CATHERINE HOWARD,THE FIFTH OF HENRY VIII WIVES.

Where Catherine Howard was born and the date of her birth are unknown, but it possibly took place in County Durham in the early 1520's ( most historians believe it to be closer to 1521).

She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard, the son of the second Duke of Norfolk, which made her a first cousin of Anne Bolyn, the second of Henry VIII wives.

On 28th July 1540, barely nineteen days after the annulment of his marriage to Anne of Cleves, (the fourth of Henry VIII wives), Henry and Catherine Howard were married. The ceremony took place at Oatlands Palace in Surrey.

However, less than two years later, she suffered the same fate as her cousin Anne Boleyn, when she was beheaded for treason, meaning in Catherine's case, she had commited adultery while being married to the King.

Her parents, Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper were not well off. As he was a younger son of the Duke of Norfolk, he would rely on the generosity of senior members of the family, often begging for handouts from them. It was actually his niece Anne Boleyn, who in 1531, had secured him employment working for the King, in a government position in Calais.

One reason for the families poverty, was due to primogeniture, which is the right by law or custom, of the first born to inherit the entire estate, excluding all younger siblings. It also meant, that a male child would be ahead in the order of inheritance to a sister regardless of her age.

The large size of Catherine's immediate family did not help her parent's financial situation either. She was their fourth child and between the age of six and ten years she was sent to live with her step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, who lived at Lambeth.

It was a very large household, comprised of relatives, who found themselves in the same situation as young Catherine Howard. These were her cousins, the offspring of the minor, therefore poorer, aristocratic members of the Norfolk family. They could not afford to support their families in the Aristocratic manner, which was becoming of their status in society.

It was common practice among the aristocracy throughout Europe, to send their young offspring to other aristocratic households for training and to be educated. There was at Lambeth however, a very careless and negligent attitude towards the benefits that this system was supposed bring and there was a total lack of discipline.

Little interest in the moral supervision and education of the young members of her household was shown by the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. She spent practically all of her time in attendance at Court.

This lack of supervision and casual moral approach, brought with it, a licentious atmosphere to the whole household. As a consequence, when Catherine Howard was between eleven and sixteen years of age, Henry Manox, who was Catherine's music teacher, started a sexual relationship with her.

On marrying King Henry VIII and becoming Queen, Catherine Howard appointed Henry Manox as a musician in her household. In her adultery trial, he gave evidence against her.

During the course of this trial, they both made confessions of engaging in sexual contact, but without intercourse. She said:

"At the flattering and fair persuations of Manox, 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."

Their affair came to an end, when Catherine met one of the Dowager Duchess's secretaries, Francis Dereham in 1538. They soon became lovers and addressed each other as husband and wife, with Catherine performing several wifely duties, such as managing his financial affairs while he was away.

Their relationship, with the exception of the Duchess herself, was common knowledge within the Duchess's household. It came to an end however when the Dowager Duchess eventually did hear of it and voiced her disapproval. It is unclear if they parted with an understanding of marriage on his return from Ireland or not.

If Catherine and Dereham had agreed to a prenuptual, in which they had exchanged vows of their intention to be married, before indulging in sexual intercourse, then in the eyes of the Church, they would have been considered to have been married.

This, if admitted to at her trial, could possibly have saved Catherine's life, as her marriage to the King would have been considered to be null and void.

It was here at court, while Dereham was away, that Catherine Howard met Thomas Culpeper, a cousin of her mother's. He was a handsome and charming young courtier and a favourite of King Henry VIII. It appears she immediately fell for him in a big way.

A relationship between them however was not to be, as it was not very long before the attractive Catherine Howard caught the eye of King Henry VIII, who had often and at times quite vocally announced his displeasure at being married to Anne of Cleves, who he had not found to be the least bit attractive from the moment he had set eyes on her.

Politics had forced him to go ahead with the marriage, for not to have done so, would probably have broken the new alliance, which Henry's chief Minister Thomas Cromwell had formed between Anne's brother, the Duke of Cleves and Henry VIII's government, by virtue of this marriage.

King Henry VIII was now forty nine years of age, no longer the muscular athlete of his youth. He had become very fat, his years of high living had seen to that. This condition and an ulcerous leg, which gave him constant pain, all combined to render him almost immobile at times.

Her thoughts however, made no difference whatsoever, for Henry was the King. Her relatives were quite divided, although they all knew that the young girl was neither mature enough or sufficiently intelligent to handle the situation, some of them were delighted, whilst others viewed it with abject horror.

