Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised.
Speaker 2: This is Danishchwart's host of Noble Blood. I am off
Speaker 2: taking a brief maternity leave and so this week I
Speaker 2: am so excited to share one of my absolute favorite
Speaker 2: early episodes of the show from the archives, an episode
Speaker 2: about Henry the Eighth's first wife, Katherine. Though most people
Speaker 2: only associate her with the end of her life and
Speaker 2: Henry's attempts to divorce her, this episode focuses mainly on
Speaker 2: Catherine's early life, back before she married Henry the Eighth,
Speaker 2: when she was trapped in limbo as a bargaining chip
Speaker 2: in England after the death of her first husband, I
Speaker 2: hope you enjoy.
Speaker 1: After a long and treacherous journey from her cloistered life
Speaker 1: in Spain, Princess Catherine finally made it safely to English shores. Catherine,
Speaker 1: the 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, rode to Berkshire and then to a bishop's
Speaker 1: house in Dogsmurfield. Even through a full day of sweaty
Speaker 1: travel along roads pock marked with dust and holes, Catherine
Speaker 1: embodied propriety above all else. She wore a long velvet
Speaker 1: gown in the demure Spanish style and a 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 was already dark, and Catherine's ladies politely
Speaker 1: demurred the bishop's offer of dinner, and they swept their
Speaker 1: princess to bed. But word had already made it to
Speaker 1: the King of England, Henry the seventh, that his future
Speaker 1: daughter in law had arrived. He rode out immediately to
Speaker 1: inspect the goods, as it were, and so he was
Speaker 1: furious when he arrived, only to be told by Catherine's
Speaker 1: chaperone that the princess had had an exhausting travel day
Speaker 1: and that she had retired to her bedroom for the night.
Speaker 1: King Henry the seventh was outraged. Was the princess deformed?
Speaker 1: Was the portrait they had sent? Just a cunning lie
Speaker 1: on the part of the Spanish monarchy to trick them
Speaker 1: and make them appear the fool were they sending his
Speaker 1: son damaged goods? He was the king and he demanded
Speaker 1: to see Princess Catherine. After a few moments, Catherine and
Speaker 1: her ladies emerged from her bedchamber. Catherine wore a heavy
Speaker 1: black veil over her face. Henry the seventh was sure
Speaker 1: they were hiding something, and so he strode over and,
Speaker 1: without even a word of introduction, flung the veil back.
Speaker 1: He was surprised, in spite of himself, she was exactly
Speaker 1: as her portrait had presented her, a beautiful fifteen year
Speaker 1: old girl with clear, creamy skin and thick red hair.
Speaker 1: Her blue eyes were bleary but light and intelligent. Very well,
Speaker 1: the king said, and he bid her good night. That
Speaker 1: interaction would represent Catherine's tenuous position in England for the
Speaker 1: next thirty five years. The rest of her life. She
Speaker 1: was more symbol than a woman, both a bargaining chip
Speaker 1: and an obstacle. For the rest of Catherine's life, she
Speaker 1: would be fighting an increasingly challenging battle to maintain her dignity.
Speaker 1: She was a player in an unwinnable game, a hostage
Speaker 1: for of Henry the seventh and then ultimately of Henry
Speaker 1: the Eighth, her brother in law, who first became her
Speaker 1: husband and then became her enemy. I'm Danas Schwartz, and
Speaker 1: this is noble blood. Catherine didn't know it, but blood
Speaker 1: had already been shed to pave the way for her
Speaker 1: 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 weed to Arthur, the heir to the
Speaker 1: throne of England, then King Henry the seventh 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 the Third in battle and
Speaker 1: made an advantageous marriage to Elizabeth of York afterward, but
Speaker 1: no one really believed that he had any worthwhile blood
Speaker 1: claim to the English throne. Someone like the Earl of
Speaker 1: Warwick did have that blood claim. Sure, the Earl was
Speaker 1: no real threat while he was imprisoned half mad from loneliness,
Speaker 1: but he was still a threat, and Ferdinand of Aragon
Speaker 1: did not want any threats if his daughter was to
Speaker 1: come to England. She was an incredibly eligible princess, the
Speaker 1: youngest daughter of a United Spain a Ferdinand of Aragon
Speaker 1: and Isabella of Castile. Catherine's bloodline was impeccable technically on
Speaker 1: her mother's side. She even had a better blood claim
Speaker 1: to the English throne than Henry the Seventh. That was
Speaker 1: most of the reason that Henry the seventh wanted her
Speaker 1: for his son. Catherine represented old European royalty everything that
Speaker 1: he aspired for the new House of Tutor to be,
Speaker 1: and so King Henry the seventh trumped up charges of
Speaker 1: an escape attempt and had Warwick executed. Princess Catherine would
Speaker 1: be marrying the future King of England. Henry the seventh
Speaker 1: guaranteed it, and so Spain agreed on a dowry of
Speaker 1: two hundred thousand crowns, and when young Prince Arthur turned
Speaker 1: fourteen old enough to consummate a marriage, Catherine was shipped
Speaker 1: to England for a wedding that would make all of
Speaker 1: Europe pay attention. Catherine came to London two days before
Speaker 1: her wedding in a gown with bell shaped sleeves and
Speaker 1: a hooped petticoat that made her as wide as she
Speaker 1: was high. The look was unlike anything anyone was wearing
Speaker 1: in England. It was unmistakably Spanish. Catherine also wore a
Speaker 1: jaunty little cap on her head with gold lace to
Speaker 1: tie it beneath her chin in the Venetian style. Escorted
Speaker 1: by the Lord Mayor of London, and Catherine came through
Speaker 1: the city to watch the elaborate pageants that people had
Speaker 1: set up for her, tableaus with sets and costumes on
Speaker 1: the street. In one tableau, a paper whilst dragon and
Speaker 1: green represented her husband to be Arthur, the Prince of Wales.
