WEBVTT - Survived 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:03.800 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:08.360 and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minkie. Listener discretion is advised. 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:16.360 It was an incredibly dangerous thing to be a woman 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:22.119 in the sixteenth century who disagreed with her husband. A 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:26.480 woman named Anne Askew was born in fifteen twenty one 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:31.000 in Lincolnshire. When she was fifteen years old, her sister died. 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:35.320 Her sister had been engaged to a man named Thomas Kim, 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:40.400 and to save money on the dowries and negotiations, Anne's 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:45.680 father simply substituted Anne in to marry her sister's fiancee. 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:51.640 One daughter was as good as the next. Thomas Kime 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:55.480 was a Catholic, and he quickly realized that his young 0:00:55.600 --> 0:01:00.920 wife was a devout Protestant. He would enter the room 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:05.679 to find her studying the Bible or reciting Versus quietly 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:10.959 to herself that she was trying to memorize and publicly 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:16.000 challenged the idea of trans substantiation, the notion that when 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:20.600 taking Holy Communion, the wayfer and wine literally transformed into 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:25.560 the flesh and blood of Christ. Word got around town. 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:30.960 Other women began avoiding Anne in the streets. And the shops. 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:36.319 Though Thomas Kim and Anne had two young children, he 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:40.920 kicked her out of the house for her beliefs. Anne 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:46.440 was not put off, unmoored, but not undeterred. She moved 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:51.560 to London and, sticking with her maiden name, began to preach. 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:57.040 A woman preaching is bad enough. A woman preaching heretical 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:05.400 ideas cause enough for a rest. In fifteen, Anne ask 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:09.200 You was twenty five years old and she was brought 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.800 to the Tower of London. She was tortured on the 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:17.720 rack by men who demanded to know what other high 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:25.079 born women shared her beliefs. The torture was brutal and unceasing, 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:31.360 lasting months. By the time Anne was finally brought to 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:34.800 be burned at the stake, she had to be carried 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:39.920 in a chair because she could no longer walk. Anne 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:45.400 was burned along with three other Protestants. Funnily enough, one 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:50.079 of the men executed with her was John Lassells. That 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:52.639 name might sound a little familiar to you if you 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:57.440 had listened to my episode about Catherine Howard. John Lassell's 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:02.240 had been the one who reported the young queen's licentious past, 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:06.680 which led to her beheading. It's said by those who 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:10.840 watched Anne's burning that she was incredibly brave that she 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:15.079 didn't cry out until the flames reached her chest. A 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:19.320 supporter had managed to secretly slip her gunpowder to hide 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:24.200 in her dress, which exploded, killing Anne and the three 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:29.280 men quickly and mercifully. Even through all of her torture, 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:33.560 Anne never gave up any names of any other prominent 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:38.760 Protestant women, but the torturers were really only interested in 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:44.880 one name. They wanted Anne to implicate Catherine Parr, King 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:50.320 Henry the eighth, sixth and final wife. Catherine had already 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:55.000 upset many at court for the strength of her evangelical views, 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:59.360 and her enemies were looking for any excuse to bring 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:04.160 her down. It wouldn't take much. Gossip in court was 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:07.880 that the king had already grown frustrated with the way 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:12.920 his wife debated him on matters of religion. Ambassadors wrote 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.120 that he had already been casting his eye around for 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:21.040 wife number seven. Being the wife of King Henry the 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:25.440 eighth was like holding a fistful of gunpowder. It would 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:29.200 only take a spark for an explosion and a quick death. 