Katharine of Aragon

by Jean Plaidy

  How pleased Henry had been because Goose had shone so brilliantly. It had pleased the boy because his fool was as amusing as those of the King and Queen.

  Henry must always be to the fore, she mused. “Ah well, it is a quality one looks for in a King.”

  There had been a pleasant dance too by a Spanish girl from Durham House. Elizabeth had rewarded her with four shillings and fourpence for her performance. The girl had been indeed grateful. Poor child, there were few luxuries at Durham House.

  The Queen's face creased into anxiety. Where will it all end? she asked herself. She thought of her son Henry, his eyes glistening with pride because his fool, Goose, could rival the fools of his parents. She thought of the lonely Infanta at Durham House.

  The fate of Princes is often a sad one, she was thinking; and then there was no time for further reflection.

  The child was about to be born, and there was nothing left for the Queen but her immediate agony.

  THE ORDEAL WAS OVER, and the child lay in the cradle—a sickly child, but still a child that lived.

  The King came to his wife's bedside, and tried not to show his disappointment that she had borne a girl.

  “Now we have one son and three bonny girls,” he said. “And we are young yet.”

  The Queen caught her breath in fear. Not again, she thought. I could not endure all that again.

  “Yes, we are young,” went on the King. “You are but thirty-seven, and I am not yet forty-six. We still have time left to us.”

  The Queen did not answer that. She merely said: “Henry, let us call her Katharine.”

  The King frowned, and she added: “After my sister.”

  “So shall it be,” answered the King. It was well enough to name the child after Elizabeth's sister Katharine, Lady Courtenay, who was after all the daughter of a King. He would not have wished the child to be named Katharine after the Infanta. Ferdinand and Isabella would have thought he was showing more favor to their daughter, and that would not have been advisable.

  The bargaining had to go on with regard to their daughter; and he wanted them to know that it was they who must sue for favors now. He was still mourning for that half of the dowry which had not been paid.

  He noticed that the Queen looked exhausted and, taking her hand, he kissed it. “Rest now,” he commanded. “You must take great care of yourself, you know.”

  Indeed I must, she thought meekly. I have suffered months of discomfort and I have produced but a girl. I have to give him sons…or die in the attempt.

  IT WAS A WEEK after the birth of the child when the Queen became very ill. When her women went into her chamber and found her in a fever they sent a messenger at once to the King's apartments.

  Henry in shocked surprise came hurrying to his wife's bedside, for she had seemed to recover from the birth and he had already begun to assure himself that by this time next year she might be brought to bed of a fine boy.

  When he looked at her he was horrified, and he sent at once for Dr. Hallyswurth, his best physician, who most unfortunately was at this time absent from the Court in his residence beyond Gravesend.

  All through the day the King waited for the arrival of Dr. Hallyswurth, believing that, although other physicians might tell him that the Queen was suffering from a fever highly dangerous after childbirth, Dr. Hallyswurth would have the remedy which would save her life.

  As soon as the doctor was found and the King's message delivered he set out for the Court, but dusk had fallen when he came, lighted by torches into the precincts of the Tower.

  He was taken at once to the Queen's bedchamber, but, even as he took her hand and looked into her face, Elizabeth had begun to fight for her breath and the doctor could only sadly shake his head. A few minutes later Elizabeth sank back on her pillows. The daughter of Edward IV was dead.

  Henry stared at her in sorrow. She had been a good wife to him. Where could he have found a better? She was but thirty-seven years of age. This dolorous day, February 11th of the year 1503, was the anniversary of her birth.

  “Your Grace,” murmured Dr. Hallyswurth, “there was nothing that could have been done to save her. Her death is due to the virulent fever which often follows childbirth. She was not strong enough to fight it.”

  The King nodded. Then he said: “Leave me now. I would be alone with my grief.”

  THE BELLS OF ST. PAUL'S began to toll; and soon others joined in the dismal honor to the dead, so that all over London the bells proclaimed the death of the Queen.

