by Alison Weir
Next to nothing is known of Katherine of Aragon's daily life as Princess of Wales. Accounts of her brief marriage to Prince Arthur appear in Dulcie M. Ashdown'sPrincess of Wales(John Murray,1979),Lives of the Princesses of Wales byM. B. Fryer, A. Bousfield and G. Toffoli (Dundurn Press, 1983) and Francis Jones'sThe Princes and Principality of Wales(University of Wales, Cardiff, 1969). Prince Arthur's death is described by Bernaldes, and the breaking of the news of it to Henry VII by Leland inCollectanea.
3 Our daughter remains as she was here
The major source for this chapter is the Spanish Calendar, which recounts the enquiries into Katherine's virginal status, negotiations for her marriage to Prince Henry, events leading up to the signing of the marriage treaty, negotiations with the Vatican for a dispensation, the text of the dispensations obtained, Queen Isabella's doubts as to its validity, negotiations for the payment of Katherine's dowry, her finances, her ill health and depression, her chafing at the restrictions imposed on her by etiquette, and Henry VII's treatment of her. Pope Julius's prevarication over the granting of a dispensation is mentioned inL & P.Hall is the source for Prince Henry's creation as Prince of Wales. The Prince's repudiation of his betrothal to Katherine is described by Lord Herbert.
4 Pain and annoyance
The Spanish Calendar continues to be the major source for this period of Katherine's life: it describes the secret negotiations to find another bride for Prince Henry, Katherine's problems with her household and finances, the course of her illness and depression, the dispute over her dowry, her status at court, the visit of King Philip and Queen Juana to England, Henry VII's plans to marry Juana, Katherine's appointment as her father's ambassador to the English court, her relations with Henry VII, with various Spanish diplomats, and with her confessor Fray Diego Fernandez, her correspondence, her reconciliation with Fuensalida who replaced her as ambassador, and the reopening of negotiations for her marriage with Henry VIII after his father's death.
Another account of the visit of Philip andjuana is given in the; Cotton MSS. in the British Library. Prince Henry's letter is quoted by Byrne. The account of Henry VII's death, and the summary of his reign and achievements is based on those given by Bacon and Carmelianus. His wealth is referred to in the Venetian Calendar. Henry VIII's love for Katherine of Aragon, his desire to marry her,and his constant reiteration of this desire before their marriage is vouched for by his cousin, Reginald Pole, inPro Ecclesiastical' Unitatis;,Defensione,1536, (Rome, 1698).
5Sir Loyal Heart and the Tudor court
Hall's Chronicle mentions the doubts felt by some about the validity of Henry VIII's proposed marriage to Katherine of Aragon. The wedding ceremony, and the date on which it took place, are recorded by Bernaldes.
Descriptions of Henry VIII's appearance appear in the Spanish Calendar, the Venetian Calendar, Cavendish'sLife of Cardinal Wolseyand the dispatches of the Venetian ambassador Sebastian Giustinian, ed. L. Rawdon Brown inFour Years at the Court of Henry VIII(2 vols, Smith Elder and Co., 1854). The King's sporting and musical talents are described in the Spanish and Venetian Calendars,L & P,Hall's Chronicle, and the Milanese Calendar; his linguistic abilities are related in the Venetian Calendar and inL & P;his other accomplishments in the Venetian Calendar, which also mentions his piety, his genial informality, his popularity, his hatred of the French and the clothes he wore. His reluctance to attend, and boredom at, Council meetings, and his pursuit of frivolous pleasures in his early years are attested to by the Spanish and Milanese Calendars, and John Stow in hisAnnals.
