Time in the Tower – Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard was born at an unknown date, probably in 1524, the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard, son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and Jocasta Culpeper. She was one of five children. Her mother probably died in 1527, as her father had remarried to Dorothy Troyes, but the marriage was probably short, and he married Margaret Jennings for a third time.

Catherine was sent to live in the household of her step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, Agnes (née Tilney), after the deaths of her stepmothers. Catherine was closely related to Henry VIII’s second and third Queens. Her father’s sister, Elizabeth, was the mother of Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. Her father’s first cousin, Margery Wentworth, was the mother of Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour.

By 1536, Catherine was receiving music lessons from Henry Manox at the Dowager Duchess’s household. Musical talents were highly appreciated at court, and perhaps she was hoping for a place in Jane Seymour’s household. Henry Manox would later be accused of molesting Catherine during these years. She also became acquainted with Francis Dereham, who served in the Duke of Norfolk’s household. Catherine shared a chamber with other young women which young gentlemen often visited. Francis was one of these gentlemen, though there is little evidence to suggest she consented to his advances. As Queen, her tainted childhood would come back to haunt her.

After the death of Jane Seymour, Henry remarried Anne of Cleves on 6 January 1540, and Catherine was chosen to serve in the new Queen’s household. She was probably around 15 years old then. She probably travelled to Greenwich Palace in December 1539 in anticipation of Anne of Cleves’s arrival. Henry was disappointed with his new wife from the start and admitted after their wedding night, “I have left her as a good a maid as I found her.” Their marital issues were compounded by the fact that Henry had fallen in love with her maid, Catherine. It is possible that they met before Anne’s arrival, but we do not know this for sure.

By April, Catherine was granted forfeited goods of two murderers, and it became clear that the King intended to annul his marriage to Anne and marry Catherine. His infatuation with Catherine was an open secret. “This was first whispered by the courtiers, who observed the King to be much taken with another young lady of very diminutive stature, whom he now has. It is a certain fact, that about the same time many citizens of London saw the King very frequently in the day-time, and sometimes at midnight, pass over to her on the river Thames in a little boat. The Bishop of Winchester also very often provided feastings and entertainments for them in his palace, but the citizens regarded all this not as a sign of divorcing the Queen, but of adultery.”¹ On 28 July 1540, Henry married Catherine shortly after his annulment.

Henry was rejuvenated by his new marriage to his “jewel”, but it was not to last long. Although Catherine certainly enjoyed the perks of being Queen, she was not in love with him. She was already in love with someone else at the time of her wedding. She had met Thomas Culpeper, a member of Henry’s privy chamber, shortly after arriving at court. They likely became lovers after her marriage, and Catherine’s only surviving letter is written to Thomas.

Catherine relied on Lady Rochford, who was the widow of George Boleyn, the brother of Anne Boleyn, to help her meet with Thomas in secret. It all came crashing to a halt when another of the Dowager Duchess’s household came forward and told her of Catherine’s past dealing with Dereham and Manox. Thomas Cranmer put it all in writing and passed it along to Henry, who was devastated and refused to believe it. However, he did order an investigation to be carried out. Henry Manox soon cracked under the pressure, and Catherine was arrested on 4 November 1541.

She was interrogated and confessed to her relationship with Manox and Dereham. Soon, her relationship with Thomas was revealed, which was perhaps even more dangerous than her previous affairs. On 14 November, she was sent to Syon House, where she was “kept in the estate of a Queen.”² Nevertheless, her jewels were taken from her, and they removed “knives and all such things as wherewith she may hurt herself.”³

In her desperation, Catherine said that the only reason she had even spoken to Thomas Culpepper was because Lady Rochford had pushed her to it. Nevertheless, evidence was found that Catherine was a willing participant in the form of a letter. Catherin had written, “It makes my heart die to think I cannot be always in your company. Come when my Lady Rochford is here, for then I shall be best at leisure to be at your commandment.”⁴ The more Catherine talked, the more trouble she brought upon them.

Meanwhile, Lady Rochford was taken to the Tower of London. Lady Rochford was protected from torture, but she was interrogated and confessed that she had helped Catherine look out for him. She added, “Culpepper hath known the Queen carnally considering all things that this deponent hath heard and seen.”⁵

Following a trial on 1 December, both Dereham and Thomas were executed on 10 December 1541. For now, Catherine remained at Syon House as they had to await the opening of Parliament on 16 January. Catherine was not to be given a trial and was instead convicted by an Act of Attainder. On 21 January, the bill of attainder for high treason against both Catherine and Lady Rochford was introduced. Meanwhile, Catherine was still at Syon House “making good cheer”, even though she “expects death and only asks for a secret [private] execution.”⁶ The bill of attainder passed on 7 February 1542.

On 10 February, Catherine was removed from Syon House and, “after some difficulty and resistance”, put into a barge to be taken to the Tower of London.⁷ Catherine “dressed in black velvet” entered the Tower of London through the sally door at Byward Tower. She entered the royal lodgings, which have not survived to this day. Following her arrival at the Tower, she “weeps, cries, and torments herself miserably, with ceasing.”⁸

On 12 February in the evening, Catherine was informed “to dispose her soul and prepare for death, for she was to be beheaded the next day.”⁹ Catherine asked to see the block because “she wanted to know how she was to place her head on it.”¹⁰ Catherine then spoke of “the miscarriages of her former life, before the King married her: but stood absolutely to her denial, as to any thing after that. […] She took God and his angels to be her witnesses, upon salvation of her soul, that she was guiltless of that act of defiling her sovereign’s bed, for which she was condemned.”¹⁰

The following morning, Catherine ate breakfast before she was dressed in a black velvet gown. Just before 9 o’clock, the Constable came to escort her. She walked through Coldharbour gate, passed the White Tower and arrived on Tower Green where the scaffold awaited her. Catherine climbed the wooden steps and spoke a few words. Several versions exist of her final words, but the French ambassador reported that Catherine was “so weak that she could hardly speak, but confessed in a few words that she merited a hundred deaths for so offending the King who had so graciously treated her.”¹¹

Her ladies removed her hood and gloves and put her hair into a lined coif. They bound her eyes and then withdrew to the back. Catherine knelt and said her prayers and positioned herself as she had practised. Her head was struck off in a single stroke.

Her ladies then stepped forward again to cover her body with a black cloak and laid it to the side as Lady Rochford was escorted to the scaffold to also be executed. Their remains were carried to the Church of St Peter ad Vincula and buried beneath the altar.

1. The Zurich Letters p.202
2. Katherine Howard by Josephine Wilkinson p.198
3. Katherine Howard by Josephine Wilkinson p.199
4. Jane Boleyn: The Infamous Lady Rochford by Julia Fox p.297
5. Jane Boleyn: The Infamous Lady Rochford by Julia Fox p.299
6. Katherine Howard by Josephine Wilkinson p.234
7. Katherine Howard by Josephine Wilkinson p.235
8. Katherine Howard by Josephine Wilkinson p.240
9. Katherine Howard by Josephine Wilkinson p.240-241
10. Katherine Howard by Josephine Wilkinson p.241
11. Katherine Howard by Josephine Wilkinson p.243