Speaker 1: In another tableaux, the archangel Gabriel came down to a
Speaker 1: figure meant to represent Catherine, reminding her that her chief
Speaker 1: duty was for the procreation of children. A god character
Speaker 1: then came down and declared, blessed be the fruit of
Speaker 1: your belly, your substance and fruits I shall increase and multiply.
Speaker 1: England was coming out of civil war between the Yorks
Speaker 1: and the Lancasters. The dynasty wasn't entirely secure yet, but
Speaker 1: Henry the seventh and his heir, Arthur, represented a stable future,
Speaker 1: and now they had this young, beautiful Spanish princess who
Speaker 1: was ready to continue the Tudor line. When Arthur and
Speaker 1: Catherine finally met in person, they smiled and blushed, still
Speaker 1: teenagers even as they were play acting adults. They tried
Speaker 1: to converse in Latin, but they found that they couldn't
Speaker 1: quite understand each other. They had been taught different pronunciations.
Speaker 1: A Spanish ambassador assured Arthur that Catherine would learn English
Speaker 1: soon enough. Arthur's little brother, Henry, then just ten years old,
Speaker 1: peeked out at the princess who had arrived from a
Speaker 1: distant land. He whispered into his brother's coat that she
Speaker 1: was beautiful. Arthur smiled, and he kissed Catherine on the cheek.
Speaker 1: The wedding was a spectacle, with Arthur and Catherine both
Speaker 1: in heavy crowns and in velvet robes trimmed with ermine.
Speaker 1: When they completed their vows, doves and rabbits were released
Speaker 1: outside Saint Paul's Cathedral. In a moment of delicious chaos,
Speaker 1: a children's choir sang them out and into their marriage bed.
Speaker 1: The Arthur was at this point only fifteen years old,
Speaker 1: and I've a particularly sickly constitution. The morning after his wedding,
Speaker 1: he strolled out of his bed chamber and bodily told
Speaker 1: his friends to pour him in ale. Marriage is thirsty work,
Speaker 1: he said, poking a friend in the ribs. Gentlemen, he announced,
Speaker 1: when he had his meed to hold high. I have
Speaker 1: spent the night in Spain. Catherine privately told her ladies
Speaker 1: that they hadn't done anything but sleep side by side
Speaker 1: and offer each other a chaste kiss good night. The
Speaker 1: day after the wedding, King Henry the Seventh sent most
Speaker 1: of catherine Spanish entourage home, leaving Catherine more isolated than
Speaker 1: she had ever been in her entire life, in a
Speaker 1: strange country and in bed with a stranger. King Henry
Speaker 1: tried to distract her that day. He showed her his library,
Speaker 1: and he let her choose a new ring for herself,
Speaker 1: but Catherine couldn't stop looking out the window, looking back
Speaker 1: towards the land she had left and to which would
Speaker 1: now never return. Though Arthur's health seemed to decline in
Speaker 1: the weeks following his wedding, the pale, weedy boy becoming
Speaker 1: even paler and weedier, he was still the Prince of Wales,
Speaker 1: and so the newlywed couple set off to Ludlow Castle
Speaker 1: in the Welsh Marshes so Arthur could gain some experience
Speaker 1: in governance. As Arthur's color continued to fade, courtiers joked
Speaker 1: that the boy was just over exerting himself in the
Speaker 1: marriage bed. When both Catherine and Arthur fell sick, with
Speaker 1: the sweating sickness drenching their clothes, leaving them delirious with fever,
Speaker 1: people stopped making jokes. On April third, a confessor woke
Speaker 1: King Henry the seventh in the middle of the night
Speaker 1: in his palace in Surrey. The king, still bleary eyed,
Speaker 1: just stared at his confessor, who recited, stuttering, if we
Speaker 1: receive good things at the hand of God, why may
Speaker 1: we not endure evil things. The King didn't respond, and
Speaker 1: so the confessor lowered his eyes and he was forced
Speaker 1: to continue. Your dearest son, he said, hath departed to God. Arthur,
Speaker 1: Prince of Wales and heir to the English throne, was dead.
