Catherine of Aragon: Education, Upbringing, and Influence

Catherine of Aragon (historical Spanish: Catharina, now: Catalina; 16 December 1485 - 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII. Her early life and education shaped her into a figure who would not only influence the English court but also leave a lasting impact on the course of English history.

Early Life and Family Background

Born Catalina in Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid, on December 16, 1485, Catherine of Aragon was the youngest daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the monarchs who had united Spain. She was their fifth surviving child. Named for her maternal English great-grandmother, Catherine of Lancaster, her lineage connected her to the English royal house. On her maternal side, she was descended from the House of Lancaster, an English royal house; her great-grandmother Catherine of Lancaster, after whom she was named, and her great-great-grandmother Philippa of Lancaster were both daughters of John of Gaunt and granddaughters of Edward III of England.

Her sisters were expected to forge marriage alliances with other European powers. The unification of Spain led Ferdinand and Isabella to use their children as marital pawns on the chessboard of European diplomacy. Their first- and third-born daughters wed Portuguese kings. The second daughter and the only son wed Austrian Habsburgs.

Education and Intellectual Development

Queen Isabella considered her own education deficient and ensured that Catherine received a thorough and comprehensive education. For the first fifteen years of her life, she remained under the tutelage of her mother, Queen Isabella, who considered her own education so deficient that she had Catherine tutored by scholars Peter Martyr and Antonio and Alessandro Geraldini. Catherine was educated by a tutor, Alessandro Geraldini, who was a clerk in Holy Orders. She was instructed in the Bible, Latin histories, and Roman and Christian writers. Catherine was instructed in arithmetic, canon and civil law, classical literature, genealogy and heraldry, history, philosophy, religion, and theology. She spoke fluent classical Latin, in addition to Spanish; studied heraldry, genealogy, and civil and canon law; and gained proficiency in music, dancing, drawing, and the domestic arts of spinning, weaving, and embroidery. Katharine wrote and spoke it fluently.

This education went beyond traditional domestic skills. Catherine learned to speak, read, and write in Castilian Spanish and Latin, and spoke French and Greek. She had a strong religious upbringing and developed her Roman Catholic faith that would play a major role in later life. Catherine’s greatest contribution to learning was as a pioneer of women’s education.

Read also: Distinguished Wellesley Women

Betrothal and Marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales

At an early age, Catherine was considered a suitable wife for Arthur, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the English throne, due to the English ancestry she inherited from her mother. Theoretically, by means of her mother, Catherine had a stronger legitimate claim to the English throne than King Henry VII himself through the first two wives of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster: Blanche of Lancaster and Constance of Castile. In contrast, Henry VII was the descendant of Gaunt's third marriage to Katherine Swynford, whose children were born out of wedlock and legitimised only after the death of Constance and the marriage of John to Katherine. The children of John and Katherine, while legitimised, were barred from inheriting the English throne, a stricture that was ignored in later generations.

The alliance of Catherine and Arthur validated the House of Tudor in the eyes of European royalty and strengthened the Tudor claim to the English throne via Catherine of Aragon's ancestry. It would have given a male heir an indisputable claim to the throne.

Catherine and Arthur were first engaged in 1497 and then married in 1499. Then-15-year-old Catherine departed from A Coruña on 17 August 1501 and met Arthur on 4 November at Dogmersfield in Hampshire. Catherine’s London arrival on November 12, 1501, and her official marriage to Prince Arthur two days later were greatly acclaimed by the English people. They were married at St Paul’s Cathedral on 14 November 1501, followed by a week of royal celebrations and tournaments. The usually parsimonious Henry VII gave Catherine and Arthur a lavish wedding at St. Paul’s Cathedral. For Henry VII, the Spanish marriage publicly legitimatized the Tudor Dynasty in England; contributed to the encirclement of England’s enemy, France; and provided King Henry with a substantial dowry to use for his own political purposes.

