WEBVTT - Survived (From the Archive) 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:04.880 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:10.440 and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. Hello, this 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:14.080 is Danas Schwartz's host of Noble Blood. This is the 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:17.400 last week of my maternity leave and the last episode 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:21.440 in our series revisiting the wives of King Henry the Eighth. 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:27.000 Today we're talking about his final wife, the woman who survived, 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:31.760 Katherine Parr. But Catherine's future back when she was married 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:36.360 to the king was far from secure, and surviving Henry 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:41.599 required cunning and the ability to manage a volatile and 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:53.519 aging king enjoy It was an incredibly dangerous thing to 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:57.600 be a woman in the sixteenth century who disagreed with 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:03.120 her husband. A woman named Anne Askew was born in 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:07.600 fifteen twenty one in Lincolnshire. When she was fifteen years old, 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:11.440 her sister died. Her sister had been engaged to a 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:15.319 man named Thomas Kyme, and to save money on the 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:21.720 dowries and negotiations, Anne's father simply substituted Anne in to 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:26.440 marry her sister's fiance. One daughter was as good as 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:31.759 the next. Thomas Kyme was a Catholic, and he quickly 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:37.160 realized that his young wife was a devout Protestant. He 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:40.920 would enter the room to find her studying the Bible 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:45.120 or reciting verses quietly to herself that she was trying 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:52.960 to memorize. Anne publicly challenged the idea of transubstantiation, the 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.680 notion that when taking Holy Communion, the wafer and wine 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:01.720 literally transformed into the flesh and blood of Christ. Word 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:07.240 got around town. Other women began avoiding Anne in. 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:11.840 The streets and the shops. Though Thomas Kime and Anne 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:15.320 had two young children, he kicked her out of the 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:21.880 house for her beliefs. Anne was not put off, unmoored, 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:26.480 but not undeterred. She moved to London, and, sticking with 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:31.960 her maiden name, began to preach. A woman preaching is 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:38.600 bad enough. A woman preaching heretical ideas cause enough for arrest. 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:44.880 In fifteen forty six, Anne Ask You was twenty five 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.520 years old and she was brought to the Tower of London. 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:53.480 She was tortured on the rack by men who demanded 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:58.720 to know what other high born women shared her beliefs. 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:06.880 To tour was brutal and unceasing, lasting months. By the 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:10.720 time Anne was finally brought to be burned, at the stake. 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:14.480 She had to be carried in a chair because she 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:19.480 could no longer walk. Anne was burned along with three 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:24.560 other Protestants. Funnily enough, one of the men executed with 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:29.240 her was John Lassal's. That name might sound a little 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:31.800 familiar to you if you had listened to my episode 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:36.640 about Catherine Howard. John Lassal's had been the one who 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:41.960 reported the young queen's licentious past, which led to her beheading. 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:46.440 It's said by those who watched Anne's burning that she 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:50.120 was incredibly brave that she didn't cry out until the 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:55.440 flames reached her chest. A supporter had managed to secretly 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.600 slip her gunpowder to hide in her dress, which exploded, 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:05.640 killing Anne and the three men quickly and mercifully. Even 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:09.480 through all of her torture, Anne never gave up any 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:14.520 names of any other prominent Protestant women, but the torturers 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:19.400 were really only interested in one name. They wanted Anne 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:24.880 to implicate, Katherine Parr, King Henry the Eighth's sixth and 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:30.279 