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Catharine of Aragon
A.D. 1485-1536
First Wife of Henry VIII, of England
Catharine of Aragon, fourth
daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, king and
queen of Castile and Aragon, was born December
15, 1485. Married in 1501, when scarcely
sixteen, to Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of
Henry VII, she was left a widow on April 2,
1502. On June 25 of that same year she was
betrothed to her brother-in-law, Henry, then
only eleven years old. The pope’s dispensation
enabling such near relatives to marry was
obtained in 1504, and the marriage took place in
June, 1509, seven weeks after Henry’s accession
to the crown as Henry VIII.
The queen, by her manners,
good sense, and superior endowments, contrived
to retain the affection of this fickle and
capricious king for nearly twenty years. She was
devoted to literature and was the patroness of
literary men. She bore several children, but all
of them, excepting a daughter, afterwards Queen
Mary, died in their infancy. Scruples, real or
pretended, at length arose in the mind of Henry
concerning the legality of their union, and they
were powerfully enforced by his passion for Anne
Boleyn.
In 1527, he resolved to
obtain a divorce from Catharine on the grounds
of the nullity of their marriage, as contrary to
Divine laws. Pope Clement VII seemed at first
disposed to listen to Henry’s application, but
overawed by Charles V., emperor of Germany and
nephew of Catharine, he cause the negotiations
to be so prolonged that Henry became very
impatient. Catharine conducted herself with
gentleness, yet firmness, in this trying ordeal.
Being tired of waiting,
Henry soon threw off his submission to the court
of Rome and declared himself the head of the
Church of England. As head of the Church, he had
his marriage formally annulled by Archbishop
Cranmer in 1532.
Catharine took up her
residency at Ampthill in Bedfordshire, and
afterwards at Kimbolton Castle, in
Huntingdonshire. She employed herself chiefly in
religious duties, bearing her lot in life with
silent resignation and dignity. She died in
January, 1536.
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