Once married, Arthur was sent to Ludlow Castle on the borders of Wales to preside over the Council of Wales and the Marches, as was his duty as Prince of Wales, and his bride accompanied him. A few months later, they both became ill, possibly with the sweating sickness, which was sweeping the area. Arthur died suddenly of a mysterious illness on 2 April 1502, leaving Katherine a teenage widow. The cause of death remains unknown, but speculation has centered on tuberculosis or an undetermined plague. Catherine herself was too ill to attend her husband’s funeral and burial at Worcester Cathedral. In widowhood, the young Catherine, now princess dowager of Wales, confessed to the bishop of Salisbury, Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio, that her marriage had never been consummated. The couple had shared the marital bed only seven times.

Years of Widowhood and Political Intrigue

During her years of her widowhood, 1502 to 1509, Catherine found herself a political pawn used by both her father and her father-in-law. Catherine was first pledged in marriage to and then repudiated by both her widower father-in-law, Henry VII, and Henry VII’s second son, Prince Henry. At issue was whether or not Catherine was still a virgin. If Catherine’s marriage to Arthur had been consummated, an impediment of affinity prevented her from marrying another member of Prince Arthur’s family. granted a dispensation and waived the issue of affinity, even if the marriage had been consummated.

Catherine’s status remained unclear, however, because 100,000 crowns of her dowry remained unpaid by her father, who continuously pleaded poverty, and because her father-in-law repeatedly reevaluated Catherine’s value as a future English royal bride in comparison with royal princesses in France and Austria. She lived as a virtual prisoner at Durham House in London. Some of the letters she wrote to her father complaining of her treatment have survived. In one of these letters she tells him that "I choose what I believe, and say nothing. For I am not as simple as I may seem." She had little money and struggled to cope, as she had to support her ladies-in-waiting as well as herself. Marriage to Arthur's brother depended on the Pope granting a dispensation because canon law forbade a man to marry his brother's widow.

Marriage to Henry VIII and Reign as Queen

Catherine's second wedding took place on 11 June 1509, seven years after Prince Arthur's death. She married Henry VIII, who had only just acceded to the throne, in a private ceremony in the church of the Observant Friars outside Greenwich Palace. On Saturday 23 June 1509, the traditional eve-of-coronation procession to Westminster Abbey was greeted by a large and enthusiastic crowd. As was the custom, the couple spent the night before their coronation at the Tower of London. On Midsummer's Day, Sunday, 24 June 1509, Henry VIII and Catherine were anointed and crowned together by the Archbishop of Canterbury at a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey. The coronation was followed by a banquet in Westminster Hall. Many new Knights of the Bath were created in honour of the coronation.

In that month that followed, many social occasions presented the new Queen to the English public. Henry VIII’s change of attitude toward Catherine was probably caused by his desire to retain her dowry and to keep Spain allied against France, as well as his need for an adult wife to found a dynasty. A number of English gentlewomen were appointed to be ready to welcome her on arrival in October 1501. Catherine settled quickly into her new role as an English Princess, wife, and future Queen. Accompanying Arthur on his duties as Prince of Wales, the couple left for Ludlow in December 1501.

Political Influence and Regency

On 11 June 1513, Henry appointed Catherine Regent in England with the titles "Governor of the Realm and Captain General", while he went to France on a military campaign. In fact, Henry trusted Katherine to act as regent while he was fighting in France. When Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville, was captured at Thérouanne, Henry sent him to stay in Catherine's household. She wrote to Wolsey that she and her council would prefer the Duke to stay in the Tower of London as the Scots were "so busy as they now be" and she added her prayers for "God to sende us as good lukke against the Scotts, as the King hath ther."

The war with Scotland occupied her subjects, and she was "horrible busy with making standards, banners, and badges" at Richmond Palace. In 1513, she oversaw a national crisis when James IV of Scotland tried to invade England, even leaving the safety of London to ride north with over 1,500 sets of armour for her troops. After James’ defeat at the Battle of Flodden, Katherine sent her husband the Scottish King’s bloodied cloak.

