| Catherine Parr | |
|---|---|
 Portrait, late 16th century | |
| Queen consort of England and Ireland | |
| Tenure | 12 July 1543 – 28 January 1547 |
| Born | c. July or August 1512 Blackfriars, London, England |
| Died | 5 September 1548 (aged 36) Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, England |
| Burial | 7 September 1548[1] St Mary's Chapel,Sudeley Castle |
| Spouses | |
| Issue | Mary Seymour |
| Father | Sir Thomas Parr |
| Mother | Maud Green |
| Religion | Protestant |
| Signature |  |
Catherine Parr[a] (c. July or August 1512[2] – 5 September 1548) wasQueen of England and Ireland as the last ofthe six wives ofKing Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until Henry's death on 28 January 1547. Catherine was the finalqueen consort of theHouse of Tudor, and outlived Henry by a year and eight months. With four husbands, she is the most-married English queen consort. She was the first woman in England to publish in print an original work under her own name in the English language.[b][4]
Catherine enjoyed a close relationship with Henry's three children,Mary,Elizabeth andEdward. She was personally involved in the education of Elizabeth and Edward. She was influential in Henry's passing of theThird Succession Act in 1543 that restored his daughters Mary and Elizabeth to theline of succession to the throne.[5] Catherine was appointedregent from July to September 1544 while Henry was on a military campaign in France; in the event that he lost his life, she was to rule as regent until Edward came of age. However, he did not give her any function in government inhis will.
On account of herProtestant sympathies, she provoked the enmity of anti-Protestant officials, who sought to turn the King against her; a warrant for her arrest was drawn up, probably in the spring of 1546.[6] However, she and the king soon reconciled.
On 25 April 1544, Catherine published her first book,Psalms or Prayers, anonymously.[7] Her bookPrayers or Meditations became the first original book published by an English queen under her own name on 2 June 1545. She published a third book,The Lamentation of a Sinner, on 5 November 1547, nine months after the death of King Henry VIII.
After Henry's death on 28 January 1547, Catherine was allowed asqueen dowager to keep the queen's jewels and dresses. She assumed the role of guardian to her stepdaughter Elizabeth, and took Henry's great-nieceLady Jane Grey into her household. About six months after Henry's death, she married her fourth and final husband,Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley. The marriage was short-lived, as she died on 5 September 1548 due to complications of childbirth.[8][9] Her funeral, held on 7 September 1548,[1] was the first Protestant funeral in England, Scotland or Ireland to be held in English.[9]
Catherine Parr was the eldest child ofSir Thomas Parr,lord of the manor ofKendal inWestmorland (now inCumbria), andMaud Green, daughter and co-heiress ofSir Thomas Green, lord ofGreens Norton, Northamptonshire, andJoan Fogge. Sir Thomas Parr was a descendant of KingEdward III, and the Parrs were a substantial northern family which included many knights. Catherine had a younger brother,William, who was later created firstMarquess of Northampton, and a younger sister,Anne, laterCountess of Pembroke. Sir Thomas was a close companion to KingHenry VIII, and was rewarded as such with responsibilities and/or incomes from his positions asSheriff of Northamptonshire, Master of the Wards, andComptroller of the Household. Catherine's mother was a close friend and attendant ofCatherine of Aragon, and Catherine Parr was probably named after Queen Catherine, who was her godmother.[10]
She was born in 1512, probably in either late July or August.[c] It was once thought that Catherine Parr had been born atKendal Castle inWestmorland. However, at the time of her birth, Kendal Castle was already in very poor condition.[12] During her pregnancy, Maud Parr remained at court attending the Queen, and by necessity the Parr family were living in their townhouse atBlackfriars. Historians now consider it unlikely that Sir Thomas would have taken his pregnant wife on an arduous two-week journey north over bad roads to give birth in a crumbling castle in which neither of them seemed to spend much time.[13][14] Catherine's father died when she was young, and she was close to her mother as she grew up.[15]
Her initial education was similar to other well-born women, but she developed a passion for learning which would continue throughout her life. She was fluent inFrench,Italian, andLatin, and began learningSpanish after becoming queen.[16] Catherine was raised as a Catholic but likeAnne Boleyn at some point turned toProtestantism. According to biographerLinda Porter, the story that as a child Catherine could not tolerate sewing and often said to her mother that "my hands are ordained to touch crowns and sceptres, not spindles and needles" is very likelyapocryphal.[17]
