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PAST LIVES - TUDOR WIVES - CATHERINE HOWARD - PAGE 5
Morning glory |
- Catherine Howard (c. 1523-1542) was Queen of England from July 1540. until November 1541. as the
5th wife of King Henry VIII.
- A teenager, paraded around
court as proof of Henry's renewed 'vitality,' married off to a
man decades older, diseased, and barely mobile with a 54"
waist.
- Then
executed before you turn 20, all while never given the chance
to discover what real love is, whether the charges against you
were true or invented.
- She was young and had produced
nothing, and was expendable and had become inconvenient.
Hans Holbein, Public domain, via Wikimedia
Commons
Catherine Howard |
- Catherine Howard was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a first cousin to Anne Boleyn (the second wife of Henry VIII), and the niece of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk.
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Henry VIII as Donald Trump |
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Henry Tudor
1491-1547
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King of England
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Donald John Trump
1946
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Lucifer's clone from Omega Centauri |
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Orange man
Age 49 |
- Henry VIII and Catherine Howard were married in July 1540, at Oatlands Palace in Surrey, just 19 days after the annulment of his marriage to Anne.
- Henry was 49, and Catherine, 17.
- But like Anne of
Cleves and Jane Seymour, Henry never gave her a coronation
meaning he wasn't granting her a certain level of authority.
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Edmund Howard as Elon Musk |
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Lord Edmund Howard
c. 1478-1539
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English nobleman |
Elon Reeve Musk
1971
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Satan from Alpha Centauri |
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Poor aristocrat |
- Lord Edmund Howard (c.1478-1539) was the 3rd son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and his first wife, Elizabeth Tilney.
- His sister, Elizabeth, was the mother of Henry VIII's 2nd wife, Anne Boleyn, and he was the father of the king's
5th wife, Katherine Howard.
- His first cousin, Margery Wentworth, was the mother of Henry's
3rd wife, Jane Seymour.
- Catherine's father, had
significant problems with money and was always in debt.
-
So Catherine had all the 'weight' of the Howard aristocratic
surname, but none of the cash that usually goes with it and
none of the security either as her mother died when she was
very young.
Public domain, via Wikimedia
Commons
Agnes Howard (née Tilney), Duchess of Norfolk |
- As a result, Catherine was sent to stay with her
step-grandmother, Agnes Howard, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, who was
very haughty and one of the most important women in the
country at that time.
- She had a big household at Lambeth
with about 100 staff members and another house in Chesworth,
Sussex.
- Agnes also had a lot of young people staying with
her who were wards of the court and there was a complex system
of wardship where you could gain their lands and estates for
watching over them..
- Catherine at age 6, and her brother
ended up staying there more for 'finishing' and they didn't
bring much wealth with them.
- However, Agnes Howard didn't provide much oversight
and there was quite a lot going on in her household she didn't
have any knowledge of, and as a result, Catherine's
reputation was as something of a 'good-time' girl.
Relationships |
- It was in this household where the whole question came
about how Catherine was acting.
- Catherine had significant relationships with Henry Manox,
Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpeper at different stages of her life, with Manox representing a pre-marital youth connection and Culpeper serving as the fatal romantic entanglement during her marriage to King Henry VIII.
- But the question was whether she was a victim of these men's
attention, or whether she was courting it.
- Except it's
been male historians who were quick to claim that sex with
Catherine was easy, because she made it easy, although forget
about the men because there's a terrible double standard.
- Because if a man has sex, that's fine, but if it's a woman
then she's considered flirtatious, lascivious, oversexed and
wild.
- But there was no such thing as birth control and
elite women during that period, their virtue hung on chastity.
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Thomas Howard as Elon Musk |
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Thomas Howard
1473 -1554
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3rd Duke of Norfolk |
Elon Reeve Musk
1971
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Satan from Alpha Centauri
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Luckiest man (for escaping execution) |
- Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, PC (1473 -1554) was a politician and military officer of the Tudor era.
- He was an uncle of 2 of the wives of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both of whom were beheaded, and played a major role in the machinations affecting these royal marriages.
- As Catherine Howard's uncle, Thomas Howard, secured her a place in the household of Henry's
4th wife, Anne of Cleves, where Catherine caught the King's interest.
- After falling from favor in 1546, Norfolk was stripped of his dukedom and imprisoned in the Tower of London, avoiding execution when Henry VIII died on January
28, 1547.
- Henry VIII took fancy toward Catherine Howard after
his dismal 6 month marriage to Anne of Cleves.
