Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Aaron Manky. Listener discretion is advised. After a long
Speaker 1: and treacherous journey from her cloistered life in Spain, Princess
Speaker 1: Catherine finally made it safely to English shores. Katherine, the
Speaker 1: daughter of the illustrious Ferdinand and Isabella, was devoutly religious,
Speaker 1: and so as soon as her ship had landed on
Speaker 1: the English coast, she insisted on going immediately to church.
Speaker 1: Though she was only fifteen, Catherine already felt like a woman. Technically,
Speaker 1: she was already married to Arthur, the Prince of Wales,
Speaker 1: heir to the English throne. They had been married by
Speaker 1: proxy the year before, and they had been betrothed since
Speaker 1: she was three, and so the teenager knew how to
Speaker 1: carry herself like a woman, to carry herself as a
Speaker 1: representative of her parents and of her nation. Because she
Speaker 1: was she had never met her husband. Although they had
Speaker 1: exchanged flowery letters in their mutual language Latin, they wrote
Speaker 1: like teenagers, pretending to be adults. Their tutors had handily
Speaker 1: supplied them with phrases, promises of love and devotion and
Speaker 1: the long awaited pleasure of gazing upon one another's faces.
Speaker 1: Even after making it to England, it would still be
Speaker 1: days before Catherine met the man with whom she had
Speaker 1: promised to spend the rest of her life. From the coast,
Speaker 1: Catherine and her party Spanish servants and ladies and ambassadors
Speaker 1: and chaperones, road to Berkshire and then to a bishop's
Speaker 1: house in Dogsmrefield. Even through a full day of sweaty
Speaker 1: travel along roads pock marked with dust and holes, Katherine
Speaker 1: embodied propriety above all else. She wore a long velvet
Speaker 1: gown in the demure Spanish style and to veil over
Speaker 1: her face, and she rode in a carriage with the
Speaker 1: curtains drawn, even when the summer heat forced its way
Speaker 1: through them and made the skin underneath the fabric of
Speaker 1: Catherine's dress prickle with sweat. When they made it to
Speaker 1: the bishop's house, it was already dark, and Catherine's ladies
Speaker 1: politely demurred the bishop's offer of dinner, and they swept
Speaker 1: their princess to bed. But word had already made it
Speaker 1: to the King of England, Henry the Seventh, that his
Speaker 1: future daughter in law had arrived. He rode out immediately
Speaker 1: to inspect the goods as it were, and so he
Speaker 1: was furious when he arrived, only to be told by
Speaker 1: Catherine's chaperone that the princess had had an exhausting travel
Speaker 1: day and that she had retired to her bedroom for
Speaker 1: the night. King Henry the seventh was outraged. Was the
Speaker 1: princess deformed? Was the portrait? They had sent? The cunning
Speaker 1: lie on the part of the Spanish monarchy to trick
Speaker 1: them and make them appear the fool? Were they sending
Speaker 1: his son damaged goods? He was the king, and he
Speaker 1: demanded to see Princess Catherine. After a few moments, Catherine
Speaker 1: and her ladies emerged from her bed chamber. Catherine wore
Speaker 1: a heavy black veil over her face. Henry the seventh
Speaker 1: was sure they were hiding something, and so he strode
Speaker 1: over and, without even a word of introduction, flung the
Speaker 1: veil back. He was surprised, in spite of himself, she
Speaker 1: was exactly as her portrait had presented her, a beautiful
Speaker 1: fifteen year old girl with clear, creamy skin and thick
Speaker 1: red hair. Her blue eyes were bleary but light and intelligent.
Speaker 1: Very well, the king said, and he bid her good night.