  In the Tower chapel she lay in state. Her body had been wrapped in sixty ells of holland cloth and treated with gums, balms, spices, wax and sweet wine. She had been enclosed by lead and put into a wooden coffin over which had been laid a black velvet pall with a white damask cross on it.

  She had been carried into the lying-in-state chamber by four noblemen. Her sister Katharine, the Earl of Surrey and the Lady Elizabeth Stafford led the procession which followed the coffin; and when mass had been said, the coffin remained in the lighted chamber while certain ladies and men-at-arms kept vigil over it.

  All through the long night they waited. They thought of her life and her death. How could they help it if they remembered those little boys, her brothers, who had been held in captivity in this very Tower and had been seen no more?

  Where did their bodies lie now? Could it be that near this very spot, where their sister lay in state, those two little boys were hidden under some stone, under some stair?

  A WEEK AFTER the death of Queen Elizabeth, the little girl, whose existence had cost the Queen her life, also died.

  Here was another blow for the King, but he was not a man to mourn for long. His thoughts were busy on that day when his wife was carried to her tomb.

  It was the twelfth day after her death and, after mass had been said, the coffin was placed on a carriage which was covered with black velvet. On the coffin a chair had been set up containing an image of the Queen, exact in size and detail; this figure had been dressed in robes of state and there was a crown on its flowing hair. About the chair knelt her ladies, their heads bowed in grief. Here they remained while the carriage was drawn by six horses from the Tower to Westminster.

  The people had lined the streets to see the cortège pass and there were many to speak of the good deeds and graciousness of the dead Queen.

  The banners which were carried in the procession were of the Virgin Mary, of the Assumption, of the Salutation and the Nativity, to indicate that the Queen had died in childbirth. The Lord Mayor and the chief citizens, all wearing the deepest mourning, took their places in the procession; and in Fenchurch Street and Cheapside young girls waited to greet the funeral carriage. There were thirty-seven of them—one for each year of the Queen's life; they were dressed in white to indicate their virginity and they all carried lighted tapers.

  When the cortège reached Westminster the coffin was taken into the Abbey, ready for the burial which would take place the next morning.

  The King asked to be left alone in his apartments. He was genuinely distressed, because he did not believe that he could ever find a consort to compare with the one he had lost. She had had everything to give him—royal lineage, a right to the crown of England, beauty, docility and to some extent fertility.

  Yet, there was little time in the life of kings for mourning. He was no longer a young romantic. That was for youth, and should never be for men who were destined for kingship.

  He could not prevent his thoughts from going back to the past. He remembered now how, when Edward IV's troops had stormed Pembroke Castle, he had been discovered there, a little boy five years old, with no one to care for him but his old tutor, Philip ap Hoell. He could recall his fear at that moment when he heard the rough tread of soldiers mounting the stairs and knew that his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, had already fled leaving him, his little nephew, to the mercy of his enemies.

  Sir William Herbert had been in charge of those operations, and it was well that he ha
d brought his lady with him; for when she saw the friendless little boy she had scolded the men for daring to treat him as a prisoner, and had taken him in her arms and purred over him as though he were a kitten. That had been the strangest experience he had ever known until that time. Philip ap Hoell would have died for him, but their relationship had never been a tender one.

  He recalled his life in the Herbert household. Sir William had become the Earl of Pembroke, for the title was taken from Uncle Jasper Tudor and bestowed on Sir William for services rendered to his King.

  It had been strange to live in a large family; there were three sons and six daughters in the Herbert home, and one of these was Maud. There had been fighting during his childhood—the continual strife between York and Lancaster; and, when Lancastrian victory brought back the earldom and castle of Pembroke to Jasper Tudor, Henry was taken from the Herberts to live with his uncle once more.

