Catherine Parr

“As long as His Majesty is sick, I will move my bed to his chambers, the better to care for him.’

 

Catherine Parr (1512-1548) was the last wife of Henry VIII, and is most often depicted as his devoted nurse and remembered only as “the one who survived”. While Catherine did indeed do well to survive a marriage to Henry with her dignity – and neck – intact, there is SO much more to Catherine than her brief spell as Henry’s wife. I love her so much that I’m going to split this into 3 posts – one about early life and marriage to Henry; a second about her later life and death; a third about her most remarkable achievements which make her one of the most important women in British history.

As a child, Catherine showed no interest in “traditional” female pastimes like sewing, but instead was dedicated to her education and learned 4 languages. Before meeting Henry, Catherine had been twice widowed. She had a close relationship with her step-children, whom she gave important royal positions on becoming Queen. After the death of her second husband she secured a position in the household of the King’s daughter, Lady Mary, where she came to catch Henry’s attention.

When Henry sought her hand, she had already received a marriage proposal from the late Queen Jane Seymour’s brother, Thomas, whom Catherine was deeply in love with. However, she felt it her patriotic duty to accept the King’s proposal instead and resigned herself to a royal marriage. She married the king – a distant cousin of hers - in 1543, becoming the first Queen of England and Ireland, following Henry’s adoption of that title himself. In 1544, she ruled as regent when Henry was abroad, being given almost total control and dealing effectively with diplomatic, financial, military, and domestic business.

Rockiness came to Catherine’s reign owing to her religious views. Raised Catholic, Catherine became sympathetic to Protestantism and devoted much time to educating herself on the “New Faith” – she was also a vocal defender of female Protestant martyr Anne Askew. Thus, she was disliked by anti-Protestant officials who attempted to turn Henry against her in the mid-1540s, and even convinced him to draw a warrant for her arrest. Given the fate of Henry’s previous five wives, this could have been disastrous for Catherine. However, Catherine was pre-warned of the arrest and managed to persuade Henry that she had only quarrelled with him over religion to distract him from the agony of his ulcerated legs. Henry seems to have been genuinely fond of Catherine, although he was now so ill and unstable it is likely he was keen to avoid the upset of another divorce or beheading. Thus, Catherine escaped arrest (despite armed guards trying to arrest her in the King’s presence having not heard of their reconciliation) and she remained a devoted wife until Henry’s death.

“Methinks love maketh men angels.”

Following the King’s death, Catherine was allowed to keep the crown jewels and was treated as the Dowager Queen under Henry’s instruction. She was now free to marry her one true love (and the new King’s Uncle), Thomas Seymour – who had been banished from court by Henry. The pair were married around six months after Henry’s death. This fourth marriage rendered Catherine the “most-married queen” in English history. Out of concern for Henry’s honour, they were married in secret. When their marriage became known, the scandal resulted in the new King’s anger and Lady Mary disowning the stepmother who had been so kind to her and secured her later right to the throne. This brought Catherine trouble at court and she clashed with important nobles – including her brother-in-law, The Lord Protector, whose relationship with his brother was permanently damaged by the tensions.

Catherine fell pregnant aged 35, which was unexpected given her seeming infertility during her first three marriages.  I would love to say that this is the happy ending to Catherine’s story – but alas, when do Tudor women ever get a happy ending?

After withdrawing from court, she became guardian to her stepdaughter the young Lady Elizabeth. However, her husband also began to take an interest in Elizabeth – whom he had reportedly attempted to marriage before marrying Catherine. Much controversy surrounds this episode in Catherine’s life. Some have argued that Thomas sexually abused Elizabeth without Catherine’s knowledge, others prefer the idea that the young princess was infatuated with Thomas and that the two began an “affair”. Others have even suggested that Catherine actively encouraged Thomas’ pursuit of Elizabeth and “assisted” her husband in their “horseplay”. Given her enduring love for Thomas and her constant support for Elizabeth, I am highly dubious that Catherine played any part in Thomas’ harassment – although other notable figures in Elizabeth’s life were known to have aided this behaviour. While we may never know the truth, Elizabeth was sent away in May 1548, never to see her beloved stepmother again – although they each wrote of their regret at the situation.

