Six Wives of Henry VIII

by Alison Weir

  There are several collections of primary source material for the period:Archaeologia, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity(102 vols, Society of Antiquaries, 1773 -1969);The Antiquarian Repertory: A Miscellany intended to Preserve and illustrate several valuable Remains of Old Times(4 vols, London, 1775-84, and a later edition by F. Grose and T. Astle, 1808); Thomas Fuller'sThe Church History of Britain(1655) preserves details from sources now lost to us;Records of the Reformation: The Divorce, 1527-1533(2 vols, ed. N. Pococke, Oxford, 1870); Thomas Rymer'sFeodera(ed. T. Hardy, Records Commissioners, 1816-69); John Strype'sEcclesiastical Memorials(3 vols, 1721-33; Oxford edn, 1822); John Weever'sAncient Funeral Monuments within the United Monarchy of Great Britain, Ireland and the Islands adjacent. . . and what Eminent Persons have been in the Same interred(Thomas Harper, 1631); andExcerpta Historica(eds S. Bentley and H. Nicolas, 1831).

  Of primary importance to the historian are the printed collections of correspondence. The letters of Henry VIII appear in four compilations: M. St Clair Byrne'sThe Letters of King Henry VIII(Cassell, 1936);Lettres de Henri VIII(ed. G. A. Crapelet, 1826); andLove Letters of Henry VIII(two edns: H. Savage, 1949 and Jasper Ridley, 1988). Letters written by Henry's wives appear inLetters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies(ed. M.A.E. Wood, 1846) and Margaret Sanders'sIntimate Letters of England's Queens(1957). Also worth consulting are:Lettres de Rois, Reines et autres Personages des Cours de France et d''Angleterre(ed. J.J. Champollion-Figeac, Paris, 1845-7, vol. 2);Original Letters illustrative of English History(11 vols, ed. H. Ellis Richard Bentley, 1824-46);Original Letters relative to the English Reformation(ed. H. Robinson, Parker Society, 1846-7);The Lisle Letters(ed. M. St Clair Byrne, 1981), which is particularly useful for the period 1533 to 1540;Miscellaneous Writings and Letters of Thomas Cranmer(ed. J.E. Fox, Parker Society, 1846);The Correspondence of Matthew Parker, 1535-1575(ed. J. Bruce and T. Perowne, Parker Society, 1853; and theEpistlesof Desiderius Erasmus (3 vols, trans. F. M. Nichols Russell and Russell, 1962).

  The chief secondary sources for the period in general are as follows:Handbook of British Chronology(ed. F. M. Powicke and E. B. Fryde, Royal Historical Society, 1961), which is invaluable for details of officers of state and the peerage; theDictionary of National Biography(63 vols, eds L. Stephen and S. Lee, Oxford University Press, 1885-1900) gives biographical details of the lives of most of the people in this book;The Complete Peerage(ed. G. H. White et al., St Catherine's Press, 1910-59) gives a wealth of genealogical data on the aristocracy;Burke's Guide to the Royal Family(Burke's Peerage, 1973) gives details of royal genealogy and institutions; Alison Weir'sBritain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy(The Bodley Head, 1989); andC. R. N. Routh'sThey Saw it Happen, 1485-1688(Black- well, 1956),They Saw it Happen in Europe, 1540-1660(Blackwell, 1965), andWho's Who in History, 1485-1603(Blackwell, 1964).

  For general history of the Tudor period, seej. D. Mackie:The Earlier Tudors, 1485-1588(Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1952); G. R. Elton'sEngland under the Tudors(Methuen, 1955) andThe Tudor Constitution(Methuen, 1960); David Harrison's delightfully illustrated study,Tudor England(2 vols, 1953); Christopher Morris's interesting series of character portraits,The Tudors(Batsford, 1955); M. Roulstone's lavishThe Royal House of Tudor(Balfour, 1974); Godfrey E. Turton'sThe Dragon's Breed(1969); G. W. O. Woodward'sReformation and Resurgence, 1485-1603(Blandford, 1963); and P. Williamson'sLife in Tudor England(Batsford, 1964).