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, knew that he had never really gained the trust of King Henry VIII. This lack of trust was the main reason behind Norfolk's very heavy handed and cruel treatment of the leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1537, when he followed the King's orders to the letter, in order to prove his loyalty.

The marriage of King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, who was another niece of the Duke of Norfolk (and between who there was never any love lost, he even presided over her trial) had harmed the standing of the Howards at court and had taught them all to be very wary of the King.

Norfolk had many enemies at court. Himself and Thomas Cromwell, the King's Chief Minister, were the most bitter opponents. With so much to think about, Norfolk could not take any risks of alienating himself to a most dangerous and ruthless Sovereign, as King Henry VIII unquestionably was, by pointing out any misgivings he had about the King marrying his niece.

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and the other members of his family, whether for, or against this marriage, were left with no other option, other than to coach and prepare their niece, Catherine Howard, in the best ways they could and then just hope for the best, that their efforts would pay off and the marriage would be a success.

On the other hand, the King's disasterous marriage to Anne of Cleves had been the work of Thomas Cromwell whose enemies, including Norfolk, wasted no time in trying to discredit him. In this they succeeded, for Thomas Cromwell was executed at the Tower of London on the same day that King Henry married Catherine Howard.

Norfolk's standing with the King Henry VIII though was short lived, for Henry almost immediately regretted Cromwell's execution, accusing his ministers of bringing about the downfall of his chief minister on false charges.

Shortly after her arrival at court, Catherine Howard was receiving gifts of land and expensive cloth from Henry and there was suddenly an urgency to have Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves annulled. When it was annulled, rumours spread like wildfire that Catherine Howard was pregnant with Henry's child.

His third wife, Jane Seymour had given birth to one male heir, Edward, who would follow his father as King Edward VI. But henry himself, through being a second son, as he was only too vividly aware, had only become King due to the death of his elder brother Arthur, who had succumbed to the sweating sickness.

The rapid marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine Howard just nineteen days after the annullment, was due to the urgency he still felt, for the need to produce healthy and legitimate sons, necessary to secure the Tudor succession. Just having Prince Edward in a male line of succession was not sufficient to secure that succession.

After their wedding at Oaklands Palace in Surrey, King Henry VIII continued to shower his new, young wife with expensive gifts. Nothing was too good for her.

His treatment of Katherine of Aragon, by casting her aside for the very unpopular Anne Boleyn, caused a lot of ill feeling towards him.

The break with Rome and the Dissolution of the Monasteries had been extremely unpopular with the overwhelming majority of the people, and for which Anne Boleyn had been blamed.

The absolute farce of a trial of Anne Boleyn, followed by her execution, had turned the hatred that people had felt towards her, into a feeling of deep sympathy and pity instead. Their deep simmering hatred was now directed to where it so rightfully belonged, towards King Henry VIII and his government.

His actions in dealing with the Pilgrimage of Grace, in which he went back on his word and subsequently executed hundreds of the protesters, who had sworn an oath of loyalty to him, did absolutely nothing for his popularity.

These protesters, if they had been truly rebellious, could easily have overthrown him, but, having sworn their loyalty to him, disbanded when he made promises he had no intention of keeping.

His military campaigns against France, his lavish spending in refurbishing his palaces, building new ones, and all his other excesses had depleted the English treasury, as well as having taken care of the vast fortune, his father King Henry VII had bequeathed to him. All of the above policies had alienated the English people against him. He was reviled.

Add to this, his now numerous ailments and it all added up to a man sunk in depression and self pity. With this background, the presence of a young, lively, happy and seemingly virtuous wife in his life brought him immense relief, happiness and contentment. Her motto "No other wish but his," kept a forty nine year old obese, ailing and unhappy man content.

The King's generosity to his young wife continued unabated, not only was he giving her jewelry and finery but also lands and manor houses. In return for this she outwardly took great care to ensure he was happy.

There has been speculation as to her feelings towards King Henry VIII after their marriage. She had not been pregnant when they married, but they appeared to be so happy and content with each other in public that it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that before long she would be.

However, there is another line of thought, that she was utterly repulsed by Henry's obesity. His ulcerous leg was foul smelling and the festering ulcer had to be drained daily. It would be no surprise if she had become disgusted with their marital relations.

Whether Catherine Howard was happy in her marriage or not, in the spring of 1541,she entered into a romantic liaison with her mother's cousin, Thomas Culpeper, the handsome young male courtier, who she had fallen for when she arrived at court two years before.

In the following summer, Catherine accompanied Henry on a royal northern progress tour, in which Culpeper was also included as a member of the household staff.