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:34.760 Catherine Parr's intelligence had put her in danger, but it 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:39.760 would also be the key to her survival. I'm Dani Schwartz, 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:51.200 and this is noble blood. Catherine Parr was seventeen when 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:55.200 she married a man named Edward Burrow, but the marriage 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:59.200 didn't last long. Three years later, Edward Burrow had died 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:03.640 and Catherine Parr was a young childless widow. But she 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:06.560 was also a young childless widow who came from a 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:10.279 prominent family, and that meant that a year later her 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.320 family had the connections to marry her off once again, 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:18.799 this time to a man named John Neville, Lord Latimer 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:23.240 of Snape. Two Harry Potter names in one side note. 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.200 I looked it up. J. K. Rowling did name Snape 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:31.640 after a village, but it wasn't that village. Latimer was 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:35.760 forty three with two teenage children, only a few years 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:40.640 younger than Catherine herself twenty one, But maturity came easily 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:45.080 to Catherine Parr, who spoke and wrote English, French and Italian, 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.560 who was already reading religious doctrine that her Catholic husband, 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.560 no doubt wouldn't have approved of if he had been 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:57.440 home long enough to notice. It was Latimer's religious beliefs 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:00.440 that got the couple into trouble. In the end, they 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:04.000 lived in Yorkshire and Latimer was roped into helping the 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:08.320 Catholic rebels during the Pilgrimage of Grace Rebellion in fifteen 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:13.000 thirty six. Though high born, Latimer was never actually charged 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:16.599 and he managed to escape any real consequences with just 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:21.600 a slap on the rest, his reputation deteriorated, and soon 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:26.800 after so did his health. Catherine found that she not 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.279 only had the skill to run a large household, she 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:35.640 also had the inclination. With her husband weakening, the family 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.920 moved down to Worcester to get out of the troublingly 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:43.440 rebellious North and to be closer to Catherine's family at Court, 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:47.200 where her brother William and her sister Anne were both 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:53.200 members of the royal household. Catherine tended to her ailing husband, 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:57.800 ran his household, raised his children from his previous marriage, 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.880 and also began to make friends at court, including the 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:07.159 Queen Jane Seymour. To stay away from my brother, Jane 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:11.440 teas Thomas is on the lookout for a rich widow. 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:20.200 Thomas Seymour was a few things. He was handsome, definitely charming, 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:27.119 absolutely also socially ambitious. Catherine part noticed him. Of course 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:30.640 she noticed him. How could she not. Everyone in court 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:36.280 noticed Thomas Seymour, the Queen's brother, but Catherine's husband, weak 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:40.960 as he was, wasn't dead yet, and Catherine always floated 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:45.920 above even a whiff of scandal. There aren't even rumors 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:50.280 of thoughts of impropriety on her part. Catherine was just 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:54.560 a well liked, smart, pretty presence at court who cared 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:59.559 dutifully for her ailing husband. Rather than flirt, she spent 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.480 most of her time with Princess Mary Tudor Henry, the 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:07.800 eighth daughter. Katherine Parr's mother had been a lady in 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:12.200 waiting to Katherine Everdon, Mary's mother, so the two had 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:15.560 known each other when they