was
consummated around this time for there was a sudden urgency to annul
the ill-fated marriage to Anne of Cleves.&amp;nbsp; The king's advisors
soon found a valid impediment to the fourth marriage and, on 13 July
1540, it was officially ended by Parliament.&amp;nbsp; Meanwhile, the
French ambassador reported rumors that Catherine was pregnant.&amp;nbsp;
The king had one son and heir but the vagaries of life in the 16th
century made another heir necessary.&amp;nbsp; Henry had just turned
forty-nine years old and half his subjects were eighteen or
younger.&amp;nbsp; The security of his realm was his greatest concern and
it could only be guaranteed by legitimate heirs; as a second son
himself, he knew the life of young &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2fedward6.html&quot;&gt;Prince
Edward&lt;/a&gt; was a slender thread upon which to balance a dynasty.&lt;/font&gt;
  &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman,Times&quot; color=&quot;#000000&quot;&gt;Henry married
Catherine on 28 July 1540 at Oatlands Palace in Surrey.&amp;nbsp; The
ceremony was a success, albeit lacking in the usual pomp and display of
royal unions.&amp;nbsp; Catherine was never crowned queen of England.&amp;nbsp;
Henry VIII simply couldn't afford the ceremony; perhaps, too, he wished
to wait until the marriage proved successful in the most important way
and Catherine bore him a son.&amp;nbsp; The king consulted his council on
creating a new succession should the blessed event occur, pushing his
daughters Mary and Elizabeth even further from the throne.&lt;/font&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman,Times&quot; color=&quot;#000000&quot;&gt;The next year
was an Indian summer in the king's life.&amp;nbsp; Catherine chose as her
motto 'Non autre volonte que la sienne' ('No other wish but his' or 'No
other will than his') and did her best to amuse and distract him.&amp;nbsp;
The waste of lives and exorbitant money fighting France had depressed
the English treasury and the king's spirits.&amp;nbsp; And the Reformation
had cost him the love of the common people.&amp;nbsp; Henry also
increasingly suffered from the ailments which would kill him a few
years later.&amp;nbsp; He had severe headaches and pains throughout his
body; he found it difficult to sleep and was often impotent.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;
  &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman,Times&quot; color=&quot;#000000&quot;&gt;English
politics had become another headache for the king.&amp;nbsp; His great
advisor and friend, Thomas Cromwell, had championed the Protestant
cause and the union with Anne of Cleves.&amp;nbsp; The king's
disappointment - and the endless conniving of Cromwell's enemies - led
to his arrest and execution on the very day Henry and Catherine
married.&amp;nbsp; Within a few months, the king openly lamented the loss
of his 'most faithful servant'.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman,Times&quot; color=&quot;#000000&quot;&gt;Chief among
Cromwell's enemies were Catherine's uncle Norfolk and his close friend,
Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester.&amp;nbsp; Norfolk had always chafed
at the power Henry granted the 'commoner' Cromwell; Gardiner was a
Catholic who despised Cromwell's legislative destruction of the papacy
in England.&amp;nbsp; They used Catherine and the king's own impatience and
cupidity to destroy Cromwell.&amp;nbsp; But it was only a brief triumph.&lt;/font&gt;
  &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Times New Roman,Times&quot; color=&quot;#000000&quot;&gt;Catherine was
not pregnant in the summer of 1540, nor did she become so.&amp;nbsp; But
the king was so physically affectionate with her in public that none
doubted the happy event would occur.&amp;nbsp; Still, warning signs about
this hasty marriage had already begun.&amp;nbsp; Catherine's relationship
with Dereham had never been kept secret, though Henry was perhaps
unaware of it.&amp;nbsp; His courtiers gossiped and wondered.&amp;nbsp; Joan
Bulmer, a young woman who had lived with Catherine at Lambeth,
requested that Catherine bring her to court to share in her 'great
destiny'; it was a subtle blackmail.&amp;nbsp; In August 1541, Dereham was
made her secretary, perhaps as a bribe to keep quiet about their former
relationship.&amp;nbsp; So even as she collected rich gifts of gowns,