In 1529, when she was seventeen, Catherine marriedSir Edward Burgh (pronounced and sometimes written asBorough), a grandson ofEdward Burgh, 2nd Baron Burgh.[18] Earlier biographies mistakenly reported that Catherine had married the older Burgh.[19] Following the 2nd Baron Burgh's death in December 1528, Catherine's father-in-law SirThomas Burgh was summoned toParliament in 1529 asBaron Burgh.[20]
Catherine's first husband was in his twenties and may have been in poor health. He served as afeoffee for Thomas Kiddell and as ajustice of the peace. His father also secured a joint patent in survivorship with his son for the office of steward of the manor of thesoke ofKirton in Lindsey. The younger Sir Edward Burgh died in the spring of 1533, not surviving to inherit the title of Baron Burgh.[14][21]
Following her first husband's death, Catherine Parr may have spent time with the Dowager Lady Strickland, Katherine Neville, who was the widow of Catherine's cousin Sir Walter Strickland, at the Stricklands' family residence ofSizergh Castle inWestmorland (now inCumbria). In the summer of 1534, Catherine married, secondly,John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer, her father's second cousin and a kinsman of Lady Strickland. With this marriage, Catherine became only the second woman in the Parr family to marry into the peerage.[22]
The twice-widowed Latimer was nearly twice Catherine's age. From his first marriage to Dorothy de Vere, sister ofJohn de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford, he had two children, John and Margaret. Although Latimer was in financial difficulties after he and his brothers had pursued legal action to claim the title ofEarl of Warwick, Catherine now had a home of her own, a title and a husband with position and influence in the north.[22]
Latimer was a supporter of theCatholic Church and had opposed the King's firstannulment, his subsequent marriage toAnne Boleyn, and the religious consequences. In October 1536, during theLincolnshire Rising, Catholic rebels appeared before the Latimers' home, threatening violence if Latimer did not join their efforts to reinstate the links between England and Rome. Catherine watched as her husband was dragged away. Between October 1536 and April 1537, Catherine lived alone in fear with her step-children, struggling to survive. It is probable that, in these uncertain times, Catherine's strong reaction against the rebellion strengthened her adherence to thereformedChurch of England.[22] In January 1537, during the uprising known as thePilgrimage of Grace, Catherine and her step-children were held hostage atSnape Castle inNorth Yorkshire. The rebels ransacked the house and sent word to Lord Latimer, who was returning from London, that if he did not return immediately they would kill his family. When Latimer returned to the castle, he managed to talk the rebels into releasing his family and leaving, but the aftermath was taxing on the whole family.[22]
The King andThomas Cromwell heard conflicting reports as to whether Latimer was a prisoner or a conspirator. As a conspirator, he could be found guilty oftreason, forfeiting his estates and leaving Catherine and her step-children penniless. The King himself wrote toThomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, pressing him to make sure Latimer would "condemn that villain [Robert]Aske and submit to our clemency".[23] Latimer complied. It is likely that Catherine's brotherWilliam Parr and her uncle,William Parr, 1st Baron Parr of Horton, who both fought against the rebellion, intervened to save Latimer's life.[22]
Although no charges were laid against him, Latimer's reputation, which reflected upon Catherine, was tarnished for the rest of his life. Over the next seven years, the family spent much of their time in the south. In 1542, the family spent time in London as Latimer attended parliament. Catherine visited her brotherWilliam Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton and her sisterAnne Parr, Countess of Pembroke at court. It was here that Catherine became acquainted with her future fourth husband, SirThomas Seymour. The atmosphere of the court was greatly different from that of the rural estates she knew. There, Catherine could find the latest trends, not only in religious matters, but in less weighty secular matters such as fashion and jewellery.[22]
By the winter of 1542, Lord Latimer's health had worsened. Catherine nursed her husband until his death in 1543. In his will, Catherine was named as guardian of his daughter, Margaret, and was put in charge of his affairs until his daughter's majority. Latimer left Catherine a life interest in the manor of Stowe inNorthamptonshire, eleven miles from Horton, and other properties.[24] He also bequeathed money for supporting his daughter, and in the case that his daughter did not marry within five years, Catherine was to take £30 a year out of the income to support her. Catherine was left a rich widow, but after Lord Latimer's death she faced the possibility of having to return north. It is likely that Catherine sincerely mourned her husband; she kept a remembrance of him, his New Testament with his name inscribed inside, until her death.[22]