were children, but as adults 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:20.840 they reunited over their shared love of academia. Though Catherine's 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:25.400 leanings were Evangelical and Mary was a devout Catholic, it 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:29.880 didn't affect their friendship at all. Mary encouraged Catherine to 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.600 read the Bible and helped her with the Latin that 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:36.920 Catherine had never learned as a child. Catherine wasn't born 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:39.600 a boy, and she wasn't born a royal, and so 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:44.600 her education had been decent, but far from comprehensive. It 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:48.280 was her own natural curiosity that turned her into an 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:52.959 avid reader and an avid writer. By the time her 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:58.120 husband died, Catherine found herself in a strange and rare position. 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:04.400 She was still y'all, thirty one, twice widowed, orphaned, and 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:10.720 with the inheritance of her husband's estate, independently wealthy. Her 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:15.559 only responsibility was taking care of her almost grown stepdaughter, 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:19.920 whom she adored. She was a woman with money and 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:24.040 her entire life out of her Her parents were both dead, 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:27.520 and so she had no obligations to marry for anything 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:34.120 except love. At thirty one, Katherine Parr's life could finally begin, 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:40.040 and so Catherine Parr could finally look at Thomas Seymour, 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:45.559 and she found him looking back at her, smiling that 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:50.959 charming smile and making her secretly grateful in spite of everything, 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:56.240 that life had landed her here, exactly where she belonged. 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:05.839 It had been a busy few years at court since 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:09.720 Catherine Parr and her husband had arrived from Yorkshire. King 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:13.120 Henry the eighth had finally gotten his son, although it 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:16.600 led to the death of his Queen Jane Seymour, he 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.920 had sent away for another bride received Anne of Cleave's 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:23.320 and forced to divorce because he didn't find her attractive enough. 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:28.440 He married Katherine Howard, was humiliated by her lasciviousness, and 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:33.960 had her arrested and beheaded. King Henry the Eighth was tired. 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:38.080 It would be another year as a widower before Henry 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:40.720 would begin to look in earnest for a new wife. 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:45.000 By this point, Henry the Eighth had finally evolved into 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:48.040 what you most likely already imagine when you hear the 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:52.200 words King Henry the Eighth, a caricature of a man, 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:56.720 probably eating a giant turkey leg. King Henry the Eighth's 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:02.000 waist had ballooned to fifty three inches, which required specially 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:06.080 made doublets large enough so that three men could stand 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:11.800 comfortably inside them. The ulcers on Henry's legs had turned 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:16.720 to open rot. From records of his household, we know 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:20.520 that the endlessly weeping pus meant that he needed to 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:24.400 order a brand new pair of hose for every single 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:32.120 day of the year. Marrying the teenager Katherine Howard had 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:35.800 been a mistake. He knew that now she was too young, 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.960 too frivolous. It had been a decision made out of lust. 