jewels, fur cloaks, and golden clocks, Catherine knew her indecorous
past lurked in the background.&amp;nbsp; Was she worried?&amp;nbsp; As her
later behavior showed, she was not.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;She was not merely collecting personal finery, but also lands and
manors that had once belonged to Jane Seymour and even Thomas
Cromwell.&amp;nbsp; And she began to explore the traditional role of the
queen as patroness.&amp;nbsp; She also took great care to ensure her aged
husband's happiness.&amp;nbsp; Many biographers have speculated on
Catherine's true feelings for Henry VIII.&amp;nbsp; She probably did not
love him in the most romantic sense of the word, but she did love him
for the affection and generosity he showed her.&amp;nbsp; And she also
approached him with something of an awed reverence, for he was the king
and thus a quasi-mystical figure, all-knowing and all-powerful.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;But he was not immune to illness and in the spring of 1541, the
king fell low with a serious fever and Catherine was sent away for her
own safety.&amp;nbsp; It was around this time that she began her affair
with Culpeper, the handsome young man who had caught her fancy two
years before; as evidence, we need only &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fletter13.html&quot;&gt;read her only
surviving letter&lt;/a&gt;, written to Culpeper in April 1541.&amp;nbsp; When the
king recovered, he took Catherine on a royal progress through the north
of England and again the French ambassador reported rumors of her
pregnancy.&amp;nbsp; It was even suggested that, should the condition be
confirmed, Catherine would be crowned at York Minster.&amp;nbsp; These
rumors prove that Henry still made love to his wife on a somewhat
regular basis.&amp;nbsp; And for her part, Catherine was confident she
could 'meddle with a man' without pregnancy, which made her
relationship with Culpeper safe.&amp;nbsp; He and Dereham both traveled in
the progress as members of the royal household.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;In Catherine's rather simple view of marriage, as long as she and
the king were happy, nothing else mattered.&amp;nbsp; And since the king
would be happy as long as he was ignorant, all would be well. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;And the king was ignorant for a surprisingly long time.&amp;nbsp; For
his part, Culpeper was using Catherine's infatuation to further his own
ambitions.&amp;nbsp; He was not a particularly 'gentlemanly'
gentleman.&amp;nbsp; In fact, he had brutally raped a park-keeper's wife,
ordering three of his servants to hold her down during the attack; he
also murdered a villager who tried to save her.&amp;nbsp; He had been
pardoned by the king, but it is one of the few facts we know about
Culpeper and not a pleasant one.&amp;nbsp; His ambitions regarding
Catherine undoubtedly stemmed from Henry VIII's ill health.&amp;nbsp; If
the king died, then the queen dowager would maintain some influence and
power at court.&amp;nbsp; Before that inevitable day, she could give him as
many expensive gifts as he desired.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Did Catherine love Culpeper?&amp;nbsp; She undoubtedly did, at least
as much as her immature view of love allowed.&amp;nbsp; He was handsome,
very charming, if only in a superficial manner, and he complemented and
cajoled her.&amp;nbsp; She became increasingly open in her affection,
enough to worry Culpeper himself.&amp;nbsp; As a gentleman of the privy
chamber, he knew the king's moods better than anyone and had no desire
to risk much for Catherine.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;But there were others at court who knew of the relationship, and
they would not keep quiet.&amp;nbsp; When the northern progress finally
ended on 1 November, and the royal couple settled at Hampton Court
Palace, Catherine's past and present indiscretions caught up with
her.&amp;nbsp; She had been safe enough during the northern progress, for a
traveling court was not nearly as gossip-ridden as a settled one; there
were, after all, far more practical matters to attend to as the king
moved from city to city.&amp;nbsp; But once they were home, other matters
could take precedence - matters like the queen's infidelity. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Catherine's fall from grace was so rapid that foreign ambassadors
