Catherine Howard

HouseHowardFatherLord Edmund HowardMotherJoyce CulpeperSignature

Catherine Howard (c. 1523 – 13 February 1542), also spelt Katheryn Howard,^[b] was Queen of England from 1540 until 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the second wife of Henry VIII), and the niece of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Thomas Howard was a prominent politician at Henry's court, and he secured her a place in the household of Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, where she caught the King's interest. She married him on 28 July 1540 at Oatlands Palace in Surrey, just 19 days after the annulment of his marriage to Anne. He was 49, and she was between 15 and 21 years old, though it is widely accepted that she was 17 at the time of her marriage to Henry VIII.

Catherine was stripped of her title as queen in November 1541 and beheaded three months later on the grounds of treason for committing adultery with her distant cousin, Thomas Culpeper.

Ancestry

Catherine had an aristocratic ancestry as a granddaughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (1443 – 1524), but her father, Lord Edmund Howard, was not wealthy, being the third son of his father – under the rules of primogeniture, the eldest son inherited all of the father's estate.

Catherine's mother, Joyce Culpeper, already had five children from her first husband, Ralph Leigh (c. 1476 – 1509) when she married Lord Edmund Howard, and they had another six together, Catherine being about her mother's tenth child. With little to sustain the family, her father often had to beg for the help of his more affluent relatives.

Her father's sister, Elizabeth Howard, was the mother of Anne Boleyn. Therefore, Catherine Howard was the first cousin of Anne Boleyn, and the first cousin once removed of Lady Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I), Anne's daughter by Henry VIII. She also was the second cousin of Jane Seymour, as her grandmother Elizabeth Tilney was the sister of Seymour's grandmother, Anne Say.^[1]

After Catherine's mother died in 1528, her father married two more times. In 1531, he was appointed Controller of Calais.^[2] He was dismissed from his post in 1539, and died in March 1539. Catherine was the third of Henry VIII's wives to have been a member of the English nobility or gentry; Catherine of Aragon^[3] and Anne of Cleves^[4] were royalty from continental Europe.

Early life

Catherine was born in Lambeth in or about 1523, although the exact date is unknown.^[5][6] An estimated date has been determined from the wills of family members, the known birth order of her and her siblings in various dated records, and the age range of her ladies-in-waiting, being in the same age group and often, same past household of the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, where Catherine would spend a large portion of her childhood and adolescence. ^[7]

Unfortunately for Catherine, she did not begin with a good start in life and this was mostly caused by the routinely poor decision making of her father, Edmund Howard. Being the third son of a prominent family, his opportunities were limited to the generosity of his wealthier family members and his own ability to pave his way. Sadly, he was both overly prideful and a spendthrift. His insult to the King and further events would continue to devolve and slowly ensnare him, and by extension, his family. Edmund developed a gambling addiction that would threaten him with debtors prison and on multiple occasions, he would go into hiding. In his desperate 1527 letter to Wolsey he states, "Humbly I beseech your grace to be my good lord, for without your gracious help I am utterly undone. Sir, so it is that I am so far in danger of the King's Laws by reason of the debt that I am in, that I dare not go abroad, nor come in mine own house, and am fain to absent me from my wife and my poor children... Sir there is no help but, through your grace and your good mediation to the King's Grace."^[8]

If Cardinal Wolsey did assist the family in response to the letter written in 1527, which there is little evidence of, the funds arrived piecemeal and were probably not enough. The lowest point for the family came between 1524 and 1531, which roughly corresponds with Catherine Howard's birth and early years. The image all of this paints is of a girl likely neglected and potentially unwanted, as her birth meant a future dowry to come up with money for. Generally, her young life was filled with uncertainty and unstable. As such, it is more understandable as to why she has been often described as barely literate and generally unlearned. She clearly was not a high priority for her father, nor was her education or future prospects. In 1531, help came to Catherine indirectly through the intervention of her cousin and soon-to-be queen, Anne Boleyn, whom Edmund approached regarding a position; he was assigned to be the Comptroller at Calais.^[9]

Whether due to her mother Joyce's death in about 1528, her family's financial problems, or Catherine nearing the age suitable for wardship, Catherine's family was broken up in 1531, when she was about 8 years of age. Two of her older half-sisters were married off, and both Catherine and her brother Henry were sent to be wards of Agnes Howard, her step-grandmother and the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. The duchess managed large households at Chesworth House in Horsham, Sussex, and at Norfolk House in Lambeth where dozens of attendants, along with her many wards—usually the children of aristocratic but poor relatives—resided.^[10] While sending young children to be educated and trained in aristocratic households was common among European nobles at the time, supervision at both Chesworth House and Lambeth was apparently lax. The Dowager Duchess was often at Court and seems to have had little direct involvement in the upbringing of her wards and young female attendants.^[11][12][13]