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:45.319 Now for his sixth wife, he needed someone of absolutely 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:53.719 unimpeachable character, someone like Catherine Parr. She was wiser, older, 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:56.679 but not so old that she couldn't still bear him 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:01.400 another son. That was important. In an ideal world, Henry 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:05.360 would have two sons. Although Henry's failing health meant that 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.400 he could no longer plausibly blame his impotence on a 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:13.920 woman being too unattractive or having allegedly saggy breasts, he 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:18.160 still wanted another boy, a Duke of York, to ensure 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:22.520 that his lineage was secure. Henry needed a queen to 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:27.760 manage the household and manage his moods and tempers and well, 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:32.440 though he hated to admit it, he was lonely. Henry 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:37.000 had always loved the company of women. Loves discussion and 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:42.200 praise and witty banter and praise and mostly praise. Was 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:45.160 it so wrong that in his final years he wanted 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:48.720 someone beautiful on his arm and in his bedchamber, with 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:53.520 whom he could also discuss art and music. Middle age 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:58.079 had also made Henry more aware of his formerly estranged daughters, 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:02.160 Mary and Elizabeth, the daughters of Catherine of Arragon and 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:06.160 Anne Boleyn respectively. They say that family is the most 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:09.640 important thing, don't they, So if you're going to marry 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:12.200 a young wife almost half your age, you should at 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.079 least do so with the courtesy of choosing someone who's 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:19.320 friends with your daughters. It was a month before Catherine 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:24.360 Parr's husband actually died that Henry began sending along letters 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:29.839 and gifts. The moment the King's first letter arrived. It 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.599 was a dagger to the future that Catherine had imagined 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:36.920 for herself, a life where she would be free to 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:42.839 marry Thomas Seymour, someone that she chose for herself after 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:47.480 two husbands. Hadn't she earned that? But when the King 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:57.720 chooses you, you don't get a choice. Later, she would 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:02.280 write to Thomas Seymour in a letter, as truly as 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:06.840 God is God, my mind was fully bent the time 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:10.880 I was at liberty to marry you before any man 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:15.440 I know. Henry knew that Catherine had been interested in 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:19.880 Thomas Seymour, a handsome, athletic man only a few years 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.880 older than Katherine. He heard the rumors that she loved him, 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:28.000 that she wanted to marry him. Henry also didn't care 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.680 when he proposed to Katherine Parr a few months later, 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.640 a respectful period after the death of her husband. She 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:41.240 didn't answer right away. She asked the King if she 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:46.280 could have a brief moment to think about it. Henry, amused, 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:52.200 but good natured enough agreed. Usually one doesn't ask the 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:56.200 king to wait before you respond to a question he asks, 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:02.000 but this situation wasn't usual. Katherine Parr was within a 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:06.800 stoned throw of something most sixteenth century women could only 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:13.480 dream of, genuine contentment, But Henry's interest in her meant 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:17.360 that that vision of the future was already dead. The 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.320 king wanting to marry you meant that a king got 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:24.320 to marry you. That was really what Henry understood full 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:29.560 well when he gave Catherine some time to think it over. Sure, 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:33.880 he was in his fifties, impotent, rotting, so he had 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:37.640 killed two wives and cruelly disposed of two others. He 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:41.960 was still the king. Catherine would be giving up her 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:46.720 life for a life under a microscope, constantly scrutinized by 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:51.720 the entire court, her neck vulnerable to a mere curial 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:57.120 king's whims, But in return she would get a crown 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.040 and all of the wealth and Madge state and power 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:06.600 of being the Queen of England. Here's what Catherine knew. 