final wife. Catherine had already upset many at court for 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:34.960 the strength of her evangelical views, and her enemies were 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:39.400 looking for any excuse to bring her down. It wouldn't 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.880 take much. Gossip in court was that the king had 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:47.160 already grown frustrated with the way his wife debated him 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:51.920 on matters of religion. Ambassadors wrote that he had already 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:56.839 been casting his eye around for wife number seven. Being 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:00.479 the wife of King Henry the eighth was like holding 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:04.400 a fistful of gunpowder. It would only take a spark 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:10.200 for an explosion and a quick death. Katherine Parr's intelligence 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.320 had put her in danger, but it would also be 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:18.720 the key to her survival. I'm Danish Schwartz and this 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:29.520 is noble blood. Katherine Parr was seventeen when she married 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:33.960 a man named Edward Burrow, but the marriage didn't last long. 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:38.320 Three years later, Edward Burrow had died and Katherine Parr 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.240 was a young childless widow. But she was also a 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.360 young childless widow who came from a prominent family, and 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:48.839 that meant that a year later her family had the 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:52.680 connections to marry her off once again, this time to 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:58.240 a man named John Neville, Lord Latimer of Snape. Two 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:02.280 Harry Potter names and one side note. I looked it up. J. K. 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:06.159 Rowling did name Snape after a village, but it wasn't 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:12.480 that village. Latimer was forty three with two teenage children, 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.520 only a few years younger than Catherine herself twenty one, 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:20.640 but maturity came easily to Catherine Parr, who spoke and 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:25.480 wrote English, French and Italian, who was already reading religious 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.080 doctrine that her Catholic husband no doubt wouldn't have approved 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:31.799 of if he had been home long enough to notice. 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:36.799 It was Latimer's religious beliefs that got the couple into trouble. 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:40.599 In the end, they lived in Yorkshire and Latimer was 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.320 roped into helping the Catholic rebels during the Pilgrimage of 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:49.200 Grace Rebellion in fifteen thirty six. Though high born Latimer 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.680 was never actually charged and he managed to escape any 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:56.599 real consequences with just a slap on the wrist, his 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:03.480 reputation deteriorated, and soon after so did his health. Catherine 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:06.479 found that she not only had the skill to run 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:11.320 a large household, she also had the inclination. With her 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:15.520 husband weakening, the family moved down to Worcester to get 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:19.600 out of the troublingly rebellious North and to be closer 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:23.240 to Catherine's family at Court, where her brother William and 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:27.280 her sister Anne were both members of the royal household. 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:33.560 Catherine tended to her ailing husband, ran his household, raised 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:37.160 his children from his previous marriage, and also began to 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:43.000 make friends at court, including the Queen Jane Seymour. To 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:46.920 stay away from my brother, Jane teased Thomas is on 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:54.160 the lookout for a rich widow. Thomas Seymour was a 0:07:54.200 --> 0:08:00.400 few things. He was handsome, definitely charming. Absolutely, I'm so 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:05.800 socially ambitious. Katherine Parr noticed him, of course she noticed him. 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:10.160 How could she not. Everyone in court noticed Thomas Seymour, 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:15.160 the Queen's brother, But Catherine's husband, weak as he was, 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:19.960 wasn't dead yet, and Catherine always floated above even a 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:24.760 whiff of scandal. There aren't even rumors of thoughts of 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:30.000 impropriety on her part. Catherine was just a well liked, smart, 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:34.480 pretty presence at court who cared dutifully for her ailing husband. 