In June 1548, Catherine, accompanied by Lady Jane Grey (another future Queen of England), moved to Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire.  Catherine promised to provide for Jane’s education – again proving that all the female monarchs who came after – even those whose reigns were very short-lived – owed their crown to the support of Catherine Parr.

On 30 August 1548, Catherine gave birth to a daughter named Mary - after the stepdaughter who had disowned her. However, 7 days later, Catherine passed away from “childbirth fever”, common at the time owing to a lack of sanitation during childbirth. Catherine’s funeral – overseen by Lady Jane Grey - was the first Protestant funeral held in English in the British isles.

“the Bishop of Rome [as] a persecutor of the gospel, and grace, a setter forth of all superstition and counterfeit holiness…we be justified by the faith in Christ, and not by the deeds of the law."

 

Although the narrative of Catherine’s life itself points to the endurance and strength of her character, there are other reasons why she should be remembered as one of herstory’s greatest queens.

One of Catherine’s most admirable achievements during her time as Queen was reconciling Henry’s with his estranged  daughters from his failed marriages, Mary and Elizabeth. She largely enjoyed a great personal relationship with all three of Henry’s children and took great interest in their health and education. Crucially, however, she was influential in Henry's passing of the Third Succession Act in 1543 which restored both his daughters to the line of succession to the throne. This not only shows her power over the king but also the strength of her belief in the equality of women and their ability to rule at a time when a female ruler was largely seen as a “worst case scenario”. T

The reason I consider this one of her greatest achievements is that thanks to Catherine’s persuasion, 3/4 of the next reigning monarchs would be women – including Elizabeth I who became the longest ruling and arguably most successful monarch until Queen Victoria centuries later. Thus, without Catherine’s feminism and refusal to stand by and allow patriarchal traditions to stand in their way of her stepdaughters rights, the whole of British history would have been changed forever. In fact, it is now believed her successful spell as regent, her ‘strength of character, noted dignity and religious convictions greatly influenced…the future Elizabeth I’. Thus, we as women and as Brits owe Catherine a huge debt.

A second reason that Catherine is an especial hero of mine is her writing. In the Tudor era, it was hugely uncommon for women to write at all, let alone to have their work published. However, in 1543, Catherine published her first book, Psalms or Prayers, anonymously. Her second book, Prayers or Meditations was published in her own name, the first publication by an English queen. Following Henry’s death, Catherine published her third book The Lamentation of a Sinner, which seemed to confirm the Protestant views that her rivals had condemned her for, as the book promoted views considered heretical by the Catholic church. Her books were widely published and well-received – impressive considering their controversial contents and progressive author.

Catherine’s writing shows that she was far from the lowly nursemaid that popular imagination has limited her to. While she did care for her husband, she also devoted much time to her own work and to defending her own beliefs. She was smart enough to restrain them enough to keep her safe, while fighting for them enough to make them heard – a trait which her predecessors such as Anne Boleyn had failed to cultivate. Unsurprisingly, Catherine was an outspoken advocate of female education and believed women had as much right as men to study scripture. By appealing to the religious benefit of female literacy, Catherine persuaded the most patriarchal of nobles that women’s education was an important necessity for the betterment of their realm. Again, this points to Catherine’s unflinching feminist belief and her refusal to allow women to be treated as second-class citizens during her reign. By encouraging the education of noblewomen such as her stepdaughters, and by publishing her own work as an inspiration to others, Catherine’s publications remain one of the earliest printed English works by a woman, and a remarkable woman at that. It is also rumoured that Catherine got a woman to paint her portrait – again unusual in the patriarchal court traditions.

Catherine suffered a tragically sad end for a woman who had not only sought to do her duty to her country and her husbands, but who had paved the way for some of the most memorable and important monarchs the country would ever know – and an inspiration to modern women like me who continue to admire her intelligence, kindness, and strength.