Using her late mother's friendship with Henry's first queen,Catherine of Aragon, Catherine took the opportunity to renew her own friendship with the former queen's daughter,Lady Mary. By 16 February 1543, Catherine had established herself as part of Mary's household, and it was there that Catherine caught the attention of the King. Although she had begun a romantic friendship with Sir Thomas Seymour, the brother of the late queenJane Seymour, she saw it as her duty to accept Henry's proposal over Seymour's. Seymour was given a posting inBrussels to remove him from the King's court.[25]
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Catherine married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543 atHampton Court Palace. She was the first queen of England also to bequeen of Ireland following Henry'sadoption of the titleking of Ireland. She was also the third of his wives to be named Catherine, although she spelled it "Kateryn" in signatures. Catherine and her new husband shared several common royal and noble ancestors, making them multiple cousins. By Henry's mother and Catherine's father they were third cousins once removed, sharingRalph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, andLady Joan Beaufort (granddaughter ofEdward III), and by their fathers they were double fourth cousins once removed,[27] sharingThomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent (son ofJoan of Kent) andLady Alice FitzAlan (granddaughter ofHenry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster) andJohn of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (son of Edward III) andKatherine Swynford.
On becoming queen, Catherine installed her former stepdaughter, Margaret Neville, as her lady-in-waiting,[22] and gave her cousinMaud, Lady Lane and her stepson John's wife,Lucy Somerset, positions in her household.[28][22] Catherine was partially responsible for reconciling Henry with his daughters from his first two marriages, and also developed a good relationship with Henry's sonEdward. When she became queen, her uncleLord Parr of Horton became herLord Chamberlain.[29]
Parr'sPsalms or Prayers taken out of Holy Scriptures, was printed by the King's printer on 25 April 1544. It was an anonymous translation of a Latin work by BishopJohn Fisher (c. 1525) that had been reprinted on 18 April 1544. Fisher had been executed in 1535 for refusing to take theoath of supremacy, and his name does not appear on the title page. Parr's volume appeared as preparations for war were being finalised, and it served as a powerful piece of wartime propaganda designed to help Henry win the war againstFrance andScotland via the prayers of his people.[30] The volume contains seventeen "Psalms", focused largely on defeating enemies, and it concludes with "A Prayer for the King", derived from a prayer for theHoly Roman Emperor byGeorg Witzel,[30] and "A Prayer for Men to Say Entering into Battle", a translation of a prayer byErasmus.[31] Parr paid for deluxe gift copies of the book which were printed onvellum and distributed at court.[32] One deluxe copy has annotations by Henry VIII. The "Ninth Psalm" was set to pre-existing music byThomas Tallis and was likely performed as part of special wartime ceremony atSt. Paul's Cathedral on 22 May 1544.[33] Parr's "A Prayer for the King" had an important afterlife. In 1559, it was edited and inserted into theBook of Common Prayer, probably by Elizabeth I who was thenSupreme Governor of the Church of England.[34] This prayer remains in theBook of Common Prayer and is still used to pray for the British monarch by Anglican communities around the globe.[35]
Henry went on his last campaign to France from July to September 1544, leaving Catherine as hisregent. Because her regency council was composed of sympathetic members, including:Thomas Cranmer (theArchbishop of Canterbury),Lord Hertford and her uncle William Parr, Lord Parr of Horton (included at her particular request[36]), Catherine obtained effective control and was able to rule as she saw fit. She handled provision, finances, and musters for Henry's French campaign, signed five royal proclamations, and maintained constant contact with her lieutenant in the northern Marches,Lord Shrewsbury, over the complex and unstable situation with Scotland. It is thought that her actions as regent, together with her strength of character and noted dignity, and later religious convictions, greatly influenced her stepdaughter Lady Elizabeth (the future Elizabeth I).[37]
Parr's second publication,Prayers or Meditations, appeared in June 1545, and, like her first book, it was a bestseller.[38] In this case, Parr's compositional method was a complex one as she reworked the third book ofThomas à Kempis'sImitatio Christi to produce a monologue spoken by a generic Christian speaker.[39] The volume also circulated in manuscript and deluxe print copies. Princess Elizabeth translated the work into Latin, Italian and French as aNew Year's gift forHenry VIII in December 1545 and presented the manuscript in a beautiful hand-embroidered cover. The volume has been digitised by theBritish Library.