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:12.840 Privilege is not the same as freedom. The massive privileges 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:14.880 that would be afforded to her by the throne of 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:19.280 England would come at a heavy price. She would lose 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:23.720 as much as she would gain. But Henry's will was 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:29.560 God's will. It was around this time that Henry decided, 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.840 for no particular reason, that he would send Thomas Seymour 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.280 out on a new job, a diplomatic posting in Flanders. 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:44.280 Catherine never had any decision to make. After all, she 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:49.840 and the king were married July three, where Henry the 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:53.720 Eighth said, I do for the sixth and final time. 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.320 The rule old Catherine was to play at court was 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:06.960 a delicate one, but she found almost immediately that it 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.800 was a role she was suited for. Henry wanted a 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:14.919 wife to dazzle and entertain his court, to represent the 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:19.400 glory of Henry's court back in its prime, all masquerades 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:23.800 and games and dances, even though Henry was no longer dancing. 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.880 But to that end he gave Catherine money for jewels 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:32.560 and clothing, supported her interests in music, and send fresh 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:37.399 flowers to her bedchamber. Every day, Catherine bathed in milk 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:42.119 and herbs. Even though her relationship with Henry wouldn't be 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:46.800 the lusty, passionate affair that he had shared with earlier wives, 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:50.240 she knew it was her duty, above all else to 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:54.760 be pleasing to him. As queen. She was given the 0:17:54.840 --> 0:18:00.280 full wardrobe from the dead former Queen Catherine Howard. She 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:05.560 was stepping into the shoes of her predecessor. Literally every 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:09.199 item needed to be tailored. Catherine Parr was several inches 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:13.199 taller than the teenage former queen, but Catherine found she 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.880 didn't mind wearing the clothes. They were beautiful, for one, 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:20.480 but they also made her role as queen feel like 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:23.600 a duty, a duty with a uniform as if she 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:28.639 was in the military. Catherine Parr was incredibly well liked 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:34.000 by everyone at court, while almost every one another former Queen, 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:38.639 Anne of Cleaves, had quietly hoped that with Catherine Howard gone, 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:44.160 King Henry the Eighth would remarry her. Unfortunately, Henry did 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:48.320 not agree. When Anne of Cleaves heard that the position 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.879 of queen had been filled, she murmured that she was 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:55.000 surprised the king had married a woman not nearly as 0:18:55.080 --> 0:19:01.359 beautiful as she, but to everyone else, Katherine Parr was 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:05.160 a balm for the chaos at court the preceding few years. 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:11.160 She was calm, sensible, kind, smart. Above all, she was competent. 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:16.119 That was why, when Henry left to lead a military 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:22.280 campaign against France, he left her as regent. Henry, at 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:25.760 fifty three years old, was desperate to regain some of 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:29.640 his former glory, and so that meant, despite the advice 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:33.600 of his doctors and friends, he would go into battle. 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:38.840 He forged an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor, commissioned 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:43.160 a customized suit of armor that would fit his considerable size, 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:49.520 and left the country in Catherine Parr's capable hands. The victory, 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:52.600 if you could call it, that of Henry one three 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:57.920 months later, was pretty toothless. Almost immediately afterward, the King 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:01.120 of France renewed his friendship with the Holy Roman Emperor 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:04.600 and geared up to retaliate in England the following summer. 