Catherine of Aragon by Alison Prince Page B

against the previous Pope’s authority (who had allowed Catherine and Henry to marry in the first place), and secondly he needed to keep the peace with the powerful Emperor Charles V, who was Catherine of Aragon’s nephew and who held most of Europe. Finally, Henry made himself head of the Church in England, and got his divorce without permission from the Pope. These must have been sad and humiliating years for Catherine: Henry went so far as to imprison their daughter, Mary, when she protested against the divorce. Henry’s actions not only affected Catherine but the whole country – breaking away from the Pope’s authority meant that Henry would go on to reform the Church in England, taking away land, wealth and power from the monasteries, and England would eventually become a Protestant country.
    Catherine had been a popular queen with the people of England, but Henry’s next wife, Anne Boleyn, was not. He married Anne in 1533 and she had a child the same year – another daughter, Elizabeth, which did not please Henry, who refused to go to the christening.
    Catherine died in 1536 – there were rumours that she was poisoned, some said by Anne Boleyn, but there’s no evidence to suggest that this was true. Henry showed no grief at her death.
    Famously, Henry was married to six different wives, but none of them – apart from Catherine of Aragon – lasted for more than a few years. Anne Boleyn was executed in 1536, accused of treason. Henry married Jane Seymour in the same year, who did provide him with the son he longed for but died soon after giving birth. His next three marriages, to Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, didn’t produce any more children.
    After his death in 1547, Henry’s only son, Edward, became king at the age of nine, but died six years later. This meant that Mary, Catherine of Aragon’s daughter with Henry, became queen. During her short reign she became known as Bloody Mary: she was fiercely Catholic, unlike her Protestant younger brother, and executed hundreds of Protestant “heretics”. She died of influenza in 1558, leaving the throne to her half-sister Elizabeth (a Protestant), who would reign for 45 years before dying childless, the last of the Tudors.
    Timeline of Tudor England
    1485 Henry Tudor defeats Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, and becomes Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England.
    1486 Prince Arthur is born.
    1491 Prince Henry (later Henry VIII) is born.
    1501 Arthur marries Catherine of Aragon.
    1502 Arthur dies.
    1509 Henry VII dies. Prince Henry marries Catherine of Aragon and is crowned King Henry VIII.
    1513 War with France and Scotland. James IV of Scotland dies at the Battle of Flodden Field.
    1516 Catherine of Aragon has a daughter, Mary (later Queen Mary I).
    1527 Henry starts his divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
    1533 Henry marries Anne Boleyn. They have a daughter, Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I).
    1536 Anne Boleyn is beheaded. Henry marries Jane Seymour. Catherine of Aragon dies.
    1536–9 The Reformation of the Church in England.
    1537 Jane Seymour has a son, Edward (later Edward VI). She dies after the birth.
    1540 Henry marries Anne of Cleves but they are divorced the same year. Henry marries Catherine Howard.
    1542 Catherine Howard is beheaded.
    1543 Henry marries Catherine Parr.
    1547 Henry VIII dies. His only son becomes Edward VI of England.
    1553 Edward VI dies. Catherine of Aragon’s daughter, Mary, becomes Queen.
    1554 Mary marries Philip of Spain.
    1558 Mary dies. Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England.
    1603 Elizabeth I, the last of the Tudor monarchs, dies.
    Picture acknowledgments
    Portrait of a woman, possibly Catherine of Aragon (1503/4), Michiel Sittow (1469–1525), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna/Bridgeman Art Library
    Portrait of Henry VIII (c. 1525–30) English School (16th century) Philip Mould Historical Portraits Ltd, London/Bridgeman Art