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.640 Rather than flirt, She spent most of her time with 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:44.600 Princess Mary Tudor, Henry the Eighth's daughter. Catherine Parr's mother 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:48.440 had been a lady in waiting to Catherine Everden, Mary's mother, 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:51.640 so the two had known each other when they were children, 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:56.800 but as adults they reunited over their shared love of academia. 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:02.560 Though Catherine's leanings were Evangelic and Mary was a devout Catholic, 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:07.640 it didn't affect their friendship at all. Mary encouraged Catherine 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:10.240 to read the Bible and helped her with the Latin 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:14.480 that Catherine had never learned as a child. Catherine wasn't 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.240 born a boy, and she wasn't born a royal, and 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:21.360 so her education had been decent, but far from comprehensive. 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:25.840 It was her own natural curiosity that turned her into 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:30.559 an avid reader and an avid writer. By the time 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.960 her husband died, Catherine found herself in a strange and 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:41.440 rare position. She was still young, thirty one, twice widowed, orphaned, 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:47.240 and with the inheritance of her husband's estate, independently wealthy. 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:53.360 Her only responsibility was taking care of her almost grown stepdaughter, 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:57.840 whom she adored. She was a woman with money and 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:01.920 her entire life out of her Her parents were both dead, 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:05.360 and so she had no obligations to marry for anything 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:11.959 except love. At thirty one, Katherine Parr's life could finally begin, 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:17.920 and so Katherine Parr could finally look at Thomas Seymour, 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:23.360 and she found him looking back at her, smiling that 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:28.800 charming smile and making her secretly grateful in spite of everything, 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:34.079 that life had landed her here, exactly where she belonged. 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:43.680 It had been a busy few years at court since 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.560 Katherine Parr and her husband had arrived from Yorkshire. King 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.960 Henry the Eighth had finally gotten his son, although it 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:54.440 led to the death of his queen, Jane Seymour. He 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:57.800 had sent away for another bride, received Anne of Cleaves, 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.120 and forced a divorce because he didn't find her attractive enough. 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:06.319 He married Catherine Howard, was humiliated by her laciviousness, and 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:11.800 had her arrested and beheaded. King Henry the Eighth was tired. 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:15.920 It would be another year as a widower before Henry 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:18.480 would begin to look in earnest for a new wife. 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:22.840 By this point, Henry the Eighth had finally evolved into 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:25.880 what you most likely already imagine when you hear the 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:30.080 words King Henry the Eighth. A caricature of a man 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:34.560 probably eating a giant turkey leg. King Henry the Eighth's 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:39.840 waist had ballooned to fifty three inches, which required specially 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:43.920 made doublets large enough so that three men could stand 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:49.679 comfortably inside them. The ulcers on Henry's legs had turned 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:54.520 to open rot. From records of his household, we know 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:58.360 that the endlessly weeping puss meant that he needed to 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:02.240 order a brand new pair of hose for every single 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:09.960 day of the year. Marrying the teenager Katherine Howard had 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.679 been a mistake. He knew that now she was too young, 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:19.040 too frivolous. It had been a decision made out of lust. Now, 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:24.600 for his sixth wife, he needed someone of absolutely unimpeachable character, 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:32.360 someone like Catherine Parr. She was wiser, older, but not 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:35.160 so old that she couldn't still bear him another son. 