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:10.960 But while Henry was away, Catherine reigned beautifully. She dealt 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:15.800 with deserters and Scottish prisoners, managed the supplies and troops 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:20.439 being sent to France, and reacted swiftly and decisively to 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:24.280 an outbreak of the plague. All the while, she wrote 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.720 letters to Henry telling him how deeply she missed him 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:30.680 and how much she desired to be in his presence again. 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:36.720 The following year, Catherine published a book, Prayers or Meditations, 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:40.439 the first English book published by a woman under her 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.760 own name in the country and the first book ever 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:49.080 published by a queen. Mat Christmas. Her stepdaughter, Princess Elizabeth, 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:54.320 translated it into Latin and French and Italian, and bound 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:58.000 the translations in red silk and gave them to Catherine 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:02.960 Parr as perhaps the most thoughtful Christmas gift heretofore ever given. 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:08.160 But still it wasn't beyond notice that Katherine Parr hadn't 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:12.480 born Henry a son, or even yielded a pregnancy, and 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.440 although of course that wasn't her fault, it still meant 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:20.720 that her position as queen wasn't entirely secure. There were 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:25.360 rumors in court there are always rumors, but one particular 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:31.400 rumor put Catherine on edge and soured her normally genial disposition. 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:36.919 Henry's best friend, Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk, died, 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:41.120 leaving his wife, a good friend of Catherine's, a widow 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:46.520 and single, and Henry seemed to be spending some time, 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:54.080 just a respectful time, nothing untoward yet comforting her again 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:58.919 nothing but rumors. But the king also seemed to be 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:04.520 getting a no aid with Katherine Parr more frequently. Recently, 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:09.440 she had taken to arguing with him about theology. When 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:12.959 Catherine brought up a hole in one of Henry's arguments, 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:16.720 he snapped at her, it's a good hearing it is 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:20.840 when women become such clerks, and a thing much to 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:24.600 my comfort in my old days, to be taught by 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:28.280 a woman. Catherine might have been well liked as a 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:32.720 person in court, but she was evangelical, ordering on Protestant, 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:37.199 and she wasn't shy about making her beliefs public. She 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:48.159 had enemies, and now they had ammunition. In fifteen forty 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:52.000 six and ask You, was tortured for the names of 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:57.199 other high born women who shared her heretical views and 0:22:57.400 --> 0:23:00.800 didn't name names, but the men toward during her got 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:05.240 enough to implicate the women of Catherine's court. There would 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:10.560 be a search for heredical literature in their chambers. Fortunately 0:23:10.680 --> 0:23:13.639 word got out ahead of it, so books were stashed 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:17.360 and locks were changed and nothing was found. But that 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:23.080 didn't mean Catherine wasn't in danger. After all, she existed 0:23:23.280 --> 0:23:27.920 at the whim of Henry, and Henry hated feeling threatened. 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:34.400 After Catherine contradicted Henry in debate, a bishop and one 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:39.480 of Henry's ministers, Ropsley, seized the moment to get Henry 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:44.000 to sign a warrant for her arrest, which he did. 0:23:45.440 --> 0:23:48.679 Whether it was sheer, dumb luck, or a friend looking 0:23:48.680 --> 0:23:51.800 out for her, A copy of the warrant was left 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:56.160 out in the open where Katherine could see it. Catherine 0:23:56.160 --> 0:24:00.240 had the benefit of being the sixth wife, of learning 0:24:00.400 --> 0:24:03.359 from the women who came before her and their mistakes. 