Women's History Month, Day Four

Catherine Howard

(Portrait of a Young Woman (possibly Catherine) by the workshop of Hans Holbein the Younger ca. 1540–45)

            Catherine Howard was the fifth wife of King Henry VIII, and she is often the one wife of his that is treated the cruelest by modern standards. Yes Catherine did not make the greatest impact as Queen, she was young and honestly not given enough time to do much. She was not incredibly gifted either, most of Catherine’s attractive qualities were her charm, grace, love of life, and kindness. The reason I love Catherine is because she is incredibly normal and relatable. I also feel that for centuries there has been a great double standard for her, most historians disregard her as a slut or an empty headed wanton. Catherine is famous for having two, potentially three sexually partners, Dereham and the King with the tiniest chance she might have slept with Culpepper. I personally believe like most modern historians that she had not committed adultery with Culpepper but that it was a possibility that she might have wanted to. The point of it all being; that many people are quick to slut shame Catherine when she didn’t have nearly as many sexually partners as…. I don’t know….maybe Henry VIII who had six wives and not to mention a few mistresses. To me Catherine represents something that even today people have a hard time swallowing, a woman who was comfortable with her own sexuality. In comparison to others Catherine didn’t really have that many sexually partners, she probably hits about average and I think it is disgraceful that in this day we still shame her for it. As Gareth Russell says in his book (I’m paraphrasing): Catherine didn’t make a great impact on history but that makes her story more of a tragedy, not less of one.

Biography:

Catherine Howard was the fifth wife of Henry VIII, her birth date is not known but she was likely born sometime around 1522 or 1523 (Russell). She was one of the many children born to Edmund Howard, the 2^nd Duke of Norfolk’s youngest son, with his first wife Jocasta or Joyce Culpepper. Edmund’s sister Elizabeth was the mother of Anne Boleyn making Catherine and Anne first cousins. Edmund would father six children but he was constantly in need of money, even writing to Cardinal Wolsey about his miserable conditions:

 “My duty remembered, humbly I beseech your grace to (be) my good Lord, for with out your gracious help I am utterly undone. Sir so it is that I am so far in danger of the King’s laws by reason of the debt that I am in, that I dare not go abroad, nor come at mine own house, and am fain to absent me from my wife and my poor children (Russell, 35).”

He would continue to complain to the King’s next leading minister, Thomas Cromwell, claiming that: “he wished to be a poor man’s son for at least then he could work without shame” but as the son from the powerful Howard family he simply had to resort to begging his relatives to help him out (Hanson).  It wasn’t too long after his wife Jocasta died that he married again but that marriage would not last long. Eventually his step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, offered a wardship for little Catherine and her brother Henry is her household. We know for sure that Catherine was sent there at around the age of eight or nine (Russell 39-41). The Dowager Duchess was known for taking in many of her grandchildren and owned some estates which helped to provide for her lifestyle.

            Catherine’s education would have taught her basic reading and writing skills but most of it would have been focused on preparing her to run her own household or work in court. One educational aspect we know she took part in was music, mainly from what evidence would be found against her later. Henry Mannox was Catherine’s music teacher and we know he came into service for the Dowager Duchess to teach Catherine around 1536 when she was 14 or 15 years old. He was supposed to teach his young pupil how to play certain instruments that were fashionable for young ladies to play like the virginals and the lute, but Mannox soon began to romance his young student after lessons. Mannox was the beginning of a pattern of men that Catherine would find herself attracted too, “handsome, cocky, more brawn than brain, and passionate to the point of possessive (Russell 53).” The two enjoyed a romance with kissing and touching but they never consummated their relationship possibly because Catherine felt that he was beneath her. Both she and Mannox claimed to have never gone further than that. In her statement after her past was discovered so would say of this relationship that:

“At the flattering and fair persuasions of Mannox being but a young girl I suffered him at sundry times to handle and touch the secret parts of my body which neither became me with honesty to permit nor him to require. (Hanson)”

Some historians believe that Mannox abused and groomed his student in the attempts to have a sexual relationship with her. While others stand firm that the relationship was consensual but that Mannox was pushy about what he wanted. It was Catherine’s choice not to go any further with Mannox and it was Catherine who ended their relationship, although Mannox did not take that very well. Catherine reportedly never took Mannox up to the room shared with the other girls and only met him outside of lesson. One time the Dowager Duchess found them kissing and made her disagreements about their relationship known (Russell, 55).  Things ended between them in 1538 when Catherine found out that Mannox had told Mary Lascelles that he would have Catherine’s virginity and that he had touched certain parts of her body (Russell, 55). Catherine was outraged and soon ended things with Mannox even going to so far as to point out that they could never marry probably in regards to his lower class and the fact that he might have already been engaged (Russell, 56). In any case by that point her eye had already fallen on someone new, Francis Dereham.