Pageants, tournaments and court festivities are described in detail in Hall's Chronicle, the Venetian Calendar andFour Years at the Court of Henry VIII. The royal visit to Coventry is mentioned in the Harleian MSS. in the British Library. Henry and Katherine's inscriptions on her missal appear in the Kings' MSS. in the British Library. The plague of 1517 is mentioned by Hall. For Katherine of Aragon's visit to Merton College, Oxford, see Registum Annalium Collegii Mertonensis in the Library of Merton College, Oxford, and for her Chapel of Calvary see Stow's London. Surviving examples of Katherine's needlework were described by John Taylor in The Praise of the Needle (1634). The Spanish Calendar records Henry's correspondence with King Ferdinand, and Katherine's relations with Maria de Salinas, Fray Diego, and other members of her household.
6 A chaste and concordant wedlock
The description of Henry VIII's coronation and the succeeding celebrations is derived from Hall's Chronicle. The Spanish Calendar records Henry and Katherine's early love for each other, details of Katherine's first pregnancy, the birth of a stillborn daughter in 1510, the conduct of Fray Diego and his dismissal, the FitzWalter affair, and the Queen's fall from favour in 1514. The ordinances for royal confinements are to be found in the State Papers. The Queen's taking to her chamber in December 1510 and the Christmas festivities at Richmond are described by Hall, who also recounts the birth and death of Prince Henry in 1511, the celebrations to mark the birth, and the grief of the King and Queen at their loss. The funeral of Prince Henry is mentioned in a manuscript in the Chapter House, Westminster Abbey.
Henry's farewell to Katherine and his departure for his campaign in France in 1513 are described by Hall. Details of the Flodden campaign are given in a letter from Sir Bryan Tuke to Richard Pace in L & P; Katherine's speech to her troops is reported in Peter Martyr:Opus Epistolarum Petri Martyris(published in Alcala de Henares, Spain, 1530); the losses at Flodden are recorded in the State Papers, and the events immediately following the battle are described by Hall. Henry's conduct on the French campaign is mentioned in the Milanese Calendar, and his return to England and reunion with Katherine is related by Hall.
Hall's Chronicle also gives details of Henry's anger at the perfidy of Ferdinand and Maximilian and the collapse of their triple alliance in 1514. The betrothal of the King's sister Mary Tudor to Louis XII is related in the Spanish and Venetian Calendars and in Hall's Chronicle. Hall also tells of the early death of Katherine's son, born in 1514. Henry VIII's distrust and jealousy of the new French King, Francis I, is recounted in the Venetian Calendar. For Francis I, see Desmond Seward'sPrince of the Renaissance(Constable, 1973) and R. J. Knecht'sFrancis I(Cambridge University Press, 1982). For Mary Tudor's marriage to Suffolk and her later life see Walter C. Richardson'sMary Tudor, the White Queen(Peter Owen, 1970) and Hester W. Chapman'sThe Sisters of Henry VIII(Jonathan Cape, 1969). Margaret Tudor's visit to London is recounted by Hall.
There are numerous references to Wolsey's growing power in the Venetian Calendar. For modern lives of the Cardinal, see A. F. Pollard'sWolsey(Longmans, Green and Co., 1929), Charles Ferguson'sNaked to mine Enemies: The Life of Cardinal Wolsey(Little, Brown, 1958), Neville Williams'sThe Cardinal and the Secretary(Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1975) and Jasper Ridley'sThe Statesman and the Fanatic(Constable, 1982). The birth and christening of the Princess Mary are described in Hall's Chronicle. There are several references to Henry's growing egotism in the Venetian Calendar. Sir Thomas More's friendship with the King and Queen and his rise to favour are detailed in the biography written by his son-in-law, William Roper,The Life of Sir Thomas More, Knight(publishedc.1556; ed. E. V. Hitchcock, Early English Texts Society, vol. CXCVII, 1935). More's uprightness is attested to in the Spanish Calendar. Contemporary with Roper'sLifeis that by the Catholic historian Nicholas Harpsfield,The Life and Death of Sir Thomas More(publishedc.1557; ed. E. V. Hitchcock and R. W. Chambers, Early English Texts Society, 1932). Selected letters of Sir Thomas More were edited by Elizabeth Frances Rogers (1961). More has attracted several biographers this century: Algernon Cecil,A Portrait of Thomas More, Scholar, Statesman, Saint(John Murray, 1937), Leslie Paul,Sir Thomas More(1953), E. E. Reynolds,The Field is Won(Burns and Oates, 1968), and, for revised and less sympathetic assessments, Jasper Ridley,The Statesman and the Fanatic(Constable, 1982) and Richard Marius,Thomas More(Dent, 1984).
