The fact that Catherine and Henry had no son would haunt Catherine in the years to come. The birth of Henry Fitzroy made Henry realise that he could have a son with another woman.
In 1520, Catherine’s nephew Charles visited England. He had just been elected as Holy Roman Emperor, and Catherine was delighted and called her “greatest desire” to meet him.1 It was also her dearest wish that Mary would one day marry Charles, despite the large age gap. She reportedly wept when she finally met him. Shortly after his departure from England, Henry and Catherine headed for France for the famous Field of the Cloth of Gold, a summit between King Henry and King Francis.
Following their return to England, the years began to pass without another pregnancy for Catherine. Catherine focused her attention on her daughter, Mary, whom she considered would be the next Queen of England. A woman had never before ruled England in her own right, although Empress Matilda had tried.
In early 1525, it became clear to Catherine that Henry was in the early stages of an affair with Anne Boleyn, daughter of the diplomat Thomas Boleyn. Catherine would soon be 40 years old, and she had not conceived in over six years. Around this time, she stopped having periods. Henry also decided to send their daughter to Ludlow Castle, which must have been agony for Catherine, considering her memories of that place.
In the following year, Catherine’s marriage would completely fall apart, and she would be kept out of politics. On 17 May 1527, a secret ecclesiastical trial was convened to investigate the validity of Catherine and Henry’s marriage and the following month, Henry finally confronted her directly. The trial failed to proclaim the invalidity of their marriage, but Henry’s wasn’t done. It probably wasn’t until the summer of 1527 that Catherine realised that Henry wanted to replace her with Anne Boleyn. Catherine was offered the option of retiring to a convent, which would have allowed her daughter Mary to keep her inheritance and remain legitimate. But Catherine believed she was doing the right thing when she refused to enter a convent. The possibility of her first marriage being consummated was now brought up again.
On 31 May 1529, a court was established at Blackfriars and at some point during the proceedings, Catherine gave her now famous speech in her defence. She knelt before him and addressed him, ” Sir, I beseech you for all the love that hath been between us, and for the love of God, let me have justice. Take of me some pity and compassion, for I am a poor woman, and a stranger born out of your dominion. I have here no assured friends, and much less impartial counsel. Alas! Sir, wherein have I offended you, or what occasion of displeasure have I deserved? I have been to you a true, humble and obedient wife, ever comfortable to your will and pleasure, that never said or did any thing to the contrary thereof, being always well pleased and contented with all things wherein you had any delight or dalliance, whether it were in little or much. I never grudged in word or countenance, or showed a visage or spark of discontent. I loved all those whom ye loved, only for your sake, whether I had cause or no, and whether they were my friends or enemies. This twenty years or more I have been your true wife and by me ye have had divers children, although it hath pleased God to call them out of this world, which hath been no default in me. And when ye had me at first, I take God to my judge, I was a true maid, without touch of man, and whether it be true or no, I put it to your conscience. If there be any just cause by the law that ye can allege against me either of dishonesty or any other impediment to banish and put me from you, I am well content to depart to my great shame and dishonour and if there be none, then here, I most lowly beseech you, let me remain in my former estate and receive justice at your hands. The King your father … and my father, Ferdinand, King of Spain … thought then the marriage between you and me good and lawful. Therefore, it is a wonder to hear what new inventions are now invented against me, that never intended by honesty … I most humbly require you, in the way of charity and for the love of God, who is the just judge, to spare me the extremity of this new court, until I may be advised what way and order my friends in Spain will advise me to take. And if ye will not extend to me so much impartial favour, your pleasure then be fulfilled, and to God I commit my cause!”2
She got up and never returned to the court. The court eventually referred the question back to Rome, and the Pope wrote that the case was suspended and the marriage remained valid. This was a victory for Catherine, but their marriage could no longer be saved. Henry would continue to seek a way to get rid of her. He was frustrated with the Pope and, under the influence of Anne Boleyn, began to see a way to do things without him.
On 22 November 1529, there was a confrontation between Henry and Catherine. She told him that “he had long been suffering the pains of Purgatory on earth, and that she was very badly treated by his refusing to dine with and visit her in her apartments.”3 He told her that “as to his visiting her in her apartments and partaking of her bed, she ought to know that he was not her legitimate husband, as innumerable doctors and canonists, all men of honour and probity, and even his own almoner, Doctor Lee, who had once known her in Spain, were ready to maintain.”4 She retaliated that “the principal cause alleged for the divorce did not really exist, because she had come to him as a virgin, as he himself had owned upon more than one occasion.”5
Part six coming soon.
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