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HOME   -   PEOPLE IN HISTORY A-Z   -   CATHERINE HOWARD

 
   


 

Catherine Howard 1521 (?) - 1542

Image above:

Unknown woman, formerly known as Catherine Howard. Oil on panel, after Hans Holbein the Younger.

National Portrait Gallery

Click image to enlarge.


Catherine Howard was wife number five of English King
Henry VIII.

 

Catherine Howard's Family

Catherine's father was Lord Edmund Howard. Her paternal grandfather was Thomas Howard, the 2nd duke of Norfolk.

Catherine had nine siblings.

 

Meeting the King

January 6, 1540, was the day that changed Catherine Howard's life forever. It was the day of Henry VIII's marriage with Anne of Cleves.  Catherine was one of the maids of honor and Henry gave her the royal eye.

Henry married Anne of Cleves for political reasons, but he found it a challenge because Anne had apparently little else to offer.

And so it happened that on July 9 the marriage with Anne of Cleves was annulled and on July 28 Catherine attended Henry's next wedding, this time as the bride. Catherine Howard was officially confirmed and declared queen on August 8.

 

Losing Her Head

You would think that Catherine would have taken the Anne Boleyn incident as a warning. Not so.

In November 1541, King Henry found out about Catherine Howard's previous lovers: Music teacher Henry Mannock, Francis Dereham whom Catherine employed as her secretary after she became Henry's wife, and Catherine's cousin Thomas Culpepper. Thomas and Catherine had even been engaged.

One of the clues that served husband Henry as an eye-opener was a letter written by Catherine to Thomas. This letter is now in the British National Archives and we read:

Master Coulpeper,

I hertely recomend me unto youe praying you to sende me worde how that you doo. Yt was showed me that you was sike, the wyche thynge trobled me very muche tell suche tyme that I here from you praying you to send me worde how that you do. For I never longed so muche for [a] thynge as I do to se you and to speke wyth you, the wyche I trust shal be shortely now, the wyche dothe comforthe me verie much whan I thynk of ett and wan I thynke agan that you shall departe from me agayne ytt makes my harte to dye to thynke what fortune I have that I cannot be always yn your company. Y[e]t my trust ys allway in you that you wolbe as you have promysed me and in that hope I truste upon styll, prayng you than that you wyll com whan my lade Rochforthe ys here, for then I shalbe beste at leaysoure to be at your commarendmant. Thaynkyng you for that you have promysed me to be so good unto that pore felowe my man, whyche is on of the grefes that I do felle to departe from hym for than I do know noone that I dare truste to sende to you and therfor I pray you take hym to be wyth you that I may sumtym here from you one thynge. I pray you to gyve me a horse for my man for I hyd muche a do to gat one and thefer I pray sende me one by hym and yn so doying I am as I sade afor, and thus I take my leve of you trusting to se you s[h]orttele agane and I wode you was wythe me now that yoo maitte se what pane I take yn wryte[n]g to you.

Yours as long as lyffe endures
Katheryn

One thyng I had forgotten and that hys to instruct my man to tare here wyt[h] me still, for he sas wat so mever you bed hym he wel do et and [...]

 

Catherine didn't need to worry any longer about Thomas being sick. In December 1541 the good man was first hanged, then beheaded, and to drive the point home, the rest of the body was properly cut into 4 parts.

This gave Catherine a hint of what was in store for her. On February 13, 1542, Catherine was beheaded in the Tower of London. On the way there she had to pass by her dead lover's head, which was on public display and really gross.

Henry took a deep breath and married again.

And here is Catherine's letter:

CATHERINE HOWARD'S LETTER TO THOMAS CULPEPPER
CATHERINE HOWARD'S LETTER TO THOMAS CULPEPPER
British National Archives

 

 

 

 

 

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