Katherine of Aragon's last pregnancy is detailed inL & Pand the Venetian Calendar, the latter relating t
he birth of a daughter who died soon afterwards. Descriptions of the Princess Mary in childhood are to be found in the Spanish Calendar, the Venetian Calendar, Pollino, and theDiariiof Marino Sanuto (ed. R. Fulin, F. Stefani et al., 59 vols, Venice, 1879-1903). Hall relates the Princess's betrothal to the Dauphin, 1518. The birth of Henry FitzRoy is recorded by Hall, and public outrage at the marriage arranged by Wolsey for Elizabeth Blount is attested to in L& P.
For descriptions of the Field of Cloth of Gold, see Hall, Holinshed and the Venetian Calendar. A good modern account is given byj. G. Russell inThe Field of Cloth of Gold(1969). Katherine's objections are recorded in the Spanish Calendar. Charles V's visit to England in 1520 is described by Hall, Holinshed and the Venetian Calendar. For Charles V, seeCharles the Fifth, Father of Europeby Gertrude von Schwarzenfeld (1957). The visit of Henry and Katherine to Charles V is noted by Hall. For Thomas Cromwell's life and career, see Neville Williams'sThe Cardinal and the Secretary(Weidenfeld and Nicolson, !975)> A. G. Dickens'sThomas Cromwell and the English Reformation(1959), and B. W. Beckingsale'sThomas Cromwell, Tudor Minister(Macmillan, 1978). Henry VIII's defence of the seven sacraments, published in 1521,Assertio septem Sacramentorum adversus Martinus Lutherus,was edited by O'Donovan (New York, 1908). For his being awarded the titleFidei Defensor,see Hall. Charles V's visit to England in 1522 and his betrothal to the Princess Mary is recorded in Hall's Chronicle and the Spanish Calendar. Mary's education at Ludlow is described in the Cotton MS., Vitellius in the British Library and by Vives. The Duke of Norfolk's qualities and abilities are mentioned by Vergil and in the Venetian Calendar; the cruelty of his mistress is described in L& P.
The outward appearance of the marriage of Henry and Katherine is attested to by Erasmus inThe Institution of Christian Marriage(1526). The Spanish Calendar and L &Pboth testify to Katherine's being past the age for childbearing. Henry's reluctance to send Mary to Spain is noted in Hall's Chronicle and the Venetian Calendar. Henry FitzRoy's elevation to the peerage is described in Hall's Chronicle,L & P,and Stow'sAnnals.The Venetian Calendar records how Katherine took offence at it. BothL & Pand Pollino describe Mary taking up residence at Ludlow in 1525.
Henry VIII's presence at Mary Boleyn's wedding is recorded inL & P.The arrival of the Spanish ambassador Mendoza is recorded in the Spanish Calendar and by Hall. The Spanish Calendar also records that he found it difficult to see Katherine, and that Katherine was against a new French alliance. The Bishop of Tarbes's doubts are explained by Hall. For the sack of Rome, see the Spanish Calendar. The King's doubts of conscience over the validity of his marriage are attested to by many sources, chiefly Hall, Cavendish, Roper, Harpsfield, various ambassadors and William Tynedale inThe Practice of Prelates(1530).