The Queen's religious views were viewed with suspicion by anti-Protestant officials such asStephen Gardiner (theBishop of Winchester) andLord Wriothesley (theLord Chancellor).[40] Although brought up as a Catholic, she later became sympathetic to and interested in the "New Faith". By the mid-1540s, she came under suspicion that she was actually aProtestant. This view is supported by the strong reformed ideas that she revealed after Henry's death, when her third book,Lamentation of a Sinner, was published in late 1547. In 1546, the Bishop of Winchester and Lord Wriothesley tried to turn the King against her. An arrest warrant was drawn up for her and rumours abounded across Europe that the King was attracted to her close friend, theDuchess of Suffolk.[40] However, she saw the warrant and managed to reconcile with the King after vowing that she had only argued about religion with him to take his mind off the suffering caused by his ulcerous leg.[41] The following day chancellor Wriothesley (with a detachment of the Guard), who was unaware of the reconciliation, tried to arrest her while she walked with Henry. The King angrily dismissed his chancellor.[42]
Shortly before he died, Henry made provision for an allowance of £7,000 per year for Catherine to support herself. He further ordered that, after his death, Catherine, though aqueen dowager, should be given the respect of a queen of England, as if he were still alive. After thecoronation of her stepson,Edward VI, on 31 January 1547, Catherine retired from court to her home atOld Manor inChelsea.[43]
Following Henry's death, Catherine's old love and the new king's uncle,Thomas Seymour (who was soon created 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley), returned to court. Catherine was quick to accept when Seymour renewed his suit of marriage. Since only four months had passed since the death of King Henry, Seymour knew that the Regency council would not agree to a petition for the Queen Dowager to marry so soon. Sometime near the end of May, Catherine and Seymour married in secret.[44] King Edward VI and the council were not informed of the union for several months. When their union became public knowledge, it caused a minor scandal. The King and Lady Mary were very much displeased by the union. After being censured and reprimanded by the council, Seymour wrote to the Lady Mary asking her to intervene on his behalf. Mary became furious at his forwardness and tasteless actions and refused to help. Mary even went as far as asking her half-sister, Lady Elizabeth, not to interact with Queen Catherine any further.[45]
During this time, Catherine began having altercations with her brother-in-law,Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. Like Thomas, Edward was the King's uncle, and was also the Lord Protector. A rivalry developed between Catherine and his wife, her own former lady-in-waiting,Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, which became particularly acute over the matter of Catherine's jewels.[46] The Duchess argued that Catherine, as queen dowager, was no longer entitled to wear the jewels belonging to the wife of the king. Instead she, as the wife of the protector, should be the one to wear them. The whole ordeal left her relationship with Catherine permanently damaged; the relationship between the two Seymour brothers also worsened as a result, since Thomas saw the whole dispute as a personal attack by his brother on his social standing.[45]
In November 1547, Catherine published her third book,The Lamentation of a Sinner.[47] The book promoted the Protestant concept ofjustification by faith alone, which the Catholic Church deemed to be heresy. It was sponsored byKatherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, and by William Parr (Catherine's brother), andWilliam Cecil, Elizabeth I's future chief minister, wrote the preface. In 1544 or 1545, Parr had started to organise an English translation of Erasmus'sParaphrases Upon the New Testament, and the massive volume was finally printed in January 1548. Parr had enlistedNicholas Udall,Thomas Keyes and Mary Tudor to translate different sections and she may have produced the paraphrase of Matthew. In July 1547 the Edwardian state ordered every parish to obtain a copy and many generations of literate parishioners would have encountered lengthy dedications praising Parr's learning, her commitment to the vernacular Bible, and her role in the English reformation.[48][31] Parr owned many books and she participated in the cultural practice of writing in her books and signing books that belonged to others.[49]