            Dereham was a member of the Dowager Duchess’ household and the Duchess’ secretary. This relationship would be the one that would have a much more damaging effect later in Catherine’s life than Mannox. The two gave each other romantic gifts and called each other “husband” and “wife” on many occasions. Catherine would even sneak Dereham into the girl’s dormitory at night, something the others girls did as well, she even made a copy of the key to the room. In both Catherine’s and Dereham’s later confessions, along with the many witness in that room we know that their relationship was consummated. Francis claimed to one of the maids that worked in the household that he was so knowledgeable about sex that he was sure he wouldn’t get Catherine pregnant (Russell, 59). Catherine even echoed this sentiment later when Alice Wilkes who shared a bed with her complained and tried to warn her about the consequences but Catherine responded that “a woman might meddle with a man and yet conceive no child (Russell, 59).” During Catherine’s confession she would confess to a sexual relationship with Dereham saying that:

“Francis Dereham by many persuasions procured me to his vicious purpose and obtained first to lie upon my bed with his doublet and hose and after within the bed and finally he lay with me naked and used me in such sort as a man doth his wife many and sundry times but how often I know not (Hanson).”

            The relationship between Catherine and Francis visibly made Henry Mannox very jealous and he even went so far as to write a letter to the Dowager Duchess trying to tip her off about the men in the girl’s room. With some great luck they weren’t caught, but Catherine did steal the letter which set Dereham and Mannox at odds.  Everyone in the household knew about Catherine and Dereham, but the Dowager Duchess was still one of the last to know. This relationship was destined to end though, eventually Catherine began to get over Dereham and this was greatly helped by a new opportunity which presented itself to Catherine. She was given the chance to be a member of Henry VIII’s fourth wife’s, Anne of Cleves’, house-hold in the later part 1539 into 1540. Catherine, in the hopes of a bright future at court, broke off her relationship with Dereham and as later events would show he did not want to accept it. 

(Miniature of a lady (maybe Catherine Howard) by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1540)

            We know that soon after she got to court she had a short lived flirtation with Thomas Culpepper, her sixth cousin. Culpepper was everything Catherine was attracted to in a man and many other women at court adored him. He was also close to the King. There is a question of whether or not this Thomas Culpepper was the same Thomas Culpepper that raped a park keeper’s wife and murdered a villager that tried to help. One piece of evidence against this it that there were several Thomas Culpeppers at that time, he actually had an older brother named the exact same name; this brother was also recorded to be more violent (Ridgeway). And there is also the fact that there was only one person who said it was Catherine’s Thomas and this was after his execution, so it has yet to be completely proven. The two flirted and pursued each other but Catherine didn’t allow for their relationship to be consummated despite Culpepper’s best efforts and he eventually moved on to someone else. This caused Catherine great distress and she cried to the other maids in service to Anne of Cleves (Russell, 85). There were plenty of rumors going on at the time that Catherine and Culpepper were going to marry. Somehow this whole episode got back to Dereham who then took a visit court to demand to know if she was really marrying Culpepper and to say that she was his. She refused and told him that it was untrue but she would not have him (Russell, 85). It wasn’t too long after this that Catherine attracted another more influential suitor, Henry VIII.

            Henry VIII was not pleased in his current marriage and like previous cases before he didn’t look very far to find a replacement. It’s easy to understand why Henry would have been attracted to this young girl. She was pretty, slender, charming, and a bit of a flirt. She brought new life to Henry. Catherine’s age also made her seem the perfect candidate to be fit enough to bear the King more children, he had one son but he still needed to provide a spare. Catherine herself probably would have been satisfied to marry someone like Culpepper but while the King could offer her the all too alluring position as Queen, his track record with previous wives wasn’t exactly something that inspired confidence. Whether Catherine loved her new husband or not is greatly speculated on, she may have missed a younger more able lover but she would have felt adored and important. As much as Catherine would enjoy the gifts and security that her future husband would provide we also know that some part of her was either terrified of him or misunderstood his role of Supreme Head of the Church of England. In her conversations with Culpepper she would tell him to be mindful of what he told God or a Confessor because she was sure they would tell the King. Henry began to give Catherine gifts, some gifts of land, and on July 28^th, 1540 at Oatlands Palace the two were married on the same day as the King’s former chief Minister Thomas Cromwell was executed.