Speaker 1: That interaction would represent Catherine's tenuous position in England for
Speaker 1: the next thirty five years. The rest of her life,
Speaker 1: she was more a symbol than a woman, both a
Speaker 1: bargaining chip and an obstacle. For the rest of Catherine's life,
Speaker 1: she would be fighting an increasingly challenging battle to maintain
Speaker 1: her dignity. She was a player in an unwinnable game,
Speaker 1: a hostage first of Henry the Seventh and then ultimately
Speaker 1: of Henry the eight, her brother in law, who first
Speaker 1: became her husband and then became her enemy. I'm Danis Schwartz,
Speaker 1: and this is noble blood. Catherine didn't know it, but
Speaker 1: blood had already been shed to pave the way for
Speaker 1: her journey to England. In the course of her marriage negotiations,
Speaker 1: back when she was still a toddler crawling on her
Speaker 1: mother's lap, her father had demanded that if their princess
Speaker 1: was to be wed to Arthur, the heir to the
Speaker 1: throne of England, and King Henry the Seven, would need
Speaker 1: to kill a prisoner. Not just any prisoner. He would
Speaker 1: need to kill the young Earl of Warwick, a boy
Speaker 1: who had been in isolation in the Tower of London
Speaker 1: for nearly fifteen years. The Earl of Warwick, still only
Speaker 1: in his early twenties, was the nephew and heir of
Speaker 1: the former King Richard the Third. England's new King, Henry
Speaker 1: the seventh, had beat Richard of the Third in battle
Speaker 1: and made an advantageous marriage to Elizabeth of York afterward,
Speaker 1: but no one really believed that he had any worthwhile
Speaker 1: blood claim to the English throne. Someone like the Earl
Speaker 1: of Warwick did have that blood claim. Sure, the Earl
Speaker 1: was no real threat while he was imprisoned half mad
Speaker 1: from loneliness, but he was still a threat, and Ferdinand
Speaker 1: of Arragon did not want any threats if his daughter
Speaker 1: was to come to England. She was an incredibly eligible princess,
Speaker 1: the youngest daughter of a United Spain a Ferdinand of
Speaker 1: Aragon and Isabella of Castie Eel. Catherine's bloodline was impeccable
Speaker 1: technically on her mother's side. She even had a better
Speaker 1: blood claim to the English throne than Henry the seventh.
Speaker 1: That was most of the reason that Henry the seventh
Speaker 1: wanted her for his son. Catherine represented old European royalty
Speaker 1: everything that he aspired for the brand new House of
Speaker 1: Tudor to be, and so King Henry the seventh trumped
Speaker 1: up charges of an escape attempt and had Warwick executed.
Speaker 1: Princess Catherine would be marrying the future King of England.
Speaker 1: Henry the seventh guaranteed it, and so Spain agreed on
Speaker 1: a dowry of two hundred thousand crowns, and when young
Speaker 1: Prince Arthur turned fourteen old enough to consummate a marriage,
Speaker 1: Catherine was shipped to England for a wedding that would
Speaker 1: make all of Europe pay attention. Catherine came to London
Speaker 1: two days before her wedding in a gown with bell
Speaker 1: shaped sleeves and a hooped petticoat that made her as
Speaker 1: wide as she was high. The look was unlike anything
Speaker 1: anyone was wearing in England. It was unmistakably Spanish. Catherine
Speaker 1: also wore a jaunty little cap on her head with
Speaker 1: gold lace to tie it beneath her chin in the
Speaker 1: Venetian style. Escorted by the Lord Mayor of London, Catherine
Speaker 1: came through the city to watch the elaborate pageants that
Speaker 1: people had set up for her, tableaus with sets and
Speaker 1: costumes on the street. In one tableau, a paper Welsh
Speaker 1: dragon and green represented her husband to be Arthur, the
Speaker 1: Prince of Wales. In another tableau, the archangel Gabriel came
Speaker 1: down to a figure meant to represent Catherine, reminding her
Speaker 1: that her chief duty was for the procreation of children.
Speaker 1: A god character then came down and declared, blessed be
Speaker 1: the fruit of your belly, your substance and fruits I
Speaker 1: shall increase and multiply. England was coming out of civil
Speaker 1: war between the Yorks and the Lancasters. The dynasty wasn't
Speaker 1: entirely secure yet, but Henry the Seven and his heir
Speaker 1: Arthur represented a stable future. And now they had this young,
Speaker 1: beautiful Spanish princess who was ready to continue the tutor line.
