Hi, my name is Jon and welcome to another edition of History Roadshow.
Katherine Willoughby was around 25 years old when Henry
VIII married for a sixth time to Katherine Parr.
Katherine was born and bred in Lincolnshire.
Her mother was great friends with Catherine of Aragon and Mary Tudor.
But she was now a wealthy lady owning much of the county.
The land was left to her as the only child to her father,
who had died in 1526 when she was just seven years old.
Her wardship went to the King, who then sold it to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.
Katherine would initially be betrothed to Brandon's son Henry, earl of Lincoln.
However, after three months of losing his wife Mary, Brandon,
married the young girl himself; she was just fourteen-year-old, in 1533.
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so you never miss any of our videos and with that said let's begin todays story.
It was a strange relationship
and one that had a 35 year age gap between them.
Despite this, the couple would have two children,
both son's Henry and Charles, and Katherine
became one of England's wealthiest and most powerful women.
After the death of Charles,
her husband, it seems that Katherine became quite an independent lady.
She was known for her strong wit and religious beliefs
and was undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with at court.
It's been said that if Charles had died two years earlier, Katherine was in line to become
Henry's 7th wife, but with traits very similar to Anne Boleyn, would she have gone down the same road?
It's fascinating to note that Katherine had been married to Henry's
brother-in-law and was also the goddaughter to Catherine of Aragon.
In this period, people considered that a sister in law Mary,
was a true sister and connections arising from such relationships, i.e.
godparents and goddaughters, were grey areas considered semi incestuous.
I guess Henry just liked ladies with the name Catherine
and completely overlooked the intricacies that could be brought to light.
Katherine's religious hatred of some is quite amusing.
She named her dog Gardiner after the bishop of Winchester, one man she despised.
It may have been over the rumours that Henry was about to remove
Catherine Parr from his life and attempt to woo Katherine heself.
It's also reported that Gardiner
passed the information onto the imperial ambassador claiming Henry's interest in her.
You see, Gardiner was hell-bent on not only removing Parr from the court
but any other protestant he could find. Gardiner hated both women but Willoughby even more than Parr.
Robert Parker, a so-called prophet, predicted in 1546
that a new queen was getting ever nearer.
Prophesies were common in the time, as another one suggested
Anne of Cleves had given birth to two children by the King!
But Parker came closet with his initial prediction.
This was due to Catherine Parr being almost arrested for treason, and if it wasn't for
her skill in converting the King's thoughts to her own, Henry might well have punished her.
As it was, Henry allowed her to go free
and with quite possibly with his blessing, well, for what that's worth.
Katherine Parr was closely watched when we compare her to other wives of Henry;
she comes out of it all quite fortunate.
There was almost as much evidence against Parr
as against Catherine Howard and far more than against Anne Boleyn.
Parr would spend hours developing remedies and concoctions used for healing, but these could quite
easily have been an easy way to attract attention to a woman suggesting she was a witch.
Although Henry complained about his wife from time to time, Catherine knew precisely
where she stood and would remain a loyal and faithful servant to her husband,
even though quite possibly under vast amounts of pressure from third parties.
And anyhow, what wife would argue with her husband
whom she told was a prince of such excellent learning and wisdom.
After the death of Henry, his widow would go on to marry Thomas Seymour.
As for Katherine Willoughby, her life would be turned upside down as now the new monarch of England was Mary
and the fact she was a staunch Catholic meant trouble for anyone with a Protestant leaning.
Parliament would receive the go-ahead to bring a new act into force and begin
to prosecute heresy, and the Queen and her backers lost little time into putting their plans into action.
By the end of Mary's reign, the government had executed
almost 300 protestant non-conformists, with the majority being burnt at the stake.
As we have seen before, these people held courage and were unflappable when questioned
about their beliefs, and we can only imagine the hardship and duress they went through.
For Katherine, she had little chance of survival under the present administration, her
enemies were closing in, and she retained little in the way of options to escape, but escape she did.
Yet sad news would hold her up after news of both her sons' deaths at Cambridge.
Both boys had succumbed to the dreaded sweating sickness dying within hours of each other.
Katherine would have to start to rebuild her life, and she would once again
marry, this time to a man called Richard Bertie.
He was a household member, and both shared the same religious background.
It is a fact that the two of them married for love above all else.
The Queen had been working her way through court
in calling out protestants, but in 1555 a mass exodus started to take place.
Those who could leave England would travel to Europe, settling in pro-Protestant countries
like the Netherlands and Germany.
This escape from the pressures of the ruling monarch was called the Marian
Exiles, and Katherine would be a part of this move.
Gardiner was still hunting down Katherine; he placed Bertie under interrogation, asking "if
his wife was ready to set up mass, as she had been seen lately pulling it down?"
But Bertie was clever; he could handle Gardiner and replied, "a confession of religion
by mouth is contrary to the heart, and it only brings damnation." It's thought Gardiner had either had
enough of this conversation, or he actually believed Bertie would convert Katherine into the new ways.
But Bertie wasn't about to fall into any trap.
He was able to get permission to travel outside of England to rescue
what he said were properties owned by his family that he needed to recover.
Bertie left in June 1554; his wife Catherine followed on new years day.
She had dressed as merchants wife to remain undiscovered upon her reuniting with her beloved Bertie
Katherine would become pregnant, and nine months later, she gave birth to a son, Peregrine.
Now free of England and its Catholic ways, the couple began
what they thought might be the end of their days on the continent.
They would ignore commands to return but did have their lands taken away.
The couple would eventually settle in the polish Lithuanian commonwealth.
After the death of Mary in 1558,
Elizabeth I would come to power, and things began to turn around once again.
The couple returned to England with the hope that this would be
a new start along with a peaceful and lasting life together.
They would spend most of their time at Katherine's estate in Lincolnshire, but also attend court.
Katherine continued her activities for the benefit of the church,
but after an illness drew her final breath
on 19 September 1580, she was 61 years old.
Katherine was laid to rest in Spilsby Church, Lincolnshire.
Two years later, Richard Bertie died; he was interred by her side.
And that puts the lid on another royal drama.
So do you think Katherine would and could have become Henry's 7th wife?
Or was it just the gossipmongers and speculation around the court?
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Thanks as always for watching, I'll see you next time.