            The first summer of their marriage was spent traveling around the country; Catherine worked her hardest to always please the ill-tempered King. Her Queen’s motto would be “Non autre volonte que la sienna” or in English “No other wish (or will than) but his.”  At this point in Henry’s life he was always in pain from the ulcers in his leg, his body was often times in pain and he seemed occasionally to be impotent (Hanson). Despite this the King, however, could not keep his hands off of his young bride. He showered her with gifts of land and treasures. There has been an idea that Catherine was frivolous and only cared for fine things due to the fact that Henry gave her so much but Catherine received about the same as Henry’s other wives.

In the background, her family worked tirelessly to hide and quiet all those who knew about the Queen’s past. Catherine who was often kind-hearted would employ some of those who had been with her during her childhood days, which at times might not have always been the best idea. Francis Dereham would even make it into the new Queen’s employment as her secretary during the summer of 1541.  During the Christmas and New Years of 1540-41 Catherine would also graciously entertain Anne of Cleves with enough kindness to impress the other courtiers. She also successfully interceded on behalf of Thomas Wyatt and John Wallop, two men that Henry had thrown in the Tower.

            Early in the spring of 1541 the King fell ill and confined himself to his rooms away from Catherine for a while. It was during this time that she likely started her affair again with Thomas Culpepper and began to meet him in private and send him gifts with the assistance of Lady Jane Rochford. It was during this spring that she likely wrote Culpepper the surviving love letter that we have. We also know that during this time there was a strong notion around court that Catherine was pregnant and many believed that she would be crowned in York. But suddenly the rumors stopped indicating that she either miscarried or was incorrect about ever being pregnant.

            The King and Queen went on a summer progress to the north of England, during which Francis Dereham made his return. During the whole progress Catherine would secretly meet Thomas Culpepper and her feelings for him became increasingly obvious to members of her household. One member would even cite seeing Catherine looking longingly out of a window at him as evidence against the Queen. Lady Rochford, George Boleyn’s widow, would arrange the meetings and the Queen and Culpepper would talk about their former loves. On one such meeting Catherine is reported to have told him that she loved him and he responded that he “did love her again above all other creatures” and as he left he kissed her hand saying that was as far as he could go (Russell, 239).

By the time the royal progress returned to Hampton Court Palace in November, Catherine’s past came back to haunt her. Thomas Cranmer had been in contact with John Lascelles, the brother of Mary Lascelles, who Mannox had carelessly told about his relationship with Catherine. Mary also had been around for Catherine’s relationship with Francis Dereham.  During a Mass for All Soul’s Day on November 2^nd Cranmer unable to face the King in person left him a letter on his seat with a detailed account of the charges. Cranmer knew that any pre-contract between Dereham and Catherine would be a question on the King’s marriage and any children they had. The King at first did not want to believe anything that condemned his pretty and invigorating wife but he still allowed for a discreet investigation to be launched. Catherine was put on house arrest and many of Catherine’s female servants were interviewed.

Dereham was arrested and under torture confessed to everything previous to marriage but that he had never slept with the Queen after her marriage to the King. Cranmer was given the task of interviewing Catherine himself on November 7 and said that when he confronted Catherine he found her “in such lamentation and heaviness as I never saw no creature, so that it would have pitied any man's heart to have looked upon her (The Execution of Katherine Howard & Jane Rochford).” Catherine’s nerves were shot and she was terrified of what could happen to her. Cranmer urged the young girl to agree to a pre-contract with Francis Dereham which might have saved her life, if Henry had actually meant it. Catherine would never agree to this though, whether she felt this would be used against her or she simply didn’t want to be associated with Dereham. She admitted to sleeping with Dereham but that was all. She wrote a full confession to her husband in which she referred “the judgement of my offenses with my life and death wholly unto your most benign and merciful Grace (Russell, 279).”

They decided to go back to questioning Dereham who claimed that he never had sex with the Queen during her marriage because someone else had found their ways into her affections, Thomas Culpepper. Culpepper was arrested, his rooms were searched, and then they found the love letter from Catherine. Lady Jane Rochford was also arrested and she would tell the councilors that Catherine and Culpepper had insisted on the meetings and that they had consummated the relationship. Catherine and Culpepper would deny that and claim that the most contact they had ever had was the kiss on Catherine’s hand. But finally Thomas confessed to something equally as bad, he claimed that they did not have sex but “that he intended and meant to do ill with the Queen and that likewise the Queen was so minded with him (Russell, 288).” Henry finally had to face the truth and he reacted to the news by asking for a sword so he could kill Catherine himself, and then he left Catherine behind as he had done with all of his previous wives before to watch her downfall from afar. Catherine would never have the chance to see Henry again to plead her case.