Speaker 1: When Catherine recovered from this wedding 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 would entail. Catherine's father, King Ferdinand, demanded that
Speaker 1: England repay her dowry. It was ociation 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 basically encouraged for a
Speaker 1: man to make Mary his brother's widow if the couple
Speaker 1: was childless. It's painted as an act of charity. But
Speaker 1: that religious complication could be brushed aside if the marriage
Speaker 1: between Catherine and Arthur was never consummated. Impatient with the
Speaker 1: hemming and hawing of advisers ambassadors, King Henry the seventh
Speaker 1: summoned Katherine and explicitly asked her if she and Arthur
Speaker 1: had slept together. Catherine shook her head. She and Arthur
Speaker 1: had laid together for six nights, but never as a
Speaker 1: man and wife. There Henry the seventh said, do you
Speaker 1: see simple, We shall keep the dowry and Henry shall
Speaker 1: marry Spain. So it was agreed the marriage was set
Speaker 1: to take place in fifteen o five, when Prince Henry
Speaker 1: was fourteen years old. Spain would send a delegation to
Speaker 1: the pope for special dispensation in order to settle any
Speaker 1: lingering doubts about the marriage's legality, and so Catherine and
Speaker 1: Henry were formally betrothed in a ceremony, in which Catherine
Speaker 1: wore white, looking as virginal as she possibly could, with
Speaker 1: her hair unbound in loose waves down past her shoulder
Speaker 1: to signify her purity. But until Henry turned fourteen, Catherine
Speaker 1: remained in England, not quite a guest but not quite
Speaker 1: a member of the royal family either. She was given
Speaker 1: a minimal household and an allowance, but not much else.
Speaker 1: But then Catherine's mother died in Spain, the illustrious Isabella
Speaker 1: of Castile. That would be devastating under any circumstance, but
Speaker 1: with her mother's death, Catherine lost her dynastic importance. Technically,
Speaker 1: Castile went to Catherine's older sister, Juana, but everyone knew
Speaker 1: that Juana was volatile, verging on unhinged, and so the
Speaker 1: real power was Swana's husband, Philip the Hansom, the son
Speaker 1: of the Holy Roman Emperor. But all that just meant
Speaker 1: that with Isabella dead, Katherine was no longer a princess
Speaker 1: of a United Spain. She was instead just the princess
Speaker 1: now of the smaller, less important region of Argonne, her
Speaker 1: father's kingdom. Henry Tudor was going to be the King
Speaker 1: of England someday he could probably find a much better marriage. Abruptly,
Speaker 1: King Henry the seventh stopped Catherine's allowance. The King began
Speaker 1: treating her with cool disdain when he didn't outright ignore her.
Speaker 1: Catherine wasn't sent back to Spain, of course, not that
Speaker 1: would mean having to give back her dowry, but Catherine
Speaker 1: was kept more like a hostage, temporarily kept safe and
Speaker 1: confined until a better marriage match for Henry Tudor could
Speaker 1: be made. Henry's fourteenth birthday came and went, and there
Speaker 1: was no mention of any upcoming wedding. Catherine became aware
Speaker 1: with the sinking feeling that there may be no wedding
Speaker 1: coming at all. She didn't know that King Henry the
Speaker 1: seventh had already brought his son to the Bishop of
Speaker 1: Winchester to have him formally revoke the promise of betrothal.
Speaker 1: He made the two kept it a secret in case
Speaker 1: Henry would need to marry Catherine after all. All the while,
Speaker 1: Catherine's circumstances became more and more desperate from the house
Speaker 1: she had been staying at in London. Catherine was brought
Speaker 1: to court so that the king could save on the
Speaker 1: cost of maintaining a separate household for her, but living
Speaker 1: in court meant that she was in a constant fish
Speaker 1: bowl of gossip and speculation and pity. With no allowance,
Speaker 1: Catherine had no way to pay her staff or pay
Speaker 1: the dowries of her loyal ladies in waiting, who had
Speaker 1: come with her all the way from Spain in the
Speaker 1: hopes that they would be making an advantageous marriage while
Speaker 1: they were in England. Now Catherine was in the humiliating
Speaker 1: position of 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, and 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 Juana 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 Juana to put in a
Speaker 1: good word for her with King Henry. Maybe, if Juana
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 alone time with Juana.