At the age of 35, Catherine became pregnant. This pregnancy was a surprise, as Catherine had not conceived during her first three marriages. During this time, Seymour began to take an interest in Lady Elizabeth. Seymour had reputedly plotted to marry her before marrying Catherine, and it was reported later that Catherine discovered the two in an embrace. On a few occasions before the situation risked getting completely out of hand, according to thedeposition ofKat Ashley, Catherine appears not only to have acquiesced in episodes ofhorseplay, but actually to have assisted her husband.[50] Whatever actually happened, Elizabeth was sent away in May 1548 to stay with SirAnthony Denny's household atCheshunt and never saw her beloved stepmother again, although the two corresponded. Elizabeth immediately wrote a letter to the Queen and Seymour after she left Chelsea. The letter demonstrates a sort of remorse.[51]
Kat Ashley, whose deposition was given after Catherine had died and Seymour had been arrested for another attempt at marrying Lady Elizabeth, had developed a crush on Seymour during her time at Chelsea and encouraged her charge to "play along". At one point she even made a comment at how lucky Elizabeth would have been to have a husband like Seymour.[52] Ashley even told Lady Elizabeth that Seymour had confided his sentiments to her of wanting to marry Elizabeth before Catherine.[53] After Catherine's death, Ashley strongly encouraged Elizabeth to write to Seymour offering her condolences; to "comfort him of his sorrow...for he would think great kindness therein."[53]
In June 1548, Catherine, accompanied byLady Jane Grey, moved toSudeley Castle in Gloucestershire. The dowager queen promised to provide education for her. It was there that Catherine would spend the last few months of her pregnancy and the last summer of her life.[54]
Catherine gave birth to her only child, a daughter,Mary Seymour, named after Catherine's stepdaughter Mary, on 30 August 1548. Catherine died on 5 September 1548, at Sudeley Castle, from what is thought to have been "childbed fever".[8][9][55] This illness was common due to the lack of hygiene around childbirth.[56]
Catherine's funeral was held on 7 September 1548.[1] It was the first Protestant funeral held in English.[9] Her chief mourner was Lady Jane Grey. She was buried in St. Mary's Chapel on the grounds of Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, England.
Thomas Seymour was beheaded for treason on 20 March 1549 and Mary Seymour was taken to live with theDowager Duchess of Suffolk, a close friend of Catherine's. Catherine's other jewels were kept in a coffer with five drawers at Sudeley and this was sent to theTower of London on 20 April 1549, and her clothes and papers followed in May.[57] After a year and a half, on 17 March 1550, Mary's property was restored to her by theRestitution of Mary Seymour Act 1549 (3 & 4 Edw. 6. c. 14), easing the burden of the infant's household on the Duchess. The last mention of Mary Seymour on record is on her second birthday, and although stories circulated that she eventually married and had children, most historians believe she died as a child atGrimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire.[58]
During theEnglish Civil War,Sudeley Castle was used as a base by KingCharles I, leading to its siege and sack byParliamentarians in January 1643, during which Catherine's grave was probably disturbed and her monument destroyed. Contemporary writerBruno Ryves reported that:
"There is in the castle a goodly fair church, here they dug up the graves, and disturb the ashes of the dead, they break down the monuments of the Chandoses".[59]
The castle changed hands several times during the war, suffering a second siege, before beingslighted in 1649, leading to it being largely abandoned, and the royal grave lost.