  He remembered the day when he had heard that Maud had been married to the Earl of Northumberland. That was a sad day; yet he did not despair; he had never been one to despair; he considered his relationship with Maud, and he was able to tell himself that, although he had loved her dearly, he loved all the Herberts; and if marriage with Maud was denied him he could still be a member of that beloved family by marrying Maud's sister, Katharine.

  And then fortune had changed. A more glorious marriage had been hinted at. Why should not the Tudor (hope of the Lancastrian House) marry the daughter of the King, for thus the red and white roses could flower side by side in amity?

  He had then begun to know himself. He was no romantic boy—had never been a romantic boy. Had he wished to marry Maud that he might become a member of a family which had always seemed to him the ideal one, because from loneliness he had been taken into it by Lady Herbert and found youthful happiness there? Perhaps, since it had seemed that Katharine would do instead of Maud.

  But the match with Elizabeth of York had been too glorious to ignore and he was ready to give up all thoughts of becoming a member of his ideal family, for the sake of a crown.

  Life had never been smooth. There had been so many alarms, so many moments when it had seemed that his goal would never be reached. And while he had waited for Elizabeth he had found Katherine Lee, the daughter of one of his attendants—sweet gentle Katherine, who had loved him so truly that she had been ready to give him up when, by doing so, he could be free to marry the daughter of a King.

  He was a cold man. He had been faithful to Elizabeth even though Katherine Lee had been one of her maids of honor. He saw her often, yet he had never given a sign that she was any more to him than any other woman of the Palace.

  Now Elizabeth was dead, and she left him three children. Only three! He must beget more children. It was imperative.

  Forty-six! That is not old. A man can still beget children at forty-six.

  But there was little time to lose. He must find a wife quickly. He thought of all the weary negotiations. Time…precious time would be lost.

  Then an idea struck him. There was a Princess here in England—she was young, personable and healthy enough to bear children.

  What time would be saved! Time often meant money, so it was almost as necessary to save the former as the latter.

  Why not? She would be agreeable. So would her parents. This halfhearted betrothal to a Prince of eleven—what was that, compared with marriage with a crowned King?

  His mind was made up; his next bride would be Katharine of Aragon. The marriage should be arranged as quickly as possible; and then—more sons for England.

  The next day Queen Elizabeth was laid in her grave; but the King's thoughts were not with the wife whom he had lost but with the Infanta in Durham House who should take the place of the dead woman.

  Bad News from Spain

  KATHARINE WAS HORRIFIED.

  She sat with her maid of honor, staring at the embroidery in her hands, trying in vain to appear calm.

  They tried to comfort her.

  “He will not live very long,” said the incorrigible Francesca. “He is old.”

  “He could live for twenty years more,” put in Maria de Rojas.

  “Not he! Have you not noticed how pale he is… and has become more so? He is in pain when he walks.”

  “That,” Maria de Salinas said, “is rheumatism, a disease which many suffer from in England.”

  “He is such a cold man,” said Francesca.

  “Hush,” Maria de Salinas reproved her, “do you not see that you distress the Infanta? Doubtless he would make a kind husband. At least he was a faithful one to the late Queen.”

  Francesca shivered. “Ugh! I would rather such a man were unfaithful than show me too much attention.”

  “I cannot believe that my mother will agree to this match,” Katharine exclaimed anxiously, “and unless she does, it will never take place.”

  Maria de Salinas looked sadly at her mistress. There was no doubt that Queen Isabella loved her daughter and would be happy if she returned to Spain, but she would certainly give her blessing to the marriage if she considered it advantageous to Spain. Poor Infanta! A virgin widow preserved for an ageing man, whose rheumatism often made him irritable; a cold, dour man, who wanted her only because he wanted to keep a firm hand on her dowry and believed that she could give him sons.

  THERE WAS NO NEWS from Spain. Each day, tense and eager, Katharine waited.

  She knew that the affairs of her parents must be in dire disorder for them so to neglect their daughter. If only they would send for her. If she could sail back to Spain the treacherous seas would have no menace for her. She would be completely happy.