  There are several books on the Reformation. J. H. Merle d'Aubigny'sThe Reformation in England(1853) is outdated and inaccurate, but there are several more modern works that are well worth consulting: Sir F. Maurice Powicke'sThe Reformation in England(Oxford University Press, 1951); Philip Hughes'sThe Reformation in England(Macmillan, 1950)-vol. 1 covers Henry VIII's reign; H. Maynard-Smith'sHenry VIII and the Reformation(Macmillan, 1962); and, for related subjects, see Erwin Doernberg'sHenry VIII and Luther(Stanford University Press, 1961), William A. Clebsch'sEngland's Earliest Protestants, 1520-1535(Yale University Press, 1964), and James Kelsey McConica'sEnglish Humanists and Reformation Politics under Henry VIII and Edward VI(Oxford University Press, 1965).

  Henry VIII has been the subject of many biographies. The most recent and best ones have been Jasper Ridley'sHenry VIII(Constable, 1984), J.J. Scarisbrick'sHenry VIII(Constable, 1968) and Carolly Erickson's brilliantly detailedGreat Harry(Dent, 1980). Previous biographies consulted includeJ.J. Bagley'sHenry VIII(Batsford, 1962), Lacey Baldwin-Smith'sHenry VIII: The Mask of Royalty(Jonathan Cape, 1971), John Bowie'sHenry VIII(Allen and Unwin, 1964), N. Brysson-Morrison'sThe Private Life of Henry VIII(Robert Hale, 1964), Francis Hackett'sHenry the Eighth(1929; Chivers Edition, 1973); Robert Lacey'sThe Life and Times of Henry VIII(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972), Philip Lindsay'sThe Secret of Henry VIII(Howard Baker, 1953), Kenneth Pickthorn'sEarly Tudor Government: Henry VIII(1951); A. F. Pollard'sHenry VIII(Longmans Green and Co., 1902) and Beatrice Saunders's rather subjective study,Henry the Eighth(Alvin Redman, 1963). For Henry's youth, see Frank Arthur Mumby'sThe Youth of Henry VIII(Constable, 1913), which draws heavily on the Spanish Calendar, and Marie Louise Bruce's enjoyableThe Making of Henry VIII(Collins, 1977).

  All six of Henry VIII's wives are dealt with in the following works: Agnes Strickland'sLives of the Queens of England(8 vols, Henry Colburn, 1851, and the Portway Reprint by Cedric Civers of Bath, 1972), much outdated now but a milestone of historical research in its time; Heather Jenner'sRoyal Wives(1967); and Norah Lofts'sQueens of Britain(Hodder and Stoughton, 1977). The last serious collective biography of the six wives was Martin A. S. Hume'sThe Wives of Henry the Eighth(Eveleigh Nash, 1905), long out of print and out of date. Paul Rival'sThe Six Wives of Henry VIII(Heinemann, 1937) is nearer to fiction than fact, and gives no details of sources.

  There have been several individual biographies of Henry VIII's wives. For Katherine of Aragon, see Garrett Mattingley's excellentCatherine of Aragon(Jonathan Cape, 1942), Mary M. Luke's Catherine the Queen (Muller, 1967), Francesca Claremont'sCatherine of Aragon(Robert Hale, 1939) and John E. Paul'sCatherine of Aragon and her Friends(Burns and Oates, 1966), a very useful study. (It should be noted that Katherine herself signed her name with a 'K', not a 'C'.) Anne Boleyn has attracted more biographers than any of Henry's wives: Paul Friedmann'sAnne Boleyn: A Chapter of English History, 1527-1536(2 vols, Macmillan, 1884) was for years the standard biography, but has since been replaced by more recent works: Philip Sergeant'sThe Life of Anne Boleyn(Hutchinson, 1923); Marie Louise Bruce'sAnne Boleyn(Collins, 1972); Hester W. Chapman'sAnne Boleyn(Jonathan Cape, 1974); Norah Lofts'sAnne Boleyn(Orbis Books, 1979), very much popular history, drawing on Strickland; Carolly Erickson'sAnne Boleyn(Dent, 1984); E. W. Ives's compelling academic study,Anne Boleyn(Blackwell, 1986), to which this author is greatly indebted; and Retha Warnicke's controversialThe Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII(Cambridge University Press, 1989). There is no separate biography of Jane Seymour, but there is a good account of her life and the fortunes of her family in William Seymour'sOrdeal by Ambition: An English Family in the Shadow of the Tudors(Sidgwick and Jackson, 1972). Anne of Cleves also lacks a biographer, and the major account of her life is still the chapter in Strickland'sLives of the Queens of England.Lacey Baldwin-Smith has written a superb study of the life of Katherine Howard inA Tudor Tragedy(Jonathan Cape, 1961). Anthony Martiensson'sQueen Katherine Parr(Seeker and Warburg, 1973) is another excellent work.