7
One of the chief primary sources for Anne Boleyn's life is the biography written by George Wyatt in the late sixteenth century,Extracts from the life of the Virtuous, Christian and Renowned Queen Anne Boleyn(published London, 1817). Wyatt was the grandsonofthe poet Sir Thomas Wyatt, Anne's Kentish neighbour and admirer, and he drew his information from anecdotes handed down within his own family and the reminiscences of Anne Gainsford, who had been Anne Boleyn's maid of honour. This is a work strongly biased in favour of its subject, written as it was in answer to Nicholas Sanders's crushing attack on Anne, published in 1585. See also George Wyatt,Memorial of Queen Anne Boleyn(reproduced inThe Life of Cardinal Wolseyby George Cavendish, ed. S. W. Singer, 1827) andPapers of George Wyatt(ed. D. M. Loades, Camden Society, 4th series, V, 1968). For hostile opinions of Anne Boleyn, see the Spanish Calendar, Reginald Pole'sPro Ecclesiasticae Unitatis Defensione(1536) and Sanders.
The early Boleyns are mentioned several times in the Paston Letters (ed. N. Davis, Oxford University Press, 1971), Stow'sLondon,and theCalendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem for the Reign of Henry VII.For Hever Castle, see the current Official Guide, also the pamphlet by Gavin Astor,The Boleyns of Hever(1971). For the character of Sir Thomas Boleyn, his children and early income, seeL & P.Anne Boleyn's birthdate has been arrived at after considering evidence in William Camden'sAnnales rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum, regnanto Elizabetha, ad annum salutis MDLXXXIX(London, 1615),The Life of Jane Dormer,Lord Herbert's life of Henry VIII, Leti's suppressed life of Elizabeth I, William Rastell'sLife of Sir Thomas More(fragment in the Arundel MSS. in the British Library) and the Patent of Creation of Anne Boleyn as Marquess of Pembroke (MS. in the Chapter House, Westminster Abbey); see also Ives'sAnne Boleyn.For George Boleyn's date of birth, see George Cavendish's 'Metrical Visions' (included inThe Life of Cardinal Wolsey,ed. S. W. Singer, 1827).
Anne Boleyn's virtues and accomplishments are described by Lord Herbert. For the duration of her stay in France, see Herbert, and also Emmanuel von Meteren'sHistoire des Pays Bas: Crispin, Lord of Milherve's Metrical History(1618);Epistre contenant leproces criminelfait a lencontre de la Royne Boullant d'Angleterreby Lancelot de Carles, Clement Marot, and Crispin de Milherve (1545; included inLa Grande Bretagne devant I'Opinion Francaiseby G. Ascoli, Paris, 1927);Histoire de la Royne Anne de Boullant(MS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; before 1550); and Charles de Bourgueville'sLes Recherches et Antiquites de la Province de Neustrie(1583). Carles, Marot and Milherve were three great French men of letters and a valuable source of information on Anne Boleyn. Milherve was an eyewitness at her trial, and the other two, Marot in particular, knew her in France. Milherve wrote a separate metrical history. For Anne's stay in France, see the above, and also, for her accomplishments, Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantome,Lives of Gallant Ladies(trans. R. Gibbings, 1924). For Anne's erotic experiences in France, seeL & Pand Brantome.
Cromwell's denial of the King's having been Lady Boleyn's lover is recorded inL & P.For the Butler marriage negotiations, seeL & Pand theCalendar of Ormonde Deeds, 1172-1603(vols 3 and 4, ed. E. Curtis, 1942-3);L & Pmentions Francis I's regret at Anne's leaving France. George Wyatt describes Anne's arrival at the English court and her success there. For her affair with Percy, see Cavendish, L & P and the Percy MSS. at Alnwick Castle. Anne Boleyn's appearance is described by Wyatt, Sanders (a surprisingly unbiased account), Carles etc., andL & P.For the poet Wyatt's interest in her, see George Wyatt. The accounts by Harpsfield and Sanders are farfetched and malicious, owing nothing to contemporary sources. For Sir Thomas Wyatt, see hisCollected Poems(ed. J. Daalder, Oxford, 1975), Kenneth Muir'sLife and Letters of Sir Thomas Wyatt(Liverpool University Press, 1963) and Patricia Thomson'sSir Thomas Wyatt and his Background(Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964). The rise of the Boleyns is charted inL & P.For Anne Boleyn's early life, see J. H. Round'sThe Early Life of Anne Boleyn(pamphlet published 1885).