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.600 That was important. In an ideal world, Henry would have 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:43.600 two sons. Although Henry's failing health meant that he could 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:47.200 no longer plausibly blame his impotence on a woman being 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:52.640 too unattractive or having allegedly saggy breasts, he still wanted 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:56.320 another boy, a Duke of York, to ensure that his 0:12:56.480 --> 0:13:01.040 lineage was secure. Henry needed a queen to manage the 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:05.880 household and manage his moods and tempers and well, though 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:10.520 he hated to admit it, he was lonely. Henry had 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:15.440 always loved the company of women, loved discussion and praise 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:20.160 and witty banter and praise and mostly praise. Was it 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.480 so wrong that in his final years he wanted someone 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.840 beautiful on his arm and in his bedchamber, with whom 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:31.559 he could also discuss art and music. Middle age had 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:36.319 also made Henry more aware of his formerly estranged daughters, 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.960 Mary and Elizabeth, the daughters of Catherine of Aragon and 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:44.000 Anne Boleyn, respectively. They say that family is the most 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:47.439 important thing, don't they, So if you're going to marry 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.040 a young wife almost half your age, you should at 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.880 least do so with the courtesy of choosing someone who's 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:57.120 friends with your daughters. It was a month before Catherine 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:01.760 Parr's husband actually died that Henry began sending along letters 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:07.600 and gifts. The moment the King's first letter arrived. It 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.400 was a dagger to the future that Catherine had imagined 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:14.760 for herself, a life where she would be free to 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:20.640 marry Thomas Seymour, someone that she chose for herself after 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:25.320 two husbands. Hadn't she earned that? But when the king 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:35.560 chooses you, you don't get a choice. Later, she would 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:40.120 write to Thomas Seymour in a letter as truly as 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:44.680 God is God, my mind was fully bent the time 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:48.680 I was at liberty to marry you before any man 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:53.320 I know. Henry knew that Catherine had been interested in 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:57.720 Thomas Seymour, a handsome, athletic man only a few years 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:01.520 older than Catherine. He heard the rumors that she loved him, 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:05.840 that she wanted to marry him. Henry also didn't care 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:10.520 when he proposed to Catherine Parr a few months later, 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:14.480 a respectful period after the death of her husband. She 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:19.080 didn't answer right away. She asked the King if she 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:24.119 could have a brief moment to think about it. Henry amused, 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:30.080 but good natured enough agreed. Usually one doesn't ask the 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:34.440 king to wait before you respond to a question he asks. 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:39.880 But this situation wasn't usual. Catherine Parr was within a 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.600 stoned throw of something most sixteenth century women could only 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:51.280 dream of, genuine contentment. But Henry's interest in her meant 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:55.240 that that vision of the future was already dead. A 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.160 king wanting to marry you meant that a king got 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:02.760 to marry you. Really what Henry understood full well when 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:07.440 he gave Catherine some time too think it over. Sure, 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:11.680 he was in his fifties, impotent, rotting, so he had 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:15.480 killed two wives and cruelly disposed of two others. He 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:19.760 was still the king. Catherine would be giving up her 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:24.560 life for a life under a microscope, constantly scrutinized by 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:31.480 the entire court, her neck vulnerable to a mercurial king's whims. 