  For Henry VIII's 'great matter', see Geoffrey de C. Parmiter'sThe King's Great Matter(Longmans, 1967) and Marvin H. Albert'sThe Divorce(Harrap, 1965). William Hepworth Dixon'sHistory of Two Queens(4 vols, Bickers and Son, 1873) is now greatly outdated.

  There are several good biographies of Henry VIII's children, all of which have proved useful for research purposes. Mary I's early life is related by Milton Waldman inThe Lady Mary(Collins, 1972), and there is an excellent full biography by Carolly Erickson,Bloody Mary(Dent, 1978). The early life of Elizabeth I is described in several books, viz.: Alison Plowden'sThe Youn
g Elizabeth(Macmillan, 1971), Mary M. Luke'sA Crown for Elizabeth(Muller, 1971), Edith Sitwell'sFanfare for Elizabeth(Macmillan, 1949), and in full biograhies by B. W. Beckinsale,Elizabeth/(Batsford, 1963), John E. Neale,Queen Elizabeth I(Jonathan Cape, 1934), Jasper Ridley,Elizabeth I(Constable, 1987) and Neville Williams,Elizabeth, Queen of England(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967). For the early life of Edward VI see Hester W. Chapman'sThe Last Tudor King(Jonathan Cape, 1958) and W. K. Jordan'sEdward VI: The Young King(Allen and Unwin, 1968).

  For the royal palaces of the Tudors see James Dowsing's fascinatingForgotten Tudor Palaces in the London Area(Sunrise Press, no date, 1980s); Janet Dunbar'sA Prospect of Richmond(Harrap, 1966); Ian Dunlop'sPalaces and Progresses of Elizabeth I(Jonathan Cape, 1962); Benton Fletcher'sRoyal Homes near London(1930); Bruce Graeme'sThe Story of StJames's Palace(Hutchinson, 1929); and Philip Howard'sThe Royal Palaces(Hamish Hamilton, 1960).

  For the Tower of London and its history seej. Bayley'sHistory and Antiquities of the Tower of London(Jennings and Chaplin, 1830); D. C. Bell'sNotices of Historic Persons Buried in the Tower(1877), an account of the bones found in St Peter ad Vincula;The Tower of London: its Buildings and Institutions(ed. John Charlton, HMSO, 1978), a book that throws new light upon Anne Boleyn's imprisonment in the Tower; John E. N. Hearsey'sThe Tower(John Murray, 1960); R. J. Minney'sThe Tower of London(Cassell, 1970); and A. L. Rowse'sThe Tower of London in the History of the Nation(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1974).

  For details of coronations and burials in Westminster Abbey, see the highly detailedOfficial Guide,Arthur Penrhyn Stanley'sHistorical Memorials of Westminster Abbey(1886) and Edward Carpenter'sA House of Kings(Baker, 1966). For the Archbishops of Canterbury of the period, see Edward Carpenter'sCantuar: The Archbishops in their Office(Baker, 1971). For Scottish affairs, see Caroline Bingham'sJames V, King of Scots (Collins,1971).