Speaker 1: When Arthur and Catherine finally met in person, they smiled
Speaker 1: and blushed, still teenagers even as they were play acting adults.
Speaker 1: They tried to converse in Latin, but they found that
Speaker 1: they couldn't quite understand each other. They had been taught
Speaker 1: different pronunciations. A Spanish ambassador assured Arthur that Catherine would
Speaker 1: learn English soon enough. Arthur's little brother, Henry, then just
Speaker 1: ten years old, peeked out at the princess, who had
Speaker 1: arrived from a distant land. He whispered into his brother's
Speaker 1: coat that she was beautiful. Arthur smiled, and he kissed
Speaker 1: Catherine on the cheek. The wedding was a spectacle, with
Speaker 1: Arthur and Catherine both in heavy crowns and in velvet
Speaker 1: robes trimmed with ermine. When they completed their vows, doves
Speaker 1: and rabbits were released outside St. Paul's cathedral. In a
Speaker 1: moment of delicious chaos, a children's choir sang them out
Speaker 1: and into their marriage bed. The Warthur was at this
Speaker 1: point only fifteen years old and have a particularly sickly constitution.
Speaker 1: The morning after his wedding, he strolled out of his
Speaker 1: bed chamber and bodily told his friends to pour him
Speaker 1: an ale. Marriage is thirsty work, he said, poking a
Speaker 1: friend in the ribs. Gentlemen, he announced, when he had
Speaker 1: his mead to hold high. I have spent the night
Speaker 1: in Spain. Catherine privately told her ladies that they hadn't
Speaker 1: done anything but sleep side by side and offer each
Speaker 1: other a chaste kiss good night. The day after the wedding,
Speaker 1: King Henry the seventh sent most of catherine Spanish entourage home,
Speaker 1: leaving Catherine more isolated than she ever been in her
Speaker 1: entire life in a strange country and in bed with
Speaker 1: the stranger King Henry tried to distract her that day.
Speaker 1: He showed her his library, and he let her choose
Speaker 1: a new ring for herself, But Catherine couldn't stop looking
Speaker 1: out the window, looking back towards the land she had
Speaker 1: left and to which he would now never return. Though
Speaker 1: Arthur's health seemed to decline in the weeks following his wedding,
Speaker 1: the pale, weedy boy becoming even paler and weedier, he
Speaker 1: was still the Prince of Wales, and so the newly
Speaker 1: wed couple set off to Ludlow Castle in the Welsh
Speaker 1: Marshes so Arthur could gain some experience in governance. Because
Speaker 1: Arthur's color continued to fade, courtiers joked that the boy
Speaker 1: was just over exerting himself in the marriage bed. When
Speaker 1: both Catherine and Arthur fell sick, with the sweating sickness
Speaker 1: drenching their clothes, leaving them delirious with fever, people stopped
Speaker 1: making jokes. On April three, Confessor woke King Henry the
Speaker 1: Seventh in the middle of the night in his palace
Speaker 1: in Surrey. The King, still bleary eyed, just stared at
Speaker 1: his confessor, who recited, stuttering, if we receive good things
Speaker 1: at the hand of God, why may we not endure
Speaker 1: evil things. The King didn't respond, and so the confessor
Speaker 1: lowered his eyes, and he was forced to continue. Your
Speaker 1: dearest son, he said, hath departed to God. Arthur, Prince
Speaker 1: of Wales and heir to the English throne, was dead.
Speaker 1: When Catherine recovered from the sweating sickness, she woke to
Speaker 1: a new life as a widow alone in a foreign land.
Speaker 1: She had been married for only six months. As tradition dictated,
Speaker 1: Catherine did not attend her husband's funeral. Shrouded in black
Speaker 1: in heavy veils, she returned to London to see what
Speaker 1: her future wouldn't tail. Catherine's father, King Ferdinand, demanded that
Speaker 1: England repay her dowry. It was negotiation tactic to frighten
Speaker 1: Henry the seventh into agreeing to a new betrothal to
Speaker 1: his next son, the new heir Henry. There were a
Speaker 1: few obstacles that would prevent Catherine from becoming engaged to
Speaker 1: the very young Henry Tudor. First, that Catherine was over
Speaker 1: five years older than him. The new widow was sixteen.