  Never, she believed, had anyone longed for home as she did now.

  Maria de Rojas was restive. Why did she never hear from the Sovereigns about their consent to her marriage? Why was there no reply regarding her dowry? Katharine had written again because she feared her first letter might not have reached her mother; but still there was no reply to the questions.

  Francesca gave loud voice to her grievances; Maria was filled with melancholy. Only Maria de Salinas and Inez de Veñegas alternately soothed and scolded them. They were unhappy, but what of the Infanta? How much harder was her lot. Imagine, it might well be that she would have to submit to the will of the old King of England.

  AT LAST CAME the news from Spain. Katharine saw the messengers arrive with the dispatches and had them brought to her immediately.

  Her mother wrote as affectionately as ever, and the very sight of that beloved handwriting made the longing for home more intense.

  Isabella did not wish her daughter to marry the King of England. She was eager for a match between Katharine and the young Prince of Wales. She was writing to the King of England suggesting that he look elsewhere for a bride.

  Katharine felt limp with relief, as though she had been reprieved from a terrible fate.

  Unless some satisfactory arrangement could be made for Katharine's future in England, Isabella wrote, she would demand that her daughter be returned to Spain.

  This made Katharine almost dizzy with happiness and, when her maids of honor came to her, they found her sitting at her table smiling dazedly at the letter before her.

  “I am not to marry him,” she announced.

  Then they all forgot the dignity due to an Infanta and fell upon her, hugging and kissing her.

  At last Maria de Rojas said: “Does she give her consent to my marriage?”

  “Alas,” Katharine told her, “there is no mention of it.”

  HENRY SAT for a long time listening to Puebla's account of his instructions from Spain. So the Sovereigns did not want him for a son-in-law. He read between the lines. They would be delighted if their daughter became the Queen of England, but he was old and she was young; they believed that he could not live for a great number of years and, when he died, she would be merely the Dowager Queen, who would play no part in state affairs. Moreover even as Queen, she would have no power, for Henry was not the man
to allow a young wife to share in his counsels.

  Isabella was emphatic in her refusal of this match.

  “Her Highness,” Puebla told the King, “suggests that it might be well if the Infanta returned to Spain.”

  This was high-handed indeed. Henry had no wish to send the Infanta back to Spain. With their daughter living in semiretirement in England he had some hold over the Sovereigns. He wanted the rest of her dowry, and he was determined to get it.

  “These are matters not to be resolved in an hour,” replied Henry evasively.

  “Her Highness suggests that, since you are looking for a wife, the Queen of Naples, now widowed, might very well suit you.”

  “The Queen of Naples!” Henry's eyes were momentarily narrowed. It was not a suggestion to be ignored. Such a marriage should give him a stake in Europe; so if the widow were young and handsome and likely to bear children, she would be a good match; and Henry, ever conscious of his age, was eager to marry soon.

  He therefore decided to send an embassy to Naples immediately.

  It was rather soon after his wife's death and he did not wish to appear overeager.

  Puebla was whispering: “The Infanta might write a letter to the Queen of Naples, to be delivered into her hands and hers alone. This would give some messenger on whom you could rely the opportunity of looking closely at the Queen.”

  Henry looked with friendship on the Spaniard who had ever seemed a good friend to him.

  It was an excellent idea.

  “Tell her to write this letter at once,” he said. “You will find me a messenger on whom I can rely. I wish to know whether she be plump or lean, whether her teeth be white or black and her breath sweet or sour.”

  “If Your Grace will leave this matter with me I will see that you have a description of the lady which shall not prove false. And, Your Grace, you will remember that it is the hope of the Sovereigns that there should be a betrothal between their daughter and the Prince of Wales.”

  “The Prince of Wales is one of the most eligible bachelors in the world.”

  “And therefore, Your Grace, well matched to the Infanta of Spain.”