  For pageantry and ceremonial in the Tudor period, see Sydney Anglo'sSpectacle, Pageantry and Early Tudor Policy(Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1969) and Robert Withington'sEnglish Pageantry: An Historical Outline(1918). For the Tudor court, see Neville Williams's fascinatingHenry VIII and his Court(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1971), Christopher Hibbert'sThe Court at Windsor(Longmans, 1964) and Ralph Dutton'sEnglish Court Life from Henry VII to George II(Batsford, 1963). Henry VIII's courtiers are the subject of an excellent book by David Mathew,The Courtiers of Henry VIII(Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1970). William Edward Mead'sThe English Mediaeval Feast(Allen and Unwin, 1931) gives interesting information about court banquets. The cultural background to the period is described in Elizabeth M. Nugent'sThe Thought and Culture of the English Renaissance(Cambridge University Press, 1966). For Tudor drama, see Frederick Boas'sAn Introduction to Tudor Drama(Oxford University Press, 1933). For poetry, see Maurice Evans'sEnglish Poetry in the Sixteenth Century(Hutchinson, 1967) and Philip Henderson'sThe Complete Poems of fohn Skelton, Laureate(1931; 2nd rev. edn, Dent, 1948). Sir Thomas Wyatt's poems are dealt with under the heading to chapter 7. Sir Roy Strong'sTudor and Jacobean Portraits (2vols, HMSO, 1969) is the most exhaustive study of Tudor royal portraits so far, but Christopher Lloyd's and Simon Thurley'sImages of a Tudor King(Phaidon Press, 1990) is useful for its descriptions of Henry VIII's iconography. Hans Holbein, the greatest painter of the early Tudor period, painted Henry VIII and at least two of his wives; the greatest authority on Holbein is Paul Ganz:The Paintings of Hans Holbein(Phaidon Press, 1956). For Tudor costume, the bestauthority is Herbert Norris'sCostume and Fashion, vol 111, TheTudors, book 1, 1485-1547(Dent, 1928); see also Norman Hartnell'sRoyal Courts of Fashion(Cassell, 1971).

  Introduction

  Contemporary views of the role of women in sixteenth-century society are to be found in the following works: John Colet's A Right Fruitful Monition(i 515); Colet was a friend of Sir Thomas More, Dean of St Paul's and founder of St Paul's School, and his views were those of a traditional churchman; Miles Coverdale'sThe Christian State of Matrimony(1543); Desiderius Erasmus'sThe Institution of Christian Marriage(1526); Henry VIII's own view on matrimony in hisAssertioScptem Sacramentorum adversus Martinus Lutherus(published 1521; ed.O'Donovan, New York, 1908); the Scots reformer John Knox'sFirstBlast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women(ed.E. Arber, The English Scholar's Library of Old and Modern Works, 1878), for an extreme view; Sir Thomas More'sUtopia(1516) for an idealistic view; two tracts by Queen Katherine Parr,The Lamentations ofa Sinner(1547) andPrayers and Meditations(1545); and WilliamTyndale'sThe Obedience of a Christian Man(1528). See also Doris Mary Stenton'sThe English Woman in History(Allen and Unwin, 1957)

  For enlightened views on education, see Roger Ascham'sThe Schoolmaster(1570), Ascham having been tutor to Queen Elizabeth I and the Lady Jane Grey. Juan Luis Vives's rigorous plan for the education of the Princess Mary is encapsulated inDe Institutionc Foeminae Christianae(Basle, 1538; trans. R. Hyrd, and printed in London by Thomas Berthelet, 1540).

  The princess from Spain

  The negotiations for the marriage of Katherine of Aragon to Arthur, Prince of Wales, during the period 1488 to 1501 are detailed extensively in the Spanish Calendar. Katherine's presentation to the English ambassadors at the age of two is described by the herald Ruy Machado inMemorials of King Henry VII(ed. J. Gairdner, Rolls Series, Longman, Brown, Green and Roberts, 1858). Accounts of the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella are given by two Spanish chroniclers, Hernando del Pulgar, in hisCronica de los Scnoras Reyes Catolicas(published 1567; to be found in theBiblioteca de Autores Espanola,vol. LXX, Madrid, 1878) and Andres Bernaldes, in hisHistoria de los Reyes Catolicos D. Fernando y Doha Isabel(Seville, 1870, and a later edition by M. Gomez-Moreno andj. de M. Carriazo, Madrid, 1962). The descriptions of Ferdinand and Isabella are based on those given by Pulgar, who was Queen Isabella's secretary. An excellent secondary authority on the history of Spain in the late- fifteenth and early-sixteenth century isThe Castles and the Crown: Spain, 1451-1555by the English historian Townshend Miller (Gollancz, 1953). The only primary source to mention Katherine of Aragon and her sisters during their childhood is Vives.