Public domain, via Wikimedia
Commons
Catherine Howard Coat of Arms |
- That
Easter, he cast a 'fantasy' to Catherine who was a young woman
in his court.
- A woman of diminutive stature, one of the
ways he expressed his love quite quickly was to give her the
goods that belonged to 2 felons, highwaymen who had been
arrested and executed.
- Who knows what they had that would
even appeal to a 17-year-old but it put Catherine on the fast
track to becoming Henry's next queen.
- Henry had backed
out of his marriage to Anne of Cleves by telling her she was
his sister, not his wife and the marriage to Catherine Howard
took place almost immediately afterwards.
Marriage to Henry VIII |
- But like all Henry's wives, what choice did she have
and why wasn't he more hesitant about marrying the cousin of
Anne Boleyn?
- Although
Henry VIII seemed to have this romanticism and even in his
last will and testament when he was dying he made a provision
'in case there's another wife.'
- But if you were in the
king's court, and he liked your looks, there didn't seem to be
much you could do about it because he would order it.
-
Additionally, her family, the Howard's, who were impoverished,
might have seen a marriage as a route to power and money and
encouraged it.
- But he was entranced with Catherine
because of her youth, and the foreign ambassadors claimed that
he seemed to like her better than all the others, that he was
always touching and caressing her.
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Henry Manox as Elon Musk |
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Henry Manox
by 1526-1564
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Music teacher |
Elon Reeve Musk
1971
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Satan from Alpha Centauri
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Music man |
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Henry Manox (also spelled Mannock or Monoux) (by 1526 – 1564) of London, Haddenham, Cambridgeshire and Hemingford Grey, Huntingdonshire.
- He was a Justice of the peace for Surrey in 1547, and a Member of
English Parliament for Huntingdonshire in 1554–1558/59.
- He was the music
master of Henry VIII's 5th wife, Catherine Howard, when she was young
and they became romantically involved, but not going as far as having a sexual relationship
and the question that exists on whether he was 'grooming' her.
- As her music teacher, he instructed Catherine on the virginals
(keyboard) when she was a teenager living at Lambeth Palace around 1536–1538.
- So her step-grandmother was giving her training in something
that was important for young women to run a household.
Duchess estate |
- Catherine Howard may have been 12 when an older married man began touching her sexually
and he wasn't simply a teenage boyfriend.
- Manox was an
adult tutor holding a position of trust over her, but he later
admitted that he had seen things he shouldn't have seen and
touched things he shouldn't have touched.
-The
2 had been involved in sexual indiscretions according to
Henry VIII which later contributed to her downfall.
- They engaged in a secret relationship involving heavy petting and fondling, though Catherine later stated she refused to let him take her virginity.
- Years later, Catherine would be forced to explain what
happened.
- Numerous young woman lived at this estate under
relatively loose supervision.
- Modern historians reject
calling this simply a youthful romance, although the imbalance
in age, authority and vulnerability mattered because Catherine
was extremely young.
Manox |
- Manox was the 3rd husband of Lady Margaret Howard (Mundy)
who was Catherine Howard's stepmother.
- When Catherine became Queen, unlike others from the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk's household, he did not receive an appointment in her household, nor seemed to seek one, but later became involved in the scandal of her downfall and gave evidence in the inquiry against her.
-
Catherine broke off the connection around 1538, 2 years before
she married Henry VIII, after Manox boasted about their intimacy, and she steadfastly rejected his later attempts at reconciliation.
- His life was spared because of this and because there was no evidence that their relationship continued after her marriage.
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Francis Dereham as Elon Musk |
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Francis Dereham
c.1506/09-1541
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Gentleman-pensioner |
Elon Reeve Musk
1971
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Husband? |
- Another man from her
step-grandmother's household would return years later, his
name was Frances Dereham and he was quite a bit older, age 32, but not married
and Catherine was 15.
- But another problem was she was
relatively high status and he was not.
- He was the son of John Dereham
and Isabell Paynell Dereham and was born in Crimplesham about 1513.
- He was gentleman-pensioner at the household of the Duchess Agnes Howard who lived at Chesworth House near Horsham.
- He began a relationship with Catherine when she was about 14
and as a result, the Duchess locked her in her bedroom at
night.
- Catherine persuaded one of the maids to steal the
key and bring it to her and the door was unlocked and Dereham
was admitted.
Public Domain, via
Wikimedia Commons
Hans Holbein sketch
of Catherine |
- Henry Manox was not allowed in the room,
and he later reported that the 2 would banquet and be merry
until 2 or 3 in the morning and wine, strawberries and apples
were served.