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:36.200 But in return she would get a crown and all 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:40.200 of the wealth and majesty and power of being the 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:46.960 Queen of England. Here's what Catherine knew. Privilege is not 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:51.160 the same as freedom. The massive privileges that would be 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.160 afforded to her by the throne of England would come 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:58.200 at a heavy price. She would lose as much as 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:04.879 she would gain. Henry's will was God's will. It was 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:09.280 around this time that Henry decided, for no particular reason, 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:13.439 that he would send Thomas Seymour out on a new job, 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:19.440 a diplomatic posting in Flanders. Catherine never had any decision 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:23.440 to make. After all, she and the king were married 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:28.320 July twelfth, fifteen forty three, where Henry the Eighth said, 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:37.920 I do for the sixth and final time. The role 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.879 Catherine was to play at court was a delicate one, 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:45.320 but she found almost immediately that it was a role 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:49.880 she was suited for. Henry wanted a wife to dazzle 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:53.960 and entertain his court, to represent the glory of Henry's 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:58.760 court back in its prime, all masquerades and games and dances, 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:03.680 even though Henry was no longer dancing. But to that end, 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.680 he gave Catherine money for jewels and clothing, supported her 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:11.880 interests in music, and sent fresh flowers to her bedchamber 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:17.800 every day. Katherine bathed in milk and herbs. Even though 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:22.480 her relationship with Henry wouldn't be the lusty, passionate affair 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.919 that he had shared with earlier wives, she knew it 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:30.480 was her duty, above all else to be pleasing to him. 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.639 As queen. She was given the full wardrobe from the 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:39.320 dead former Queen Katherine Howard. She was stepping into the 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:44.880 shoes of her predecessor. Literally, every item needed to be tailored. 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:49.080 Katherine Parr was several inches taller than the teenage former queen, 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:53.400 but Catherine found she didn't mind wearing the clothes. They 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:57.200 were beautiful, for one, but they also made her role 0:18:57.280 --> 0:19:00.399 as queen feel like a duty, a duty with a 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:04.800 uniform as if she was in the military. Catherine Parr 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:10.320 was incredibly well liked by everyone at court, will almost everyone. 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:15.000 Another former Queen, Anne of Cleaves, had quietly hoped that, 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:18.280 with Catherine Howard gone, King Henry the Eighth were to 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:24.480 remarry her. Unfortunately, Henry did not agree. When Anne of 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:27.800 Cleaves heard that the position of queen had been filled, 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.320 she murmured that she was surprised the king had married 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:36.800 a woman not nearly as beautiful as she. But to 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:41.119 everyone else, Katherine Parr was a balm for the chaosic 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:46.560 court the preceding few years. She was calm, sensible, kind, smart. 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:52.200 Above all, she was competent. That was why, when Henry 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:56.560 left to lead a military campaign against France, he left 0:19:56.600 --> 0:20:01.800 her as regent. Henry, at fifty three years old, was 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:05.639 desperate to regain some of his former glory, and so 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:09.200 that meant, despite the advice of his doctors and friends, 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:14.080 he would go into battle. He forged an alliance with 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:18.600 the Holy Roman Emperor, commissioned a customized suit of armor 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:22.680 that would fit his considerable size, and left the country 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:28.200 in Catharine Parr's capable hands. The victory, if you could 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.879 call it that, if Henry won three months later was 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:36.760 pretty toothless. Almost immediately afterward. The King of France renewed 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:40.080 his friendship with the Holy Roman Emperor and geared up 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:44.440 to retaliate in England the following summer. But while Henry 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:50.000 was away, Catherine reigned beautifully. She dealt with deserters and 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:54.720 Scottish prisoners, managed the supplies and troops being sent to France, 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:59.760 and reacted swiftly and decisively to an outbreak of the plague. 