Catherine of Aragon (16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen Consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until the marriage was declared null on 23 May 1533. Born an Infanta of Castile and Aragon, she was earlier married to Henry's elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales. Her long struggle with Henry over the validity of their marriage — and his insistence on a male heir — was a central factor in the political and religious crisis that led to the English break with Rome.
Biography[]
Catherine was born on 16 December 1485 at the Archbishop's Palace in Alcalá de Henares, the daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. She was betrothed as a child to Arthur, Prince of Wales and they married in 1501; Arthur died the following year (2 April 1502), leaving Catherine a widow at a young age.
After Arthur's death Catherine remained a valuable dynastic and diplomatic asset for her parents. In 1507 she acted as an accredited representative of Ferdinand at the English court, often described as the first known female ambassador in European history, and in 1509 she married Arthur’s younger brother Henry shortly after his accession to the throne (wedding: 11 June 1509). The marriage to Henry had been permitted earlier by a papal dispensation because canon law regarded marrying a brother’s widow as impeded by affinity; Henry later cited passages in Leviticus when he sought an annulment.
As queen, Catherine was politically active and respected for her learning and piety. In 1513, while Henry campaigned in France, she was appointed Regent and took responsibility for the government at home — issuing warrants, organising defence and preparing banners and provisions — during the crisis that culminated in the English victory at the Battle of Flodden (9 September 1513). She also acted as patron of humanist scholars and encouraged education; her only surviving child with Henry, the future Queen Mary I, was born on 18 February 1516.
Catherine endured many miscarriages and stillbirths; contemporary and modern historians record several lost pregnancies (estimates vary) and one short-lived son in 1511. Henry’s increasing insistence on a legitimate male heir, together with his infatuation with Anne Boleyn, led him to pursue annulment of his marriage to Catherine from the late 1520s. Cardinal Wolsey and, later, Thomas Cranmer were instrumental in the legal and ecclesiastical manoeuvres; on 23 May 1533 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer pronounced the marriage null and void. Catherine steadfastly refused to accept the annulment and continued to style herself Queen until her death.
After the annulment she was progressively removed from court life and in 1534 she was moved to Kimbolton Castle. Her health declined and she died there on 7 January 1536. An autopsy recorded a “blackened” growth on her heart, the likeliest explanation of which is cancer. She was buried at Peterborough Cathedral beneath a tomb inscribed with the title "Dowager Princess of Wales;" the title she retained after Arthur's death.
Gallery[]
| Queen consort of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Elizabeth of York |
1509 – 1533 | Succeeded by: Anne Boleyn |