(Catherine’s love letter to Thomas as found on the National Archives site athttps://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/museum/item.asp?item_id=13)

Catherine was stripped of the title of Queen on November 23 and moved to Syon House to await her fate. Several members of her immediate family, including the Dowager Duchess, were arrested and put in the Tower of London for having failed to tell the King of Catherine’s past. On December 10, 1541 for the crime of loving and intending to commit adultery with the Queen, Thomas Culpepper was beheaded. Francis Dereham was not given the same clemency as Culpepper had to endure the horrible death of being hung, drawn, and quartered for the crime of having had a relationship with Catherine before she had ever met Henry.  Catherine was in limbo but on January 21 an Act of Attainder was passed by the House of Lords and on February 10 it was approved by the King (Hanson). This Act made it a treasonous act to not disclose your previous sexual history to the King before marriage, added with the charge of adultery this meant that Catherine’s time was up. Henry also made it legal to execute an insane person so that he could execute Lady Jane Rochford, who had fallen mad after her arrest. Catherine was shipped to the Tower of London on February 10^th and her execution was set for the 13^th.  The trip to the Tower was a rough one for Catherine and she had to be forced onto the boat and she very well may have seen Culpepper’s and Dereham’s heads on spikes on the way to the Tower.

Catherine showed great dignity in her time at the Tower. The night before her execution she is reported to have ordered for the executioner’s block to be brought to her rooms so that she could practice and make a good death. The next morning Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Rochford were taken to a scaffold that was set up in the Tower for their execution. Catherine was executed first and her speech was short she claimed that her “punishment was ‘worthy and just’” and she asked the people to pray for her soul (The Execution of Katherine Howard & Jane Rochford). Catherine, per usual with execution, prayed for the king and asked for God’s forgiveness before she placed her head on the block just like how she had practiced (Hanson).  She was killed with one swing at the age of 20 or 21 and right after her Jane Rochford was executed. Their bodies were taken and buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula.

Bad-ass Quotes:

About going to court:

“All that knew me, and kept my company, knew how glad and desirous I was to come to court.”

In her letter to Thomas Culpepper:

“..for I have never longed so much for a thing as I do to see you and to speak with you, the which I trust shortly now. That which doth comfortly me very much when I think of it, and when I think again that you shall depart from me again it makes my heart die to think what fortune I have that I cannot be always in your company.”  And she signed it “Yours as long as life endures”

Books to Read:

Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of King Henry VIII by Gareth Russell

Katherine Howard: The Tragic Story of Henry VIII’s Fifth Queen by Josephine Wilkinson

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir

Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII by David Starkey

The Anne Boleyn Files website by Claire Ridgeway

Documentaries to Watch:

Henry VIII and His Six Wives, Suzannah Lipscomb and Dan Jones

Secrets of the Six Wives, Lucy Worsley

The Six Wives of Henry VIII, David Starkey

Works Cited:

‘Hall. (n.d.). Hall's chronicle : Containing the history of England, during the reign of Henry the Fourth, and the succeeding monarchs, to the end of the reign of Henry the Eighth, in which are particularly described the manners and customs of those periods. Carefully collated with the editions of 1548 and 1550. Web. January 23, 2015. http://www.archive.org/stream/hallschronicleco00halluoft#page/630/mode/2up

Hanson, Marilee. "Catherine Howard: Facts, Biography, Portraits & Information" <a href="https://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/catherine-howard/">https://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/catherine-howard/</a>, January 31, 2015

Holt, Chris. The Six Queens of Henry VIII Episode 4. Perf. Suzannah Lipscomb, Dan Jones. Oxford Film & Television, 2016. Film.

Ridgeway, Claire. “Thomas Culpeper.” The Anne Boleyn Files, 12 Apr. 2010, www.theanneboleynfiles.com/thomas-culpeper/.

Russell, Gareth. YOUNG AND DAMNED AND FAIR: the life of catherine howard, fifth wife of king henry viii. SIMON & SCHUSTER, 2018.

Theanneboleynfiles. “Catherine Howard - The Material Girl?” The Anne Boleyn Files, 2 Feb. 2012, www.theanneboleynfiles.com/catherine-howard-the-material-girl/.

“The Execution of Katherine Howard & Jane Rochford.” The Tudor Enthusiast, thetudorenthusiast.weebly.com/my-tudor-blog/the-execution-of-katherine-howard-jane-rochford.

Weir, Alison. The Six Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Grove, 2007. Print.