Speaker 1: The young prince was eleven, but that age difference wouldn't
Speaker 1: matter much as Henry aged by the time he was
Speaker 1: fourteen able to consummate a marriage. It wouldn't raise too
Speaker 1: many eyebrows for him to be going to bed with
Speaker 1: an older woman. But the much bigger barrier was the Bible,
Speaker 1: which forbade a man to marry his brother's widow. To
Speaker 1: be fair, the Bible wasn't entirely clear on the matter.
Speaker 1: Leviticus explicitly forbade marriage between a man and his brother's wife,
Speaker 1: declaring outright that such a union would be cursed with childlessness.
Speaker 1: But then again, in Deuteronomy, it's basically encouraged for a
Speaker 1: man to marry his brother's widow. If the couple was childless,
Speaker 1: it's painted as an act of charity. But that religious
Speaker 1: complication could be brushed aside if the marriage between Catherine
Speaker 1: and Arthur was never consummated. Impatient with the hemming and
Speaker 1: hawing of advisers and ambassadors, King Henry the seventh summoned
Speaker 1: Katherine and explicitly asked her if she and Arthur had
Speaker 1: slept together. Catherine shook her head. She and Arthur had
Speaker 1: laid together for six nights, but never as a man
Speaker 1: and wife. There Henry the seventh said, do you see simple,
Speaker 1: we shall keep the dowry and Henry shall Mary Spain.
Speaker 1: So it was agreed the marriage was set to take
Speaker 1: place in fifteen o five, when Prince Henry was fourteen
Speaker 1: years old. Spain would send a delegation to the Pope
Speaker 1: for special dispensation in order to settle any lingering doubts
Speaker 1: about the marriage's legality, and so Catherine and Henry were
Speaker 1: formally betrothed in a ceremony in which Catherine wore white,
Speaker 1: looking as virginal as she possibly could, with her hair
Speaker 1: unbound in loose waves down past her shoulder to signify
Speaker 1: her purity. But until Henry turned fourteen, Katherine remained in England,
Speaker 1: not quite a guest but not quite a member of
Speaker 1: the royal family either. She was given a minimal household
Speaker 1: and an allowance, but not much else. But then Catherine's
Speaker 1: mother died in Spain, the illustrious Isabella of Castile. That
Speaker 1: would be devastating under any circumstance, but with her mother's death,
Speaker 1: Catherine lost her dynastic importance. Technically, Castile went to Catherine's
Speaker 1: older sister Juana. But everyone knew that Juana was volatile,
Speaker 1: verging on unhinged, and so the real power was Juana's husband,
Speaker 1: Philip the Hansom, the son of the Holy Roman Emperor.
Speaker 1: But all that just meant that with Isabella dead, Catherine
Speaker 1: was no longer a princess of a United Spain. She
Speaker 1: was instead just the princess now of the smaller, less
Speaker 1: important region of Argon. Her father's kingdom. Henry Tudor was
Speaker 1: going to be the King of England some day. He
Speaker 1: could probably find a much better marriage. Abruptly, King Henry
Speaker 1: the Seventh stopped Catherine's allowance. The king began treating her
Speaker 1: with cruel disdain when he didn't outright ignore her. Catherine
Speaker 1: wasn't sent back to Spain, of course, not that would
Speaker 1: mean having to give back her dowry, but Catherine was
Speaker 1: kept more like a hostage, temporarily kept safe and confined
Speaker 1: until a better marriage match for Henry Tudor could be made.
Speaker 1: Henry's fourteenth birthday came and went, and there was no
Speaker 1: mention of any upcoming wedding. Catherine became aware, with the
Speaker 1: sinking feeling that there may be no wedding coming at all.