There are two good primary sources for Henry VIII's courtship of Anne Boleyn, those of George Wyatt and Cavendish. Henry's love letters, now in the Vatican Library, are in the collections edited by Byrne and Ridley. None of Anne's letters to Henry survives: that quoted by Leti is spurious. A letter headed 'To the King from the Lady in the Tower', purported to have been written by Anne Boleyn in 1536, is of dubious authenticity. Cavendish refers to the patience of Queen Katherine with regard to her husband's affair with Anne, and is also the chief source of evidence for Anne's deadly hostility towards Wolsey. Her cordial outward relations with the Cardinal are described inL & P.
8
The King's passion for Anne Boleyn is described in George Wyatt's Memorial, Cavendish, the Spanish Calendar andAmbassades enAngleterre dejean du Bellay, 1527-1529(ed. V. L. Bourilly and P. deVassiere, Paris, 1905). Jean du Bellay was the French ambassador to the court of Henry VIII and a friend of Anne Boleyn. His dispatches are therefore a good source to balance against the hostile reports in the Spanish Calendar. Jewels given to Anne by Henry in August 1527 are listed in a document in the Public Record Office. For the course of their affair, and the first rumours of a divorce and of the King having found a new mistress, see Cavendish, George Wyatt and Hall. The secret hearing at Westminster is described by Cavendish, Hall and Holinshed. The Spanish Calendar describes Men
doza's activities, the Queen's apprehension and Henry's confrontation with her. It also contains details of diplomatic relations between Charles V, his ambassadors, and the Vatican, and correspondence between the Emperor, his ministers, Katherine of Aragon, Mendoza and his successor Eustache Chapuys, and the Vatican.
Bishop Fisher's opinion on the King's case is given inL & P.Roper is the source for the decision to refer the case to Rome; doubts about the wisdom of this arc referred to inL & P.Wolsey's mission to France is described inL & P,Cavendish and Harpsfield. The Venetian Calendar includes several references to Katherine's popularity. The Felipez affair is recorded inL & P.Rumours of Henry's intention of marrying Anne are first mentioned in the Spanish Calendar. George Wyatt alone speaks of Anne's reluctance to marry Henry. Wolsey's resistance to the match is referred to by Cavendish and Holinshed. The embassies to Rome are described inL & Pand in Foxe's Book of Martyrs; the Spanish Calendar includes Henry's dispensation to marry Anne. Anne's enmity towards Wolsey is attested to by Cavendish, du Bellay, the Spanish Calendar and Harpsfield. Hall is, as usual, the source for festivities at court. The Pope's appointment of Cardinal Campeggio as legate to try the case with Wolsey in England is recorded by Hall, Cavendish, Roper and Foxe. Wolsey's solution to the Boleyn/Butler feud is found in the Ormonde Deeds. Hall and du Bellay describe Henry's treatment of Katherine. Du Bellay is the chief source for the sweating sickness epidemic of 1528; he mentions Henry's fear of catching the disease and constant moves to escape it, as docs Hall's Chronicle andL & P.Du Bellay was the first to record that Anne Boleyn was stricken with the sweat. The Spanish Calendar reports public outrage at the King's nullity suit. Du Bellay speaks of Henry's growing disillusionment with Wolsey. William Carey's death is noted in the (Spanish Calendar, and the wardship of his heir inL & P.The Spanish Calendar is also the source for the view that Wolsey was doing his best to prevent an annulment. Anne's letter to the Cardinal of July 1528 is in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Henry's staunch belief that his case was righteous is attested to in the Spanish Calendar. Katharine's retort to Anne while playing cards comes from George Wyatt.