Speaker 1: Before Catherine even had a moment to ask Juana for help.
Speaker 1: Juana again 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 Juana's daughter Eleanor to be the one
Speaker 1: to marry Prince Henry. The visit that was supposed to
Speaker 1: be Catherine's salvation was actually a betrayal. Catherine never saw
Speaker 1: her sister again, and just six months after the meeting
Speaker 1: in England, Philip died, only twenty eight years old. They
Speaker 1: say that his death Leftuana unhinged, that she refused to
Speaker 1: let him be buried, and that she kept his corpse
Speaker 1: in an open coffin, continually kissing and embracing the decaying
Speaker 1: body of her former husband until it was poled away
Speaker 1: while she sobbed. Catherine had no allies left. She was
Speaker 1: deeply in debt from supplying her staff with clothing and food,
Speaker 1: left without even enough money to buy herself a new nightgown.
Speaker 1: She was pawning her possessions, her last relics of home,
Speaker 1: one by one, in order to maintain a semblance of
Speaker 1: the proper appearance required for her station. Prince Henry, who
Speaker 1: had once been a cherubic ten year old, had grown
Speaker 1: into a young man. But when Henry showed even a
Speaker 1: fraction of affection towards Catherine, a woman he had known
Speaker 1: for almost all of his formative years, the king forced
Speaker 1: them apart and then banished Catherine to Fulham. Affection would
Speaker 1: have no place in the negotiations of who an heir
Speaker 1: would marry. Catherine, now an old maid at twenty one
Speaker 1: years old, returned to court only for the tournaments of
Speaker 1: Prince Henry's sixteenth birthday celebrations. The two exchanged shy smiles
Speaker 1: and flirtatious glances, but they knew enough not to make
Speaker 1: their affections public. But then a struggle of luck for Catherine,
Speaker 1: her captor, Henry the Seventh, died of tuberculosis, and Prince
Speaker 1: Henry became Henry the Eighth. It seemed a foregone conclusion
Speaker 1: who the golden new teenage king would be choosing for
Speaker 1: his new bride. He had seen Catherine of Arragon from
Speaker 1: back when she was a beautiful girl. He had seen
Speaker 1: her grow through hardship and suffering into a beautiful young woman.
Speaker 1: She was his first crush, the face he always pictured
Speaker 1: when he imagined his queen, and he was the king.
Speaker 1: Now Henry the Eighth was her savior, her night in
Speaker 1: shining armor. King Henry the Eighth was in charge, and
Speaker 1: he would marry whoever he wanted. That's the story of
Speaker 1: how Catherine of Aragon married King Henry the Eighth. But
Speaker 1: keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear about
Speaker 1: how their story ended. They were married for twenty four years,
Speaker 1: but what had once been alight with youth and promise
Speaker 1: eventually became sour and hard. One miscarriage became two became seven.
Speaker 1: Although Catherine bore a daughter, Mary, there was no legitimate
Speaker 1: tutor son, no one to carry on the precarious dynasty
Speaker 1: that had been the reason for securing Catherine of Aragon
Speaker 1: in marriage in the first place. Most people know the
Speaker 1: story from then how Henry became besotted with Anne Boleyn
Speaker 1: and attempted to force Catherine into a divorce, claiming that
Speaker 1: since she had been married to his brother, the marriage
Speaker 1: was never legitimate to begin with. Catherine could have agreed,
Speaker 1: She could have bit her tongue and allowed the marriage
Speaker 1: to be annulled, to just agree with whatever Henry said
Speaker 1: and let herself settle into a position of well loved
Speaker 1: sister of the king. But Katherine never wavered from her story.
Speaker 1: Her wedding with Arthur was never consummated, her marriage with
Speaker 1: Henry was true, and her daughter Mary was legitimate. Catherine's
Speaker 1: devout Catholic faith would never allow her to agree to
Speaker 1: a divorce, and so prideful, stubborn, righteous Catherine once again
Speaker 1: became a hostage in England. She was moved from pallace
Speaker 1: to palace, each one bleaker and colder and more isolated
Speaker 1: than the last. More and more of her servants and
Speaker 1: friends were stripped away from her. She was forbidden from
Speaker 1: se her daughter Mary, though Katherine pled for her and
Speaker 1: Mary begged to see her mother. They would be allowed
Speaker 1: to see each other, Henry said only if Katherine agreed
Speaker 1: for the marriage to be annulled. She refused. Katherine of
Speaker 1: Aragon died, maintaining that she was the rightful Queen of
Speaker 1: England and Henry the Eighth's only true wife. Noble Blood
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from
Speaker 1: Aaron Manke. Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz,
Speaker 1: with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick,
Speaker 1: Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and Julia Milaney. The show is
Speaker 1: edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producerrima Ill
Speaker 1: Kayli and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.