Speaker 1: She didn't know that King Henry the seventh had already
Speaker 1: brought his son to the Bishop of Winchester to have
Speaker 1: him formally revoke the promise of betrothal. He made the
Speaker 1: two kept it a secret in case Henry would need
Speaker 1: to marry Catherine after all. All the while, Catherine's circumstances
Speaker 1: became more and more desperate. From the house she had
Speaker 1: been staying at in London. Catherine was brought to court
Speaker 1: so that the King could save on the cost of
Speaker 1: maintaining a separate household for her. But living in court
Speaker 1: meant that she was in a constant fish bowl of
Speaker 1: gossip and speculation and pity. With no allowance, Catherine had
Speaker 1: no way to pay her staff or pay the dowries
Speaker 1: of her loyal ladies in waiting, who had come with
Speaker 1: her all the way from Spain in the hopes that
Speaker 1: they would be making an advantageous marriage while they were
Speaker 1: in England. Now Catherine was in the humiliating position of
Speaker 1: having to tell them that there were no dowries available.
Speaker 1: Her servants were working for nothing but loyalty. The few
Speaker 1: gowns that Catherine had brought with her from Spain were
Speaker 1: growing thin and threadbare. An inches too short on the
Speaker 1: growing teenage girl. She was heavily in debt to London
Speaker 1: merchants for the few necessities that she couldn't borrow or
Speaker 1: construct from her meager belongings. Catherine continued to send frantic
Speaker 1: letters to her father, begging him for some financial support,
Speaker 1: but Ferdinand refused. Catherine was under the supervision of King
Speaker 1: Henry the Seventh and her upkeep was his responsibility. It
Speaker 1: was four torturous years of limbo, confusion, loneliness, and humiliation.
Speaker 1: But then there was one bright spot. In January of
Speaker 1: fifteen o six, Catherine's sister Juana and her husband Philip
Speaker 1: were sailing from the Low Countries to Spain when they
Speaker 1: were shipwrecked off the coast of England, and the pair
Speaker 1: were coming to visit the English court. Catherine had not
Speaker 1: seen her sister for ten years, and she was thrilled
Speaker 1: at the prospect of her union. When Juana and Philip
Speaker 1: arrived at court, Catherine was surprised to see that she
Speaker 1: was invited to sit at the top table. Catherine was
Speaker 1: treated with a kindness that was now so unfamiliar to
Speaker 1: her that it made her uneasy. King Henry the Seventh
Speaker 1: clearly did not want Juan and Philip to see how
Speaker 1: poorly their kin was being treated. But Catherine didn't mind.
Speaker 1: She was seeing her sister again, and when she got
Speaker 1: her alone, she could beg Juan at to in a
Speaker 1: good word for her with King Henry. Maybe if Juanna
Speaker 1: asked him, Henry would finally set the marriage between Catherine
Speaker 1: and the Prince. When their meeting finally came, Catherine was
Speaker 1: only permitted half an hour of a lone time with Juanna.
Speaker 1: Before Catherine even had a moment to ask Juana for help,
Speaker 1: Juanna began in a panic, telling her sister how miserable
Speaker 1: she was with Philip and his philandering, how she knew
Speaker 1: that he was cheating on her, but how she was
Speaker 1: too madly in love with him to confront him about it,
Speaker 1: and before she knew it, the meeting was over. Catherine
Speaker 1: had never had a chance to ask her for help.
Speaker 1: But while the two women were speaking, Philip was meeting
Speaker 1: with King Henry the seventh and secretly trying to arrange
Speaker 1: negotiations for his and Juanna's daughter Eleanor to be the
Speaker 1: one to marry Prince Henry. The visit that was supposed
Speaker 1: to be Catherine's salvation was actually a betrayal. Catherine never
Speaker 1: saw her sister again, and just six months after at
Speaker 1: the meeting in England, Philip died, only twenty eight years old.
Speaker 1: They say that his death left Wana unhinged, that she
Speaker 1: refused to let him be buried, and that she kept
Speaker 1: his corpse in an open coffin, continually kissing and embracing
Speaker 1: the decaying body of her former husband until it was
Speaker 1: pulled away while she sobbed. Catherine had no allies left.