were at a loss to explain it.&amp;nbsp; The man behind it was John
Lascelles, the brother of Mary Hall, herself a chambermaid to the
dowager duchess of Norfolk and thus privy to Catherine's past.&amp;nbsp;
However, the past was not necessarily a danger to the queen; most young
women could not withstand scrutiny of their early flirtations.&amp;nbsp;
They were perhaps not serious enough to warrant her execution.&amp;nbsp;
Lascelles, who was a 'convinced reformer', was motivated by his
religious convictions and not personal animosity towards
Catherine.&amp;nbsp; But she represented the conservative Catholic faction
and, with her influence, they were growing more powerful and
reactionary.&amp;nbsp; Lascelles went to Thomas Cranmer, Henry's close
friend and archbishop of Canterbury.&amp;nbsp; Cranmer recognized the
dangers to Catherine, namely the precontract with Dereham that would
invalidate her marriage to Henry VIII.&amp;nbsp; The precontract, of
course, while ending her marriage, also excused her intimacy with
Dereham.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;On 2 November, while Henry attended a Mass for All Souls' Day,
Cranmer passed him a letter with the charges.&amp;nbsp; The king was
immediately 'perplexed' and believed the letter was a forgery.&amp;nbsp;
This was his first and thoroughly honest reaction; Catherine had
deceived him well.&amp;nbsp; He ordered Cranmer to keep the matter private
and began an investigation.&amp;nbsp; It took but a few days for
Catherine's house of cards to come tumbling down.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;An assortment of female servants were arrested and sent to the
Tower, as was Dereham.&amp;nbsp; He was tortured; he confessed his earlier
relationship and named Culpeper as the queen's current lover.&amp;nbsp;
Culpeper was then arrested, tortured, and confessed.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;When confronted with the confessions, Henry's confusion gave way
to great anger and self-pity.&amp;nbsp; He managed to blame everyone but
himself for this latest marital catastrophe.&amp;nbsp; He wished for a
sword to slay Catherine himself - a not uncommon reaction for a
cuckolded husband, particularly one who had been so generous and
trusting.&amp;nbsp; He left Hampton Court on 5 November, sailing to
Whitehall Palace.&amp;nbsp; Catherine was arrested on 12 November and her
tearful pleas to see the king were ignored; she was locked in her
rooms.&amp;nbsp; Two days later, she was taken to Syon House.&amp;nbsp; She
would never see Henry again. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Cranmer was given the distasteful task of interrogating the
terrified girl.&amp;nbsp; She was hysterical, convinced she would be
executed like her cousin; even the archbishop felt pity for her
condition.&amp;nbsp; Perhaps he suggested an option to Henry VIII that he
had first proposed for Anne Boleyn - let Catherine admit her sins,
annul the marriage, and send her away.&amp;nbsp; The Dereham precontract
was the perfect excuse.&amp;nbsp; Catherine need only admit its existence
and her life would be spared.&amp;nbsp; It was the king's 'most gracious
mercy' and her only possible chance for survival. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;But Catherine, frightened and lacking any counsel, did not realize
that the precontract would save her life.&amp;nbsp; Instead, she was
convinced it would be used to condemn her.&amp;nbsp; And so, even as she
admitted to 'carnal copulation' with Dereham, she stressed his
'importune forcement' and 'violence'.&amp;nbsp; She and Cranmer wanted the
same end but talked at odds.&amp;nbsp; And it was possible, too, that Henry
VIII had never intended to spare her life. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Indeed, with each day that passed, the king was less inclined to
show mercy.&amp;nbsp; The floodgates had opened and ever more scurrilous
rumors were heard about his 'Rose without a thorn'. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Catherine was demoted from her position as Queen on 22 November
and formally indicted two days later for leading an 'abominable, base,
carnal, voluptuous and vicious life'.&amp;nbsp; She remained at Syon House
for the next two months.&amp;nbsp; On 10 December, Dereham paid a horrific
penalty for his 'crimes'; he was hung, drawn, and quartered