As Queen, Katherine excelled as an expert hostess. She supervised in royal business. Not only a victorious regent, Catherine was also a skilled diplomat. In 1507, while still waiting for Henry to come of age, Catherine’s father appointed her as his ambassador to England, writing coded letters and negotiating with Henry VII.

Patronage of Arts, Scholarship, and Female Education

Catherine's religious dedication increased as she became older, as did her interest in academics. She continued to broaden her knowledge and provide training for her daughter, Mary. opened to scholars, and befriended English writers. Queen Catherine contributed money to lectureships, supported poor scholars, and endowed the colleges of Ipswich and Oxford. Catherine valued education throughout her life and was well known as a patron of religious literature. She supported institutions such as Queen’s College Cambridge and was admired by respected scholars such as Sir Thomas More and Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Education among women became fashionable, partly because of Catherine's influence. Catherine commissioned The Education of a Christian Woman by Juan Luis Vives, who dedicated the book, controversial at the time, to the Queen in 1523. Katherine was also a good friend and patron of Juan Luis Vives, a noted scholar who promoted women’s education. Catherine’s greatest contribution to learning was as a pioneer of women’s education.

The Quest for a Male Heir and the King's Great Matter

As Queen, Katherine was expected to provide Henry with male heirs. She did give birth to a son, Prince Henry Duke of Cornwall, in 1511; the christening celebrations included a lavish tournament at Westminster. But tragedy struck. The more important issue facing Catherine was her failure to produce a living male heir. The number of pregnancies and miscarriages suffered by Catherine has been the subject of much debate. In 1516, Katherine gave birth to Princess Mary (the future Mary I) who was her only child to survive to adulthood. Catherine adored her daughter and she saw to Mary's education as her mother did for her. After years of grief, the Queen endured her last pregnancy in 1518.

By 1526, Henry was infatuated with Anne Boleyn and dissatisfied that his marriage to Catherine had produced no surviving sons, leaving their daughter Mary as heir presumptive at a time when there was no established precedent for a woman on the throne. In 1525, Henry VIII became enamoured of Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine; Anne was between ten and seventeen years younger than Henry, being born between 1501 and 1507. Henry began pursuing her; Catherine was no longer able to bear children by this time.

Exactly what caused Henry to announce his intention to divorce Catherine remains a topic of considerable debate. Henry’s May, 1527, decision to challenge the validity of his marriage to Catherine is known as the King’s Great Matter. Using the biblical passages Leviticus 20:21 and Deuteronomy 25:5-7, Henry claimed that a man marrying his brother’s wife did so against God’s will.

Henry began to believe that his marriage was cursed and sought confirmation from the Bible, which he interpreted to say that if a man marries his brother's wife, the couple will be childless. Even if her marriage to Arthur had not been consummated (and Catherine would insist to her dying day that she had come to Henry's bed a virgin), Henry's interpretation of that biblical passage meant that their marriage had been wrong in the eyes of God. Whether the pope at the time of Henry and Catherine's marriage had the right to overrule Henry's claimed scriptural impediment would become a hot topic in Henry's campaign to wrest an annulment from the present Pope. It is possible that the idea of annulment had been suggested to Henry much earlier than this, and is highly probable that it was motivated by his desire for a son. It soon became the one absorbing object of Henry's desires to secure an annulment.

The Annulment Crisis and the English Reformation

He sought to have their marriage annulled, setting in motion a chain of events that led to England's schism with the Catholic Church. Henry’s actions divided the Roman church in England. Catherine was defiant when it was suggested that she quietly retire to a nunnery, saying: "God never called me to a nunnery. I am the King's true and legitimate wife." He set his hopes upon an appeal to the Holy See, acting independently of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, whom he told nothing of his plans. As the pope was, at that time, the prisoner of Catherine's nephew Emperor Charles V following the Sack of Rome in May 1527, Knight had difficulty in obtaining access to him. In the end, Henry's envoy had to return without accomplishing much.