Catherine's presence at the castle was first rediscovered by the antiquarian Rev. Huggett when researching at theCollege of Arms, passing his findings ontoGeorge Pitt, 1st Baron Rivers, the owner of the castle in 1768.[60]
Joseph Lucas, a member of the local gentry who dwelled in the outer court of the castle, renting it from Baron Rivers, was aware of Huggett's work and searched for the lost grave, discovering it among the ruins of the chapel in 1782. An account of the discovery was later published inNotes and Queries by the daughter of a Mr. Brooks, who had been present at the discovery.
"In the summer of the year 1782 the earth in which Qu. K. Par lay inter'd was removed, and at the depth of about two feet (or very little more) her leaden coffin or coffin was found quite whole... Mr. Jno Lucas had the curiosity to rip up the top of the coffin, expecting to discover within it only the bones of the deceased, but to his great surprise found the whole body wrapped in 6 or 7 seer cloth linen, entire and uncorrupted... his unwarranted curiosity led him to make an incision through the seer cloth which covered one of the arms of the corpse, the flesh of which at the time was white and moist".[61]
The coffin was reopened in 1783, 1784, 1786; and in 1792, when local vandals broke into the coffin and threw the corpse in a rubbish heap, leading to Mr. Lucas reinterring the body in a hidden, walled grave.[61]
The first time the coffin had been reopened by John Lucas had Catherine left with a piece of her hair missing, a tooth missing and parts of the fabric to her clothing missing. John used this evidence to tell the locals about his discovery which led to the tomb being reopened repeatedly.[62]
The last time the coffin was opened was in 1817 when the local rector decided to move it to the crypt under the chapel. When opening it this final time it was found the body had been reduced to a skeleton, and much of the coffin filled with ivy.[63]
During these various openings of the coffin, fragments of Catherine's dress and locks of her hair were collected, one of which was gifted to Elizabeth Hamilton[clarification needed].[64] The majority of these items are now on display at Sudeley Castle.
The coffin was last moved in 1861 to its final location in the fully restored chapel, under a canopied neo-Gothic tomb designed by SirGeorge Gilbert Scott, with a recumbent marble figure byJohn Birnie Philip.[65]
The full-length portrait of Catherine Parr by Master John in theNational Portrait Gallery was for many years thought to representLady Jane Grey. The painting has recently been re-identified as Catherine Parr, with whose name it was originally associated. The full-length format was very rare in portraits of this date, and was usually used only for very important sitters. Lady Jane Grey, although of royal blood, was a relatively obscure child of eight when this was painted (c. 1545); it was to be another eight years before the short-lived attempt at placing her on the throne. The distinctive crown-shaped jewel the sitter wears can be traced to an inventory of jewels that belonged to Catherine Parr, and the cameo beads appear to have belonged toCatherine Howard, from whom they would have passed to her successor as queen.[66][67][68]
Another contemporary painting of Catherine Parr by Master John was likely painted in c.1547–1548, and in the past mistakenly labelled as Mary I or Lady Jane Grey. The painting, from the collection of the earls of Jersey, was thought to be lost in a fire by 1969, but was auctioned at Sotheby's in July 2023.[69]
The popular myth that Catherine Parr acted more as her husband's nurse than his wife was born in the 19th century from the work of Victorian moralist and proto-feministAgnes Strickland.[70]David Starkey challenged this assumption in his bookSix Wives, in which he points out that such a situation would have been vaguely obscene to the Tudors—given that Henry had a huge staff of physicians waiting on him hand and foot, and Catherine was expected to live up to the heavy expectations of queenly dignity.[71]
Catherine's good sense, moral rectitude, compassion, firm religious commitment, and strong sense of loyalty and devotion have earned her many admirers among historians. These include Starkey, feminist activist Karen Lindsey, LadyAntonia Fraser,Alison Weir,Carolly Erickson,Alison Plowden, Susan James and Linda Porter. Biographers have described her as strong-willed and outspoken, physically desirable, susceptible (like Queen Elizabeth) to roguish charm, and even willing to resort to obscene language if the occasion suited.[72]
| English royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant Title last held by Catherine Howard | Queen consort of England 12 July 1543 – 28 January 1547 | Vacant Title next held by Anne of Denmark |
| Crown of Ireland Act 1542 | Queen consort of Ireland 12 July 1543 – 28 January 1547 | |