  Henry VII's instructions to the City of London for the state reception of Katherine of Aragon are in the Corporation of London Records Office and also in the Harleian MS. and Cotton MS. Vitellius in the British Library. Katherine of Aragon's departure from Spain andjourney to England is described by Bernaldes.

  2 A true and loving husband

  The Spanish Calendar gives details of the dispute over Katherine's dowry and Henry VII's prevarication over her accompanying Arthur to Ludlow. It also describes Katherine's reception in England, as does Leland inCollectanea.Henry VII's insistence on seeing Katherine at Dogmersfield is described inProceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of EnglandandCollectanea; Collectaneais the source for Katherine's first meeting and evening with Prince Arthur.

  The description of Henry VII derives from that given by the King's official historian, Polydore Vergil, in hisAnglica Historia(Basle, 1534; ed. D. Hay, Camden Society, 3rd series, LXXIV, 1950). Vergil is the chief primary authority for the reign of Henry VII. The first 'modern' biography of the King was Sir Francis Bacon'sHistory of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh(ed. J. R. Lumby, Cambridge, 1875); today, the definitive life is S. B. Chrimes'sHenry VII(Eyre Methuen, 1972); Eric N. Simons'sHenry VII: The First Tudor King(Barnes and Noble, 1968) is also useful. There is a good biography of Elizabeth of York by N. LenzHarvey,Elizabeth of York, Tudor Queen(Arthur Barker, 1973), which replaces the memoir by Strickland. Both Vergil, and John Foxe, in hisActs and Monuments,credit Henry and Elizabeth with four sons, as does Dean Stanley. However, the contemporary Windsor altarpiece shows only three, Arthur, Henry and Edmund. Dean Stanley says that an Edward Tudor (1495?-9) was buried in Westminster Abbey; he has perhaps confused him with his brother Edmund. Details of the youth of Henry VIII are to be found inLetters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII(detailed above), hereafter to be referred to asL & P;for his education see Bernard Andre'sVita Henrici VII(1500-8; inMemorials of King Henry VII,detailed above) - An
dre was tutor to Henry VII's two elder sons.

  The major events and state occasions of the reign of Henry VII are chronicled by Polydore Vergil, Pietro Carmelianus of Brescia, in his'Solomnes Ceremoniae et Triumph?(1508; ed. H. Ellis, Roxburgh Club, 1818), the London merchant Robert Fabyan inThe Concordance of Histories: The New Chronicles of England and France(1512; ed. H. Ellis, Rivington, 1811),The Great Chronicle of London(eds A. H. Thomas and I. D. Thornley, Alan Sutton, 1938),Memorials of King Henry VII,andThe Reign of Henry VII from Contemporary Sources(3 vols, ed. A. F. Pollard, Longmans, 1913-14). The description of Prince Arthur's manor at Bewdley comes from John Leland'sItinerary(5 vols, ed. L. T. Smith, London, 1906-8). Leland was an antiquary who toured England in the early sixteenth century. His other important work wasDe Rebus Brittanicis Collectanea(published 1612; ed. T. Hearne, Chetham Society, 6 vols, Oxford, 1715), an important source for the period. The best account of Katherine's state entry into London is in Hall's Chronicle, and theGreat Chronicle of Londonrecords details of the pageants and verses performed on that occasion. For the wedding of Katherine and Arthur, see Hall's Chronicle and also William Longman'sA History of the Three Cathedrals dedicated to St Paul in London(Longmans, Green & Co., 1973) and W. S. Simpson'sSt Paul's Cathedral and Old City Life(Elliot Stock, 1894). The wedding banquet is described in Hall's Chronicle andCollectanea,and the pageants to celebrate the marriage arc detailed inThe Great Chronicle of London.