Source:
Original letters illustrative of English history, series 1, volume 1, page 78, edited by Henry Ellis, 1825
Above: Catherine of Aragon, queen consort of England, painted by Michael Sittow.
Above: Thomas Wolsey as cardinal, artist unknown.
Catherine of Aragon (born December 16, 1485, died January 7, 1536) was Queen of England from June 1509 until May 1533 as the first wife of King Henry VIII; she was previously Princess of Wales as the wife of Henry's older brother Arthur.
The daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, Catherine was three years old when she was betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the English throne. They married in 1501, but Arthur died five months later. Catherine held the position of ambassador of the Aragonese crown to England in 1507, the first known female ambassador in European history. She subsequently married Arthur's younger brother, the recently ascended King Henry VIII, in 1509. For six months in 1513, Catherine served as regent of England while Henry was in France. During that time the English crushed and defeated the Scottish at the Battle of Flodden, an event in which Catherine played an important part with an emotional speech about English courage.
By 1525, Henry was infatuated with Anne Boleyn and dissatisfied that his marriage to Catherine had produced no surviving sons, leaving their daughter and only surviving child, the future Queen Mary I, as heir presumptive at a time when there was no established precedent for a woman on the throne. He sought to have their marriage annulled, setting in motion a chain of events that led to England's schism with the Catholic Church. When Pope Clement VII refused to annul the marriage, Henry defied him by assuming supremacy over religious matters. In 1533 the marriage was consequently declared null and void, and Henry married Anne on the judgement of clergy in England, without reference to the Pope. Catherine refused to accept Henry as supreme head of the Church of England and considered herself the King's rightful wife and queen, attracting much popular sympathy. Despite this, she was acknowledged only as dowager princess of Wales by Henry. After he banished her from court, Catherine lived out the remainder of her life at Kimbolton Castle, and died there from cancer on January 7, 1536. The English people held Catherine in high esteem, and her death set off tremendous mourning.
The Education of a Christian Woman, by Juan Luis Vives, controversial at the time of its release for promoting the idea that women have the right to an education, was commissioned by and dedicated to Catherine in 1523. Such was her impression on people that even her enemy, Thomas Cromwell, said of her: "If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History." Catherine successfully appealed for the lives of the rebels involved in the Evil May Day, for the sake of their families. She also won widespread admiration by starting an extensive programme for the relief of the poor. She was a patron of Renaissance humanism, and a friend of the great scholars Erasmus of Rotterdam and Thomas More.
The letter:
Maister Almoner, thinking that the Kings departing from Calays shal cause that I shal not soo often here from his Grace for the grete besinesse in his iorney that every day he shalhave, I send now my servant to bringe me ... worde of the King, and he shal tarye ther til a nother commeth and thi.. ay I shal here every weke fromthens, and soo I pray you to take the p... wt every of my messengers to write to me of the kings helthe, and w... he entendeth to doo, for whan ye bee soo nere our enemyes I shalbe never in r... til I see often lettres from you; and doing this ye shal geve me cause to thanke you, and I shal knowe that the mynde that ye have had ever to me contynueth stil, as my trust alwayes hath been. The brief that the Pope sent to the King I was veray gladde to see, and I shalbe more to here that he is the meane either to make an honorable peax for the King, or ells help on his part asmoche as he can, knowing that al the besinesse that the King hath was furst the cause of the Churche, and with this and th'emperor togeder I trust to God that the King shal come home shortly with as grete victorye as any Prince in the worlde; and this I pray God sende hym without nede of any other Prince. Mr. Almoner, touching Frauncesse de Cassery's matier, I thanke you for your labor therin; true it is she was my Woman befor she was maryed, but now syn she caste hir self away I have noo mor charge of hir. For veray pitie to see hir loste I prayed you in Caunterbury to finde the meanes to sende hir home into hir cuntrey. Now ye thinke that with my lettre of recommendacion to the Duchesse of Savoye she shalbe content to take hir into hir service. This Mr. Almoner is not mete for hir, for she is soo perillous a Woman that it shalbe daungerous to put hir in a straunge House. And ye wol doo soo moche for me to make h.. goo hens by the way with thambassador of the King my fader, it shuld bee to me a grete pleasr, and with that ye shal binde me to you mor than ever I was. Fromhens I have noo thing to write to you. But every body her is in good h... thanked bee God, and the counsail veray diligent in al things concernyng thexpedicion of the Kings seruice. And ye wol doo somoche to pray the King ..... bee soo good lord as to write to thaym that he is enformed by me, soo well .... ng is doon by thaym that he is veray wel content therwt and geve thaym ..... it, bidding thaym soo to contynue. And with this I make an ende. At R........ xxvith day of July.
... lmoner after the writing of this Lettre my lord Admirall sent hid.. ...... whiche was taken wt his ship and brought to hym as the said ......... from Depe towards Flaunders, and he hath shewe ....... things as bee specifyed in a bille .... e a true man in his words. Enfourme the K........ his pleasr shalbe, for I am assured the same sh ......
KATHERINA THE QWENE.
Notes: thi.. ay = this way.
p... = pains.
w... = what.
r... = rest.
h.. = her.
h.. = health.
King ..... = king's grace to.
..... it = thanks for it.
At R........ = At Richemond the.
... lmoner = Mr. Almoner.
hid.. = hider.
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