- The 2 may not have been doing anything that
other young people during that period were doing, but none of
them went on to be queen.
- Catherine Howard later admitted she had been
seduced by Dereham and they would lie on her bed naked
together, as a married couple would do, and he would bring gifts to her such as silk flowers.
- The relationship came to an end when Henry Manox sent an anonymous letter to the Duchess.
- In October, 1541, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was contacted by John Lascelles.
- He told him a story that came from his sister, Mary Hall, who had worked as a maid at Chesworth House.
Catherine |
- The maid claimed that while in her early teens Catherine had
'fornicated' with Francis Dereham, Henry Manox and Thomas Culpeper.
- Cranmer had never approved Henry's marriage to Catherine.
- He did not personally dislike her but he was a strong opponent of her grandfather, Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk.
- If Lascelles's story was true, it gave him the opportunity to discredit her supporters, the powerful Catholic faction.
- On November 2, 1541, Archbishop Cranmer, presented a written statement of the allegations to Henry VIII.
- Cranmer wrote that Queen Catherine had been accused by Hall of
'dissolute living before her marriage with Francis Dereham,
and that was not secret, but many knew it.'
- Henry also gave orders that Catherine was to be confined to her apartments with just Jane Boleyn (Lady Rochford) in attendance.
Dereham and Culpeper
high treason |
- Although there was something called a pre-contract
where all someone had to say was 'I marry you' and they were
considered married in the eyes of the court.
- There was
some feeling that Catherine had been legally married to
Dereham, however, then she wouldn't be able to marry the king.
- Although later on when Dereham was questioned he began
threatening Catherine and attempting to blackmail her.
-
The courtiers brought it to Henry's attention and he was very
reluctant to believe but ordered an investigation.
- Dereham was a Tudor courtier whose involvement with Henry VIII's
5th Queen, Catherine Howard, in her youth, prior to engagement with the king, was eventually found out and led to his arrest.
- The information of Dereham having a relationship with Howard displeased King Henry to such great lengths he arranged the executions of all involved.
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Thomas Culpeper as Elon Musk |
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Thomas Culpeper
c.1514-1541
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English courtier |
Elon Reeve Musk
1971
6/28
Satan from Alpha Centauri
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Little sweet fool |
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Thomas Culpeper (c. 1514-1541) was an English courtier and close friend of King Henry VIII, and was related to two of his queens, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.
- He was a favored gentleman of the king's privy chamber and a
handsome courtier known to have had many private meetings with Catherine during her marriage, though these may have involved political intrigue rather than sex.
- After marrying Henry VIII, Catherine began a secret, intense mutual flirtation and romantic correspondence with Culpeper during the royal northern progress
(trip) in 1541.
- This is what caught the attention about
all Catherine's relationships because Culpeper had quite a few
relationships with ladies in Henry's court.
- But
Catherine's relationships with Manox and Dereham also caught
the attention of people in the court followed by the letter to
Henry from Thomas Cranmer questioning the marriage.
Sketch
of Catherine |
- They seemed to have very romantic language and they
had promised themselves to each other and a letter from
Catherine was found in his room that she signed with 'yours as
long as life endures.'
- While passionate love letters were exchanged, there is no solid evidence that Catherine and Culpeper actually consummated a sexual affair.
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Eventually, Culpeper admitted that he intended to sleep with the queen, though he never admitted to having actually done so.
- After being convicted of treason, Culpeper was executed by beheading in December 1541.
- This relationship, facilitated in part by Lady Rochford, was exposed to King Henry VIII and became the primary basis for charges of treason that led to Catherine's execution in 1542.
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A letter to him was found, written by Queen Catherine and signed, "Yours as long as life endures." Accused of adultery with Henry's young consort, Culpeper denied it and blamed the Queen for the situation, saying that he had tried to end his friendship with her, but that she was "dying of love for him." (Wikipedia)
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Bloody Henry |
- After rumors of her childhood entanglements reached
Henry in November 1541, Catherine was stripped of her title as
queen and investigated for adultery and treason.
- Culpeper
and Dereham were found guilty and executed and not in a nice
way, they were both hung, drawn and quartered and their heads
put on spikes, the traitors death.
- When Catherine was
rowed down the Thames for her own execution she would have
seen their heads, parboiled and tarred.
- Some 3 months
after the investigation, Catherine was beheaded for these crimes and her body thrown into a mass grave.
- She died on February 15, 1542, at the age of 18 or 19.
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With maiden flowers, that all the world may know.
Shakespeare
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