(disemboweled and castrated while still conscious) as a traitor.&amp;nbsp;
Culpeper was also executed that day, though he suffered a more merciful
beheading; this was ordered by the king, perhaps because of Culpeper's
higher rank and personal service in his household.&amp;nbsp; Their heads
were fixed on spears atop London Bridge and remained there as late as
1546. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Catherine, meanwhile, continued in a state of suspended
hysteria.&amp;nbsp; Her various relatives were sent to the Tower, including
the elderly dowager duchess.&amp;nbsp; Only the duke survived, having
sufficiently humbled himself before Henry. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Perhaps the executions of Dereham and Culpeper had brought a
newfound maturity to Catherine.&amp;nbsp; She was content to remain quietly
at Syon House, though it was clear the king could not allow it.&amp;nbsp;
On 21 January the House of Lords passed an Act of Attainder and it
received the king's approval on 11 February.&amp;nbsp; It was intended to
answer the question vexing them all - of what exactly was Catherine
Howard guilty?&amp;nbsp; If she had been precontracted to Dereham, then she
was never married to the king - and thus not guilty of adultery.&amp;nbsp;
But in a speech on 6 February, Henry made it clear that the new Act
could punish those who &lt;i&gt;intended&lt;/i&gt; to commit treason (or adultery,
since adultery in a queen was treason.)&amp;nbsp; It was this intent which
sealed Catherine's fate.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;On Friday, 10 February 1542, the duke of Suffolk arrived to take
Catherine to the Tower of London.&amp;nbsp; The hysterical frenzy returned;
she struggled and had to be forced aboard the barge.&amp;nbsp; She was
dressed in black velvet and lodged in the Queen's Apartments, though no
longer queen.&amp;nbsp; On Sunday night, she was informed that she would be
executed the next day.&amp;nbsp; Her only request was that the block be
brought to her for she wished to 'know how to place herself.'&amp;nbsp; It
was to be her last act on a grand stage; she would die with all the
dignity and composure possible. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Around seven o'clock on Monday, 13 February, several privy
councilors arrived as escort.&amp;nbsp; Her uncle Norfolk was not among
them, having wisely withdrawn to his country estates.&amp;nbsp; Catherine
was weak and frightened and had to be helped up the steps to the
scaffold.&amp;nbsp; But once there, she made a small, quiet speech
regarding her 'worthy and just punishment'; she prayed for the king's
preservation and for God's forgiveness.&amp;nbsp; The actual execution was
over quickly. Catherine's body was interred at the nearby chapel of St
Peter ad Vincula.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Catherine Howard did not have an impact upon English
history.&amp;nbsp; She is perhaps the most inconsequential of Henry VIII's
six wives, her reign as queen a very brief eighteen months.&amp;nbsp; She
bore no children and made no lasting impression upon those who knew
her.&amp;nbsp; But it should be remembered that she was thirty years
younger than her husband, a silly young girl who never understood the
dangers of royal regard.&amp;nbsp; Her life was over before it had truly
begun; we can only wonder how it might have ended differently.&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt; &lt;br&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;blockquote&gt;
    &lt;center&gt;
    &lt;p&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2fwives.html&quot;&gt;to the Six
Wives main page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt; &lt;br&gt;
    &lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor.html&quot;&gt;to
Tudor England&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;p&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;The only biography of Catherine Howard is &lt;i&gt;A
Tudor Tragedy&lt;/i&gt; by Lacey Baldwin Smith,&lt;br&gt;
which is sadly out-of-print.&amp;nbsp; Catherine is also the subject of
Ford Madox Ford's&lt;br&gt;
    &lt;i&gt;The Fifth Queen&lt;/i&gt;, one of my favorite works of historical
fiction.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;/center&gt;
  &lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

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