Catherine Howard: Death of a Promiscuous Queen
Henry VIII and his Queen Catherine Howard had returned
from a very successful tour of the country, celebrating their recent marriage.
Arriving back in Hampton Court on 30 October.
But little did the King know about his wife's secret rendezvous!
The affair would now begin to unravel,
and Catherine was running scared.
The Queen had started an affair with Thomas Culpeper; what started out
as just flirtatious comments would soon develop into something far more intimate.
Along the route of the progress, the illicit couple would meet.
Yet Catherine, in a different bed-chamber to the King, would always
ask for the back room of the property with stairs available for a quick exit.
But she didn't act alone in this misbehaviour; her lady in waiting, Lady
Rochford, would be just as guilty to the events as Catherine and Culpeper.
When the King and Queen arrived at Hatfield, it was said that Margaret Morton witnessed
glances passing between the Queen and Culpeper as if there was love between them.
Other instances include a stay at Lincoln
when Catherine was not found within her chambers for two nights running.
It would be Katherine Tilney who awoke and exclaimed, "Is
not the Queen abed yet" The stakes were high; the dangers were there for everyone to see.
This was not good, and fear was becoming the norm for anyone
now connected with the Queen.
On the 27th of August, Catherine's situation deteriorated further
when her former lover Francis Dereham arrived at her door looking for work.
His inclusion in the Queen's trust is a mystery, as is the reason for his integration.
Maybe blackmail played its part with Dereham saying he would spill
the beans on his once close relationship with Catherine.
Whatever it was that caused the appointment to be made so quickly, it was a mistake.
Catherine gave him the role of Private Secretary and Usher of her Chamber.
The major stumbling block for Catherine was that Dereham had what we could call a motor mouth.
He boasted and clearly never realised the dangers
he was now placing not only himself but the rest of the court in.
His temper would at times
get the better of him; on one occasion, he attacked another gentleman usher, John Fell.
Luckily, Dereham's challenges
were not discussed and his frustrations did not come to the attention of his superiors.
But now, a mild fracas was the least of his worries.
He could never have imagined the horrors that lay ahead.
While Henry was
away from court, Prince Edward had fallen ill with a fever,
but to much relief of the royal party had fully recovered.
Henry was panicking over what to do, to keep his son clear from any unknown future illness.
In his wisdom, he decided to send Edward to Ashridge.
While also proposing strict limitations on who and how many could attend to the prince.
Back at court, things were about to take a plunge into the unknown, and darkness was moving in!
On the first of November, Henry would observe All Saints Day
by attending a ceremony in the chapel royal; however, he would discover a handwritten note.
Amongst the women who served the Duchess of Norfolk was one called Mary Lassels.
Mary had a grudge; she was overlooked
when it came to being found a place within the Queen's household.
Eventually, her resentment got the better of her, and she started to talk.
Her brother, who was called John, himself an ardent reformist, would get the message
loud and clear from Mary.
She stated she knew of Catherines promiscuous past and saw this
as a way to bring down the Catholic Queen.
John headed straight to the council and reported his findings.
Thomas Cranmer, in his wisdom, took on board the information
and wrote a letter to the King informing him of his news.
But Henry was completely mystified; yes, maybe it was a joke,
but it wasn't one he found amusing at all.
However, his disbelief soon fell into anger.
A council meeting was held at Winchester Palace.
It was now that the evidence was laid on the table.
Henry raged and asked for a sword so he could slay the Queen.
He broke down in tears and bemoaned his luck for meeting "such ill conditioned wives"
But went further and blamed the council for allowing this to ever take place.
The Queen and Lady Rochford were now placed under house
arrest at Hampton Court.
The story of Catherine
escaping her guard and running down what's known today as the haunted gallery.
Towards the King attending Mass within the Royal Chapel has now been disproven.
The route she would have taken would have to be far different than the one historically recalled.
However, the tales of her screaming and becoming hysterical can be justified
as her interrogations by Cranmer continued.
Henry left Hampton Court on the 5th of November in order to get his mind off the current situation.
According to one eye witness, he went hunting for the next three days before
returning to the court to put on a brave face in front of everyone.
Although concerns grew, at this time Catherine could be charged
with nothing more than misconduct; no crime had been committed.
Yet all the evidence pointed to her being in a relationship
before she even knew of the Kings interest.
Cranmer, backed by Hertford,
were likes dogs with bones; they knew they couldn't let the matter rest.
Francis Dereham was taken to the tower, but after initial talks,
would only say that both he and Catherine had been precontracted.
Precontract was considered as binding as a marriage,
but this could have been annulled by an ecclesiastical court,
which would then have made Henry and Catherine's wedding invalid.
The plot now took a new course.
Dereham was asked if he had had any sexual dealings with the Queen since she married Henry?
He denied this but virtually sealed his fate by his following sentence.
Dereham said Thoams Culpeper "had succeeded him in the queens affections" On 10 November,
the King was informed that his once-beloved Culpeper was now under suspicion.
Henry left Hampton court later that day and rode to Whitehall.
He was a broken man!
Catherine was interrogated further and asked about her relationship with Culpeper;
she replied that although they had flirted and exchanged
tokens as was the norm then, nothing untoward had happened.
In fact, she called him "little sweet fool", But the evidence was building.
A letter signed off from Catherine to Culpeper ended by saying 'Yours as long as life endures'
this was clearly a sign that more than tokens and flirtation took place in the eyes of Cranmer.
The net was closing in, and Catherine
was now finding the hole she had dug becoming deeper.