When the northern progress of England came to an end in November and they had returned to London, the indiscretions of Catherine Howard rapidly caught up with her.

Mary Hall, a chambermaid to The Dowager Duchess, had witnessed Catherine Howard's sexual liaisons. Hall's brother, John Lascells, a Protestant reformer, presented the information to Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury who had been appointed by King Henry and was one of the king's closest advisors.

Cranmer immediately recognised that a precontract with Dereham would invalidate her marriage to King Henry VIII, but it would also excuse her indiscretions with Dereham.

While Henry was attending Mass on All Souls Day, 2nd November 1541, Cranmer, who knew that any precontract with Dereham would invalidate Catherine's marriage to the King, passed him a letter with the accusations against his wife.

Henry was at first confused. Honestly believing the letter to be a forgery, he instructed Cranmer to fully investigate the matter, but to keep it private.

Several servants were arrested and they were all taken to the Tower,as was Dereham, who under torture named Culpeper. Full confessions, again under torture, were then extracted from both Dereham and Culpeper. A love letter to Culpeper from Catherine Howard, in her own distinctive handwriting was produced. This is the only letter of hers which still survives.

Master Culpeper,I heartily recommend me unto you, praying you to send me word how that you do. It was showed me that you was sick, the which thing troubled me very much till such time that I hear from you praying you to send me word how that you do, for I never longed so much for a thing as I do to see you and to speak with you, the which I trust shall be 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. It my trust is always in you that you will be as you have promised me, and in that hope I trust upon still, praying you that you will come when my Lady Rochford is here for then I shall be best at leisure to be at your commandment, thanking you for that you have promised me to be so good unto that poor fellow my man which is one of the griefs that I do feel to depart from him for then I do know no one that I dare trust to send to you, and therefore I pray you take him to be with you that I may sometime hear from you one thing. I pray you to give me a horse for my man for I had much ado to get one and therefore I pray send me one by him and in so doing I am as I said afor, and thus I take my leave of you, trusting to see you shortly again and I would you was with me now that you might see what pain I take in writing to you.

Yours as long as life endures,Katheryn.One thing I had forgotten and that is to instruct my man to tarry here with me still for he says whatsomever you bid him he will do it.

Thomas Cranmer and a delegation questioned her at Hampton Court Palace on 7th November. Cranmer interrogated her, ignoring her pleas to see her husband. Catherine Howard was frantic and incoherent, even Cranmer remarked about her pitiable state, saying, "I 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."

She would not admit to any precontract with Dereham, even though it would have saved her life, steadfastly stating that Dereham had raped her.

Under normal circumstances, a precontract between Catherine Howard and Dereham, although ending Catherine's marriage to Henry, would have allowed Henry to have their marriage annulled. She would have been banished from court, disgraced, impoverished and even exiled, but ultimately spared the execution block.

HOWEVERCatherine Howard, was stripped of her title of Queen and taken to Syon House Middlesex on 23rd November 1541, where she was imprisoned, remaining in suspension until Parliament passed a Bill of Attainder on 21st January 1542, which made it treason-punishable by death-for a queen consort to fail to disclose her sexual history to the king within twenty days of their marriage, or to incite someone to have adultery with her.

This solved the matter of Catherine's supposed pre-contract and made her unequivocally guilty.She was taken from Syon House to the Tower of London on 10th February 1542. On 11th February the Bill of Attainder received the Royal Assent. Her execution was scheduled for 7 a.m.on 13th February 1542.

Catherine is reported to have spent hours practising how to lay her head on the block, the night before her execution. It is said she died with relative composure, although looking pale and terrified and required assistance in climbing the scaffold.

She made a speech which described her punishment as worthy and just, asking for mercy for her family and prayers for her soul.With one stroke, Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, was beheaded.

Her body was buried in an unmarked grave, in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, which is in the grounds of the Tower of London, and where the body of her cousin and second wife of Henry VIII also lay.

The bodies of Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn, were two of the ones identified during the restoration works which were carried out in the Chapel during the reign of Queen Victoria.Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpeper, were both found guilty of treasonous conduct and executed at Tyburn on 10th December 1541.

Thomas Culpeper was beheaded, whilst Francis Dereham was hanged, drawn and quartered. Catherine's family, the Howards were all also detained in the Tower,

except for her uncle Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, who had as usual been able to distance himself from any trouble.

They were all tried and found guilty of concealing treason, which had a prison term of life and forfeiture of their goods. They were eventually released however and their goods restored to them.

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