Katherine of Aragon & Isabel of Portugal

Holy Roman Empress Isabel of Portugal was interested in the case of the repudiation of her aunt the Queen of England, and she was an advocate of her cause. Katherine of Aragon knew that her nephew, Carlos V, was her only chance to defend her case successfully and that is why she wrote him. Since the death of King Fernando II of Aragon in 1516, her nephew had been her paterfamilias, the head of the Spanish Monarchy, and the most powerful monarch in Europe. Katherine played an active role as ambassadress in the Tudor court, and she was one of his biggest European supporters. Seven months after Katherine’s plead, Charles sent a letter to his wife Empress Isabel in Spain who was acting as his Governor during his absence. He entrusted her with a mission, to find evidence and witnesses that could help their aunt in her cause to defend her marriage.

The Empress rejoiced that her husband Carlos V was so determined to defend the right of Queen Katherine, which, indeed, it were his duty to do; not only because she was his aunt but also because the case closely concerns the Christian religion itself. Isabel sent several orders to different parts of the Iberian Peninsula to gather evidence. The first was directed to the officers in the Chancillería in Aragon to look for any legal documents related to the marriage negotiations. Another order was sent to elaborate a list of people who were still alive and who had been witnesses in the negotiations concerning Katherine’s marriages. A second group of people were those who had accompanied Katherine to England in 1501. The third order included a questionnaire for these people that directly addressed Katherine’s virginity.

Katherine herself had written to her a full account of the case, of which copies were made to be sent to the Universities of Castile, Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia, with the orders of the Empress that the Universities are to study the case very carefully and send their opinions to her. Originals of the same shall be sent to the Emperor, and copies to Micer Mai in Rome.

In May 1531 a letter was rediscovered in Spain, written by Katherine’s father Fernando to his ambassador in Rome, Francisco de Rojas, which appeared to change everything. Katherine must have been excited to hear that it confirmed that Arthur had not consummated the marriage but that Rojas was to apply for a dispensation anyway in order to satisfy the English.

Empress Isabel was in contact with her ambassadors in Rome, France and London. Dr Pedro Ortiz, an expert in law and Lecturer at the University of Salamanca designated to defend Katherine’s case in the papal court, wrote to the Empress urging her to collect Katherine's letters as the future relics of a holy martyr. In another letter, Ortiz implored the Empress to pray for Katherine and Mary. He believed that they are in great danger.

The death of Katherine of Aragon on 7 January 1536 at Kimbolton Castle, was really sad for the Spanish Royal family. Carlos V was in Naples. By February 1, the Emperor wrote to his wife, who was acting as his regent in Spain, saying that he had heard of Katherine’s death “five or six days” previously. He told her that he and his court had donned mourning and that suitable obsequies had been performed.

Five or six days ago the news of the demise of her most Serene Highness the queen of England arrived, which I felt deeply, as you may imagine. May God receive her in Paradise, which she certainty deserved on account of her extreme goodness and virtue, and the excellent life she led. About her last illness and death the accounts differ. Some say that it was produced by a painful affection of the stomach, which lasted upwards of 10 or 12 days; others that the distemper broke out all of a sudden after taking some draft, and there is a suspicion that there was in it that which in similar cases is administered. I do not choose to make such an affirmation, nor do I wish to have it repeated as coming from me, but nothing can prevent people from judging and commenting upon the event according to their own feelings. Of the Princess, my cousin, I hear only that she is inconsolable at the loss she has sustained, especially when she thinks of her father’s past behaviour towards herself, and of the little favor she can expect for the future. I trust, however, that God will have pity on her, and will not permit the great injustice which has been shewn her to remain with- out some reparation. I have put on mourning, and ordered all the grandees around me, the high officers of this household, as well as the gentlemen of my chamber and table, to do the same, and I myself intend wearing it until I go to Rome. The exequies have been performed here as is customary in such cases; there, where you are, the same ought to be done, as this is but fitting.

Isabel felt Katherine’s death and she was surprised “by what is said of her death”, the rumors about a possible poisoning of her aunt. The Empress also received a letter from Dr Ortiz, enclosing a copy of one from ‘that glorious martyr’ Katherine herself ‘by which the Empress will see the perfection and heroic virtues to which she attained’. Katherine would be a ‘true patroness and advocate of the Empress in Heaven’.

Sources:

Amy Licence, Catherine of Aragon: An Intimate Life of Henry VIII's True Wife

Emma Luisa Cahill Marrón, Article: “Royal Sexualized Bodies at the Tudor Court” : Questioning an Honest Queen: The Scrutiny Around Queen Catherine of Aragon's Virginity

Julia Fox, Sister Queens: The Noble and Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile

Isidoro Jiménez Zamora, LA EMPERATRIZ ISABEL DE PORTUGAL Y EL GOBIERNO DE LA MONARQUÍA HISPÁNICA EN TIEMPOS DE CARLOS V (1526-1539)

Instagram user TheTudorChest: your days are numbered. I will break into your house and steal all your left socks.

Vivien Leigh by Antony Beauchamp

The Old Vic Theatre Company: a Tour of Australia and New Zealand, edited by Tatlock Miller, 1948

ab. 1540-1560 Unknown Flemish or French painter - Portrait of young woman

(Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest)

May 19th, 1536: Anne Boleyn is executed at the Tower of London

How Did It End? By Taylor Swift/Henny Porten in Anna Boleyn/ Barbara Kellerman in Henry VIII/ Genevieve Bujold in Anne of the Thousand Days/Merle Oberon in The Private Life of Henry VIII/ Dorothy Tutin in The Six Wives of Henry VIII

sarah bolger as princess mary tudor in the tudors (2007-2010) - requested by anonymous

SARAH BOLGER in THE TUDORS s04e09

The Scarlet Letter dir. Victor Sjöström (1926)

Throwing up bc I just saw someone compare my beloved Amy Santiago to a character from that vile wizard franchise🤮 keep my girl’s name out your fucking mouth

Jane Lapotaire as Mary I of England ( Lady Jane, 1986)

no nuance pick one. you can elaborate in the tags.

|| 𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 & 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 ||

|| 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 & 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐮 ||

“I was tame of was gentle til the circus life made me mean, don’t you worry folks we took out all her teeth…”

It’s so weird that “don’t put thoughts and ideas into the heads of historical figures” only counts in the Tudor-verse if we’re not talking about Catherine of Aragon.

I can’t tell you how many think pieces I’ve read that drone on and on about how Catherine believed she was predestined by God to be Queen of England. And that her parents were like “god has chosen you to be Queen of England” since she was 3 and how she would “do anything” to get there (like idk lie about her virginity or lie about loving her husband of 20 years???). And it’s like, uh no? There’s no evidence of this at all.

Of course Catherine knew she was betrothed to Arthur, but things were finicky and there is evidence of her parents (and Henry VII) looking elsewhere for her future. She was also a 16th century Catholic who believed indefinitely in god’s will. If god willed her to be queen, then she would be queen. And only god could take her crown away- not Henry or Cranmer.

Stop assuming things about Catherine of Aragon when the only knowledge you have of her comes from Joanna Denny’s piece of shit biography of Anne Boleyn and Hayley Nolan’s joke of a book.

Charlotte Hope as Catherine of Aragon (The Spanish Princess)

Dorothy Tutin as Anne Boleyn in The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970)

Rosalie Crutchley as Katherine Parr in The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970)