Catherine continued to deny the charge but looked now towards Lady Rochford as a way out.
She would blame Rochford for instigating meetings
between herself and Culpeper, to the point of encouraging such behaviour.
Lady Rochford was now called for.
She instantly disregarded all Catherine had said and told her inquisitors.
Catherine had, in fact, met up with Culpeper on numerous occasions, and adultery had taken place.
One piece of damning evidence was
when she said the King came calling at Catherine's room one evening.
Rochford was instructed not to let him in until Culpeper
had made his way out of the house down a back stairwell.
The Queen's ladies were made
to make statements about the affairs, before the marriage and while on progress.
Yet none said they were aware of any adultery taking place.
Although one did say, though, that the Queen and Culpeper once met in Catherine's stool chamber.
The council put two and two together and came up with five.
This was it; the ordeal in their eyes was now beyond reproach.
Culpeper was arrested and threatened with torture.
He spoke of meeting Catherine on many occasions, but nothing more than words passed between them.
But the final crushing blow for Culpeper came when he continued to say that "he intended to do
so with the queen, and likewise the queen would do with him" Hertford was fuming!
Alone this statement was treasonous, but Culpeper continued blaming Catherine for the whole set-up
with Rochford encouraging and acting as a go-between to ensure everything was kept secret.
On the 13 November Wriothesly went to the Hampton Court,
all the Queen's ladies were summoned and were told of their mistresses accusations.
He also stated that Catherine was no longer Queen as the title had been forfeited.
The ladies were discharged except Anne Basset, who was allowed to remain
at court as her father, Lord Lisle, was currently held in prison.
and the King was in the process of arranging a marriage for her.
For Catherine, all her jewels were returned to the King;
her other items were sealed and would undergo an inventory.
All Catherines emblems would be removed from royal palaces.
From the 14 November, she would now be known as Lady Catherine Howard
and then taken to Syon Abbey.
Although now held in custody, she would still have
the attention of three gentlewomen, two chambermaids and a confessor.
Her time would now be served under the kings pleasure.
Rochford and Culpeper were now removed from the court,
with their next destination being the tower.
Rochford was again put under intense interrogation, at which point
she suffered a collapse.
The stress of all this proved too much.
Some said she had gone mad and would not be able to stand trial legally.
Henry had none of this, revenge was uppermost in his mind,
and everything would be done to bring all of these people to trial.
With Catherine now gone from Hampton, Henry would return.
Anne of Cleves took the unusual step of moving to Richmond to be closer
to the King at this time, with the hope he might take her back after Catherine's fall.
Still, the only message she received was that Henry had ordered
a privy councillor to visit Anne and retrieve the ring that Catherine had given her.
On the 1 December, both Culpeper and Dereham appeared at the Guildhall.
Their trial was swift, with both being found guilty of treason.
Both were sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered,
but the King commuted this to beheading.
Both died on 10 December, and their heads were placed on spikes atop the London bridge.
But Henry's anger didn't end there.
He had the Howard family arrested.
They were charged with and found guilty of misprision of treason
and concealing the Queen's misbehaviour.
They all served time, but within a year Henry pardoned them.
Norfolk and Gardiner who had initially promoted Catherine
to Henry somehow managed to escape any further trouble.
However, Norfolk would never again stand so high in the Kings favour.
A new era was beginning; the Conservatives had been thrown out of the chamber.
And now, the radical reformist party led by Hertford and Denny
would take control and remain in place for the rest of Henry's reign.
Over the following weeks,
Henry would remain alone, attempting to forget his grief for the most part.
He would spend Christmas at Greenwich with only a handful of people around him.
By January 1542, Henry was a fallen man, looking old and grey.
Chapuys claimed that he "had never seen him so sad, pensive and sighing." Yet
the King would indulge, eating and drinking; his weight was now a concern,
which had been driven on since the death of Jane Seymour.
Henry grew so large his bed had to be extended now 7'6" long and 7' wide.
The King's physician reported that Henry's hair was still red but thinning on top.
He had a strong and regular pulse, and his digestive system was holding up!
But he also brought attention
to his over-exuberance towards food and the ongoing obesity that was out of control.
When parliament later met in January, they declared it would now be "treasonous
for a non virtuous woman to become married to a King without first revealing her past."
Chapuys said faceitously that "very few women at court would even now aspire to such an honour."
29 January, an act of attainder was passed condemning Catherine Howard to death.
That same evening Henry would be found cavorting with twenty-six women at court.
He'd invited to supper with a further thirty-five sat at another table.
It was said Henry paid much attention to Anne Basset, a pretty young creature with wit!
Catherine, still held at Syon, showed no illusions as to what her fate may be.
When the lords of the council came to her in February.
She would again panic before being handled roughly into a waiting barge to be taken to the tower.
Now alone in her cell, she had regained her composure.
She requested the block be brought to her room to enable her to practise a good death.
On the 13 February, weak with fear that she could
hardly stand, Catherine was taken from her cell and executed on Tower Green.
The exact spot her cousin Anne Boleyn had appeared just six years earlier.
Lady Rochford would follow; however, she was still hysterical.
But Henry made sure that a law had been passed in parliament,
making it lawful to execute any insane person who had committed treason.
Witnesses say by the time she reached the block,
she was composed, calm, and confessing to her faults.
At her death, Catherine was probably around 17 years old;
she would be buried alongside Anne Boleyn in the royal chapel of St Peter within the tower.
Lord McAuley, a victorian historian, would later call it " the saddest spot on earth."