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:04.080 All the while she wrote letters to Henry telling him 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.080 how deeply she missed him and how much she desired 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:11.720 to be in his presence again. The following year, Catherine 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:16.639 published a book, Prayers or Meditations, the first English book 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:19.600 published by woman under her own name in the country 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:24.840 and the first book ever published by a queen. That Christmas, 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:30.080 her stepdaughter, Princess Elizabeth translated it into Latin and French 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:34.679 and Italian, and bound the translations in red silk and 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:38.280 gave them to Catherine Parr as perhaps the most thoughtful 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:43.840 Christmas gift heretofore ever given. But still it wasn't beyond 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:47.920 notice that Catherine Parr hadn't born Henry a son, or 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:51.640 even yielded a pregnancy, and although of course that wasn't 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:54.600 her fault, it still meant that her position as queen 0:21:55.320 --> 0:22:00.320 wasn't entirely secure. There were rumors in court. There are 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:05.760 always rumors, but one particular rumor put Katherine on edge 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:12.800 and soured her normally genial disposition. Henry's best friend, Charles Brandon, 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:17.000 the Duke of Suffolk, died, leaving his wife, a good 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:22.879 friend of Catherine's, a widow and single, and Henry seemed 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:28.120 to be spending some time, just a respectful time, nothing untoward, 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:35.360 yet comforting her. Again nothing but rumors. But the King 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:40.600 also seemed to be getting annoyed with Katherine Parr more frequently. 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:46.040 Recently she had taken to arguing with him about theology. 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:50.560 When Catherine brought up a hole in one of Henry's arguments, 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:54.600 he snapped at her, it's a good hearing. It is 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:58.679 when women become such clerks, and a thing much to 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:02.080 my comfort in my own old days, to be taught 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:06.040 by a woman. Catherine might have been well liked as 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:10.520 a person in court, but she was evangelical, ordering on Protestant, 0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:15.040 and she wasn't shy about making her beliefs public. She 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:26.359 had enemies, and now they had ammunition. In fifteen forty six, 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:30.200 Anne ask You was tortured for the names of other 0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:35.520 high born women who shared her heretical views. Anne didn't 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:39.240 name names, but the men torturing her got enough to 0:23:39.320 --> 0:23:43.280 implicate the women of Catherine's court. There would be a 0:23:43.320 --> 0:23:49.040 search for heretical literature in their chambers. Fortunately word got 0:23:49.080 --> 0:23:51.960 out ahead of it, so books were stashed and locks 0:23:52.000 --> 0:23:55.800 were changed and nothing was found. But that didn't mean 0:23:56.080 --> 0:24:01.359 Catherine wasn't in danger. After all, she existed at the 0:24:01.400 --> 0:24:08.600 whim of Henry, and Henry hated feeling threatened. After Catherine 0:24:08.680 --> 0:24:14.200 contradicted Henry in debate, a bishop and one of Henry's ministers, Ropsley, 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:18.480 seized the moment to get Henry to sign a warrant 0:24:18.600 --> 0:24:24.399 for her arrest, which he did. Whether it was sheer, 0:24:24.560 --> 0:24:27.760 dumb luck, or a friend looking out for her. A 0:24:27.880 --> 0:24:30.560 copy of the warrant was left out in the open 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:35.040 where Katherine could see it. Catherine had the benefit of 0:24:35.160 --> 0:24:39.080 being the sixth wife of learning from the women who 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:44.679 came before her and their mistakes. Henry was extremely malleable, 0:24:45.320 --> 0:24:48.199 but Katherine Parr also knew that as soon as Henry 0:24:48.280 --> 0:24:51.240 made his mind up about a woman, he would simply 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:54.439 remove her from his presence and not give her the 0:24:54.560 --> 0:24:58.920 chance to speak with him. Her time was extremely limited. 