Speaker 1: She was deeply in debt from supplying her staff with
Speaker 1: clothing and food, left without even enough money to buy
Speaker 1: herself a new nightgown. She was pawning her possessions, her
Speaker 1: last relics of home, one by one, in order to
Speaker 1: maintain a semblance of the proper appearance required for her station.
Speaker 1: Prince Henry, who had once been a cherubic ten year old,
Speaker 1: had grown into a young man. But when Henry showed
Speaker 1: even a fraction of affection towards Catherine, a woman he
Speaker 1: had known for almost all of his formative years, the
Speaker 1: king forced them apart and then banished Catherine to Fulham.
Speaker 1: Affection would have no place in the negotiations of who
Speaker 1: an heir would marry. Catherine, now an old maid at
Speaker 1: twenty one years old, returned to court only for the
Speaker 1: tournaments of Prince Henry's sixteenth birthday celebrations. The two exchanged
Speaker 1: shy smiles and flirtatious glances, but they knew enough not
Speaker 1: to make their affections public. But then a stroke of
Speaker 1: luck for Catherine, her captor, Henry the Seventh, died of tuberculosis,
Speaker 1: and Prince Henry became Henry the Eighth. It seemed a
Speaker 1: foregone conclusion who the golden new teenage king would be
Speaker 1: choosing for his new bride. He had seen Catherine of
Speaker 1: Arragon from back when she was a beautiful girl. He
Speaker 1: had seen her grow through hardship and suffering into a
Speaker 1: beautiful young woman. She was his first crush, the face
Speaker 1: he always pictured when he imagined his queen, and he
Speaker 1: was the king. Now Henry the Eighth was her savior
Speaker 1: her night in shining armor, King Henry the Eighth was
Speaker 1: in charge, and he would marry whoever he wanted. That's
Speaker 1: the story of how Catherine of Arragon married King Henry
Speaker 1: the Eighth. But keep listening. After a brief sponsor break
Speaker 1: to hear about how their story ended. They were married
Speaker 1: for twenty four years, but what had once been alight
Speaker 1: with youth and promise eventually became sour and hard. One
Speaker 1: miscarriage became two became seven. Although Catherine bore a daughter, Mary,
Speaker 1: there was no legitimate tudor son, no one to carry
Speaker 1: on the precarious dynasty that had been the reason for
Speaker 1: securing Catherine of Arragon in marriage in the first place.
Speaker 1: Most people know the story from then how Henry became
Speaker 1: besotted with Anne Boleyn and attempted to force Catherine into
Speaker 1: a divorce, claiming that since she had been married to
Speaker 1: his brother, their marriage was never legitimate to begin with.
Speaker 1: Catherine could have agreed, She could have bit her tongue
Speaker 1: and allowed the marriage to be annulled, to just agree
Speaker 1: with whatever Henry said and let herself settle into a
Speaker 1: position of well loved sister of the king. But Catherine
Speaker 1: never wavered from her story. Her wedding with Arthur was
Speaker 1: never consummated, her marriage with Henry was true, and her
Speaker 1: daughter Mary was legitimate. Catherine's devout Catholic faith would never
Speaker 1: allow her to agree to a divorce, and so prideful stubborn,
Speaker 1: righteous Katherine once again became a hostage in England. She
Speaker 1: was moved from palace to palace, each one bleaker and
Speaker 1: colder and more isolated than the last. More and more
Speaker 1: of her servants and friends were stripped away from her.
Speaker 1: She was forbidden from seeing her daughter Mary, though Katherine
Speaker 1: pled for her and Mary begged to see her mother,
Speaker 1: they would be allowed to see each other. Henry said
Speaker 1: only if Catherine agreed for the marriage to be annulled.
Speaker 1: She refused. Catherine of Arragon died, maintaining that she was
Speaker 1: the rightful Queen of England and Henry the eighth only
Speaker 1: true wife. Noble Blood is a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Aaron Mankey. The show was written and hosted
Speaker 1: by Dana Schwartz and produced by Aaron Mankey, Matt Frederick,
Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Trevor Young. Noble Blood is on social
Speaker 1: media at Noble Blood Tales, and you can learn more
Speaker 1: about the show over at Noble Blood Tales dot com.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. M