In the Duchess's household at Horsham, in around 1536, Catherine began music lessons with two teachers, one of whom was Henry Mannox, and they began a relationship. Mannox's exact age at the time is unknown. It has recently been stated that he was in his late thirties, perhaps 36, but this is not supported by Catherine's biographers. Evidence exists that Mannox was not yet married, and it would have been highly unusual for someone from his background at the time to not be married by his mid-thirties. He married sometime in the late 1530s, perhaps in 1539, and there is also some evidence that he was the same age as two other men serving in the household, including his cousin Edward Waldegrave, who was in his late teens or early twenties between 1536 and 1538. This evidence indicates that Mannox too was in his early to mid-twenties in 1536.^[14]

The details and dates of this relationship are debated among modern historians. The most popular theory, first put forward in 2004 by Retha Warnicke, was that the relationship between them was abusive, with Mannox grooming and preying on Catherine between 1536 and 1538; this is expanded upon in detail by Conor Byrne.^[15] Other biographers, like Gareth Russell, believe that Mannox's interactions with Catherine took place over a much shorter time, that Mannox was roughly the same age as her, but that "their relationship was nonetheless inappropriate, on several levels." He believes Catherine was increasingly repulsed by Mannox's pressure to have sex with her and was angered by his gossiping with servants about the details of what had gone on between them.^[16]

Mannox and Catherine both confessed during her adultery inquisitions as the wife of King Henry that they had engaged in sexual contact, but not actual coitus. When questioned, Catherine was quoted as saying, "At the flattering and fair persuasions of Mannox, 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."^[17][18]

Catherine severed contact with Mannox in 1538, most likely in the spring.^[19] It is not true, as is sometimes stated, that this was because she began to spend more time at the Dowager Duchess's mansion in Lambeth, as Lambeth was Mannox's home parish and he also married here, perhaps in 1538 or 1539. He was still living in Lambeth in 1541.^[20] Shortly afterward, Catherine was pursued by Francis Dereham, a secretary of the Dowager Duchess. They allegedly became lovers, addressing each other as "husband" and "wife". Dereham also entrusted Catherine with various wifely duties, such as keeping his money when he was away on business. Many of Catherine's roommates among the Dowager Duchess's maids of honour and attendants knew of the relationship, which apparently ended in 1539 when the Dowager Duchess found out. Despite this, Catherine and Dereham may have parted with intentions to marry upon his return from Ireland, agreeing to a precontract of marriage. If indeed they exchanged vows before having sexual intercourse, they would have been considered married in the eyes of the Church.^[17]

Arrival at court

Catherine's uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, found her a place at Court in the household of the King's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.^[21] As a young and attractive lady-in-waiting, Catherine quickly caught the eye of multiple men, including the King and Thomas Culpeper. In the early stages of her time at court, and prior to the arrival of Anne of Cleves, the relationship between the King and Catherine has been little remarked upon. He seems to have found her attractive, and whenever they happened to be in each other's company they publicly flirted, but little else appears to have happened. As Anne arrived and the King came to show little interest in her, an opportunity for Catherine slowly began to present itself.^[22]

Prior to this point, Catherine and Thomas Culpeper had slowly entered into a quasi-relationship and one that was not sexual – although, from later testimony, Culpeper expected it to soon become so, also telling Catherine that he loved her (likely more lust than actual love). Catherine rejected this, and in response he moved onto another woman within the Queen's household. This deeply upset Catherine, who does appear to have had some level of feelings for him at this time, for on one occasion she broke down in tears in front of her fellow maids of honor. Prior to this instance, it was she who controlled how long her relationships lasted and when they ended. During this time, word reached back to Francis Dereham of the rumored soon-to-be marriage between the pair, and he arrived at court to dispute this with them both. After being, again, told off by Catherine, he returned to the dowager duchess's household, which he requested to leave, being Catherine was no longer there. Believing this desperation was temporary and soon to blow over, Agnes Howard denied this request.^[23]

The King had displayed little interest in Anne from the beginning, but some historians have argued that, with Thomas Cromwell failing to find a new match, Norfolk saw an opportunity. The Howards may have sought to recreate the influence gained during Anne Boleyn's reign as queen consort. According to Nicholas Sander, the religiously conservative Howard family may have seen Catherine as a figurehead for their fight by expressed determination to restore Roman Catholicism to England. Catholic bishop Stephen Gardiner entertained the couple at Winchester Palace with "feastings".^[24] However, Russell does not accept this interpretation.^[25]

As the King's interest in Catherine grew, so did the house of Norfolk's influence. Her youth, prettiness and vivacity were captivating for the middle-aged sovereign, who claimed he had never known "the like to any woman". Within months of her arrival at court, Henry bestowed gifts of land and expensive cloth upon Catherine. The first administrative evidence of this was a grant made on 24 April 1540.^[26] Henry called her his 'very jewel of womanhood' (that he called her his 'rose without a thorn' is likely a myth).^[27] The French ambassador, Charles de Marillac, thought her "delightful". Holbein's portrait showed a young auburn-haired girl with a characteristically hooked Howard nose; Catherine was said to have a "gentle, earnest face", ^[28], while Elisabeth and Agnes Strickland, who co-authored the Victorian-era biography of Kathryn Howard in "The Lives of the Queens of England: Volume IV", where she is described as petite in stature, but of a full frame.

Marriage