Wolsey went so far as to convene an ecclesiastical court in England with a representative of the Pope presiding, and Henry and Catherine herself in attendance. The Pope had no intention of allowing a decision to be reached in England, and his legate was recalled. The Pope forbade Henry to marry again before a decision was given in Rome. Wolsey had failed and was dismissed from public office in 1529. Wolsey then began a secret plot to have Anne Boleyn forced into exile and began communicating with the Pope to that end. When Henry decided to annul his marriage to Catherine, John Fisher became her most trusted counsellor and one of her chief supporters. He appeared in the legates' court on her behalf, where he shocked people with the directness of his language, and by declaring that, like John the Baptist, he was ready to die on behalf of the indissolubility of marriage. Henry was so enraged by this that he wrote a long Latin address to the legates in answer to Fisher's speech. After years of investigation, including seeking out Katherine’s former servant, Catalina of Motril, the Pope refused to grant Henry’s annulment.

On March 6, 1529, Catherine appealed to Rome, asking the pope to take her case. Her only appearance before the Blackfriars Court on May 31, 1529, witnessed a queen defending the legality of her marriage and intent on saving it. Both Clement VII and his English representative, Cardinal Campeggio, delayed clerical action, hoping for reconciliation.

Tired of waiting, Henry decided that he did not require the pope's approval. Inspired by the Reformation, a movement that challenged the authority of the Catholic Church, he broke ties with Rome and the Pope. As Henry later admitted, Katherine was a ‘proud and intractable woman’ who would ‘carry on war against him’ for her only child. When Pope Clement VII refused to annul the marriage, Henry defied him by assuming supremacy over religious matters in England.

Final Years and Death

A year later, Catherine was banished from court, and her old rooms were given to Anne Boleyn. On 23 May 1533, Cranmer, sitting in judgement at a special court convened at Dunstable Priory to rule on the validity of Henry's marriage to Catherine, declared the marriage unlawful, even though Catherine had testified that she and Arthur had never had physical relations. Even after being separated from her daughter, the devout Catherine maintained that her marriage to Henry was valid and indissoluble. On 23 May 1533, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer finally annulled Katherine's marriage to Henry VIII. Parliament then declared that the king, not the pope, was head of the Church of England.

Until the end of her life, Catherine would refer to herself as Henry's only lawful wedded wife and England's only rightful queen, and her servants continued to address her as such. She refused to accept Henry's new church, new wife, or her new title of 'Princess Dowager'.

Catherine went to live at The More Castle, Hertfordshire, late in 1531. After that, she was successively moved to the Royal Palace of Hatfield, Hertfordshire (May to September 1532), Elsyng Palace, Enfield (September 1532 to February 1533), Ampthill Castle, Bedfordshire (February to July 1533) and Buckden Towers, Cambridgeshire (July 1533 to May 1534). She was then finally transferred to Kimbolton Castle, Cambridgeshire where she confined herself to one room, which she left only to attend Mass, dressed only in the hair shirt of the Franciscans, and fasted continuously. While she was permitted to receive occasional visitors, she was forbidden to see her daughter Mary. They were also forbidden to communicate in writing, but sympathisers discreetly conveyed letters between them. In May 1534, Katherine moved to Kimbolton Castle, where she continued writing letters to her allies and expressing concern for Princess Mary. Her health was deteriorating, but Henry still forbade Mary from visiting her mother. Her Spanish allies begged the King to let them see her.

Increasing ill health led to Catherine’s death on January 7, 1536, aged just 50 years old. Henry celebrated with a ball at Greenwich. Reports suggest Henry and Anne were relieved, and rumours flew around Europe that the former Queen had been poisoned. Although rumors circulated of Catherine’s having been poisoned, she probably died from either cancer or a coronary thrombosis. Some historians have cast Katherine of Aragon as a tragic figure. She is remembered as the wronged wife who was set aside for another woman. In violation of Catherine’s instructions, she was buried at Peterborough Cathedral with the honors of princess dowager.

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