0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:06.480 Wearing one of the dresses that had once belonged to 0:25:06.680 --> 0:25:11.320 foolish dead Katherine Howard, Katherine Parr went to the King 0:25:11.920 --> 0:25:15.879 and did the thing she needed to save herself. She 0:25:16.200 --> 0:25:20.040 graciously thanked the King for his kindness that he had 0:25:20.040 --> 0:25:24.840 taken in sharing his insights and wisdom with her. You see, 0:25:24.960 --> 0:25:29.200 she was only debating him as an intellectual exercise for him, 0:25:29.960 --> 0:25:32.679 so he could take his mind off his pain, and 0:25:32.720 --> 0:25:37.240 so that she could learn from him. So Henry said, 0:25:38.119 --> 0:25:42.359 you don't disagree with me, then, no, of course not. 0:25:42.800 --> 0:25:47.080 Katherine Parr laughed, Your Majesty has very much mistaken me, 0:25:47.400 --> 0:25:50.760 for I have always held it preposterous for a woman 0:25:50.840 --> 0:25:55.639 to instruct her lord. It was a brilliant turn of 0:25:55.760 --> 0:26:01.200 tect Henry swept Catherine Parr on to his knee, reassured 0:26:01.240 --> 0:26:04.440 her of his love for her, and ordered her jewels 0:26:04.480 --> 0:26:10.000 and pearls and furs. That afternoon, Rothsley arrived at the 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:15.400 Queen's gardens with forty armed men, only to find Catherine 0:26:15.720 --> 0:26:21.000 sitting on Henry's knee. Henry had forgotten to call off 0:26:21.080 --> 0:26:25.760 the rest. What are you doing, Henry called, You dare 0:26:25.800 --> 0:26:31.680 to insult our queen with threats out Rothley apologized profusely, 0:26:32.000 --> 0:26:36.560 sweating and bowing. Of course, Catherine knew all about the 0:26:36.680 --> 0:26:41.080 arrest attempt, but Henry didn't know that. She knew. You 0:26:41.200 --> 0:26:43.320 really don't need to be so hard on him, she 0:26:43.440 --> 0:26:49.000 said sweetly to her husband. Henry laughed, Oh, you sweet 0:26:49.119 --> 0:26:53.399 innocent child, If only you knew how little he deserves 0:26:53.480 --> 0:26:58.000 this grace your showing him. Catherine laughed and pulled Henry 0:26:58.040 --> 0:27:01.040 in for a kiss, thinking somewhere in the back of 0:27:01.040 --> 0:27:04.240 her mind that the same was true of the grace 0:27:04.320 --> 0:27:13.040 that she showed Henry. But Catherine wouldn't have too much 0:27:13.119 --> 0:27:17.600 longer to go as Henry's wife. His health was now 0:27:17.640 --> 0:27:22.719 fading and fast. Henry was finding it increasingly difficult to walk. 0:27:23.400 --> 0:27:26.040 He needed to use a ramp to mount his horse. 0:27:27.080 --> 0:27:32.240 Hunting became impossibly exhausting. Most of the time, Henry was 0:27:32.280 --> 0:27:35.720 transported from room to room, being carried on a chair. 0:27:36.840 --> 0:27:41.200 His rooms were heavily perfumed at all times in an 0:27:41.200 --> 0:27:45.840 attempt to cover the smell of his rotting leg always 0:27:45.920 --> 0:27:51.879 wet from his many medicinal baths. That Christmas, Catherine Parr, 0:27:52.200 --> 0:27:56.119 Mary and Elizabeth were sent away from Whitehall so they 0:27:56.160 --> 0:28:00.240 wouldn't have to watch the rest of Henry's decline. Would 0:28:00.240 --> 0:28:03.439 never see him again, though after the first week of 0:28:03.520 --> 0:28:08.520 January Catherine returned, she wasn't permitted to see him. Henry 0:28:08.600 --> 0:28:14.560 died on January twenty eighth, fifteen forty seven. Catherine mourned, 0:28:14.680 --> 0:28:18.280 of course, but her real sorrow would come only when 0:28:18.320 --> 0:28:21.720 she saw the will that Henry had rewritten a month 0:28:21.800 --> 0:28:26.560 before his death. She got plenty of money, an annual allowance, 0:28:26.920 --> 0:28:29.280 and a stipulation that she be treated as a queen 0:28:29.400 --> 0:28:32.359 and not a dowager. But she didn't get what she 0:28:32.480 --> 0:28:37.040 really wanted. She wasn't made regent for the young nine 0:28:37.080 --> 0:28:42.280 year old King Edward. Her political career was entirely over. 0:28:43.640 --> 0:28:47.040 Smart as she was, competent, as she was capable as 0:28:47.080 --> 0:28:51.840 she was, Catherine Parr no longer had any avenue to power. 0:28:53.040 --> 0:28:56.280 She had come close being Henry's wife, and for that 0:28:56.360 --> 0:28:59.520 shining period in fifteen forty four she had tasted it. 0:29:00.360 --> 0:29:03.680 But now she was just a woman again, put in 0:29:03.720 --> 0:29:12.440 her place back where she had started being back where 0:29:12.440 --> 0:29:17.000 she had started wasn't all bad. Four years after she 0:29:17.040 --> 0:29:20.440 had fallen in love with him, Catherine Parr was finally 0:29:20.480 --> 0:29:25.880 able to marry Thomas Seymour. It's a bitter sweet love story. 0:29:26.640 --> 0:29:29.680 I like to end it there without the details that 0:29:29.800 --> 0:29:32.440 perhaps the marriage had happened a bit too fast and 0:29:32.520 --> 0:29:35.680 it was unseemly that she had had to wheedle young 0:29:35.800 --> 0:29:38.560 King Edward to approve the marriage after it had happened. 0:29:39.480 --> 0:29:42.160 It's also a sweeter story if we leave out the 0:29:42.200 --> 0:29:47.000 fact that Thomas Seymour, sociall climber as he was, had 0:29:47.040 --> 0:29:50.600 actually tried to court the thirteen year old Princess Elizabeth 0:29:50.800 --> 0:29:54.880 before marrying Katherine Parr, and that when Elizabeth came to 0:29:54.960 --> 0:29:58.760 live with her former stepmom and new husband Thomas, that 0:29:58.880 --> 0:30:04.240 he would continue blesting her and making sexual overtures until finally, 0:30:04.320 --> 0:30:08.160 out of shame and hurt, Katherine Parr had to send 0:30:08.240 --> 0:30:13.640 young Elizabeth away, never to see her in person again. No, 0:30:13.840 --> 0:30:17.000 it's a better story if we ended there the idea 0:30:17.080 --> 0:30:20.480 that she had lost her love, was dutiful to Henry, 0:30:20.840 --> 0:30:24.160 and then finally got to marry her love and live 0:30:24.200 --> 0:30:27.280 out the rest of her life and peace in a 0:30:27.320 --> 0:30:30.880 different world, Katherine Parr could have led as regent or 0:30:30.920 --> 0:30:34.040 even queen, and we could have seen what she would 0:30:34.080 --> 0:30:38.040 have accomplished instead. Hers is a story of a woman 0:30:38.080 --> 0:30:41.400 who fell in love but was forced into duty instead, 0:30:42.200 --> 0:30:46.680 but met it with savvy and grace. She survived not 0:30:46.840 --> 0:30:55.080 out of luck, but because she made sure that she would. 0:30:57.840 --> 0:31:00.960 That's the story of Catherine Parr's marriage to Henry the Eighth. 0:31:01.360 --> 0:31:04.720 But stick around after a brief sponsor break to hear 0:31:04.920 --> 0:31:09.160