0:24:04.520 --> 0:24:09.560 Henry was extremely malleable. Catherine Parr also knew that as 0:24:09.600 --> 0:24:12.119 soon as Henry made his mind up about a woman, 0:24:12.640 --> 0:24:15.920 he would simply remove her from his presence and not 0:24:16.080 --> 0:24:19.359 give her the chance to speak with him. Her time 0:24:19.680 --> 0:24:27.440 was extremely limited. Wearing one of the dresses that had 0:24:27.480 --> 0:24:32.920 once belonged to foolish dead Katherine Howard, Katherine Parr went 0:24:32.960 --> 0:24:36.000 to the King and did the thing she needed to 0:24:36.119 --> 0:24:41.240 save herself. She graciously thanked the King for his kindness 0:24:41.680 --> 0:24:44.880 that he had taken in sharing his insights and wisdom 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:48.919 with her. You see, she was only debating him as 0:24:49.000 --> 0:24:53.119 an intellectual exercise for him, so he could take his 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:56.120 mind off his pain, and so that she could learn 0:24:56.240 --> 0:25:03.560 from him. So Henry said, you don't disagree with me, then, no, 0:25:03.840 --> 0:25:08.240 of course not. Catherine Parr laughed, Your majesty has very 0:25:08.320 --> 0:25:11.920 much mistaken me, for I have always held it preposterous 0:25:12.280 --> 0:25:16.240 for a woman to instruct her lord. It was a 0:25:16.400 --> 0:25:21.440 brilliant turn of tact. Henry swept Catherine Parr on to 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:25.240 his knee, reassured her of his love for her, and 0:25:25.440 --> 0:25:31.440 ordered her jewels and pearls and furs. That afternoon, Roth'sley 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:36.240 arrived at the Queen's gardens with forty armed men, only 0:25:36.320 --> 0:25:42.400 to find Katherine sitting on Henry's knee. Henry had forgotten 0:25:42.440 --> 0:25:46.960 to call off theear rest. What are you doing, Henry called, 0:25:47.320 --> 0:25:52.320 You dare to insult our queen with threats out rothsily 0:25:52.359 --> 0:25:58.280 apologized profusely, sweating and bowing. Of course, Catherine knew all 0:25:58.320 --> 0:26:02.120 about the arrest attempt, but Henry didn't know that. She knew, 0:26:03.119 --> 0:26:05.200 you really don't need to be so hard on him, 0:26:05.400 --> 0:26:10.480 she said sweetly to her husband. Henry laughed, Oh, you 0:26:10.720 --> 0:26:14.879 sweet innocent child, If only you knew how little he 0:26:15.000 --> 0:26:19.720 deserves this grace you're showing him. Catherine laughed and pulled 0:26:19.800 --> 0:26:23.040 Henry and for a kiss, thinking somewhere in the back 0:26:23.080 --> 0:26:25.960 of her mind that the same was true of the 0:26:26.040 --> 0:26:34.840 grace that she showed Henry. But Catherine wouldn't have too 0:26:34.960 --> 0:26:39.480 much longer to go as Henry's wife. His health was 0:26:39.520 --> 0:26:44.320 now fading and fast. Henry was finding it increasingly difficult 0:26:44.359 --> 0:26:47.639 to walk. He needed to use a ramp to mount 0:26:47.720 --> 0:26:53.719 his horse. Hunting became impossibly exhausting. Most of the time, 0:26:53.880 --> 0:26:57.320 Henry was transported from room to room, being carried on 0:26:57.400 --> 0:27:02.400 a chair. His rooms were heavily perfumed at all times 0:27:03.040 --> 0:27:06.720 in an attempt to cover the smell of his rotting leg, 0:27:07.520 --> 0:27:14.719 always wet from his many medicinal baths. That Christmas, Catherine, Parr, Mary, 0:27:14.920 --> 0:27:18.720 and Elizabeth were sent away from Whitehall so they wouldn't 0:27:18.720 --> 0:27:22.280 have to watch the rest of Henry's decline. They would 0:27:22.320 --> 0:27:25.600 never see him again, though after the first week of 0:27:25.680 --> 0:27:30.720 January Catherine returned, she wasn't permitted to see him. Henry 0:27:30.760 --> 0:27:38.880 died on January. Katherine mourned, of course, but her real 0:27:38.960 --> 0:27:41.920 sorrow would come only when she saw the will that 0:27:42.080 --> 0:27:46.440 Henry had rewritten a month before his death. She got 0:27:46.440 --> 0:27:50.159 plenty of money, an annual allowance, and a stipulation that 0:27:50.240 --> 0:27:52.520 she be treated as a queen and not a dowager. 0:27:53.480 --> 0:27:56.840 But she didn't get what she really wanted. She wasn't 0:27:56.880 --> 0:28:00.640 made regent for the young nine year old King Edward. 0:28:01.520 --> 0:28:07.760 Her political career was entirely over. Smart as she was, competent, 0:28:07.840 --> 0:28:11.639 as she was, capable as she was, Catherine Parr no 0:28:11.800 --> 0:28:16.159 longer had any avenue to power. She had come close 0:28:16.359 --> 0:28:19.959 being Henry's wife, and for that shining period in fifteen 0:28:20.040 --> 0:28:23.720 forty four, she had tasted it. But now she was 0:28:23.800 --> 0:28:27.520 just a woman again, put in her place, back where 0:28:27.560 --> 0:28:35.880 she had started. Being, back where she had started wasn't 0:28:35.960 --> 0:28:40.040 all bad. Four years after she had fallen in love 0:28:40.080 --> 0:28:44.400 with him, Katherine Parr was finally able to marry Thomas Seymour. 0:28:45.840 --> 0:28:49.520 It's a bitter sweet love story. I like to end 0:28:49.520 --> 0:28:53.120 it there without the details that perhaps the marriage had 0:28:53.200 --> 0:28:56.440 happened a bit too fast, and it was unseemly that 0:28:56.520 --> 0:28:59.080 she had had to wheedle young King Edward to approve 0:28:59.120 --> 0:29:02.720 the marriage after it had happened. It's also a sweeter 0:29:02.840 --> 0:29:05.840 story if we leave out the fact that Thomas Seymour, 0:29:06.520 --> 0:29:10.360 social climber as he was, had actually tried to court 0:29:10.520 --> 0:29:14.720 the thirteen year old Princess Elizabeth before marrying Katherine Parr, 0:29:15.400 --> 0:29:18.200 and that when Elizabeth came to live with her former 0:29:18.280 --> 0:29:22.760 stepmom and new husband Thomas, that he would continue molesting 0:29:22.800 --> 0:29:27.200 her and making sexual overtures until finally, out of shame 0:29:27.280 --> 0:29:31.960 and hurt, Katherine Parr had to send young Elizabeth away, 0:29:32.440 --> 0:29:36.280 never to see her in person again. No, it's a 0:29:36.320 --> 0:29:39.480 better story if we ended there the idea that she 0:29:39.560 --> 0:29:43.400 had lost her love, was dutiful to Henry and then 0:29:43.440 --> 0:29:46.680 finally got to marry her love and live out the 0:29:46.720 --> 0:29:50.160 rest of her life and peace. In a different world, 0:29:50.480 --> 0:29:53.720 Katherine Parr could have led his regent or even queen, 0:29:54.760 --> 0:29:58.560 and we could have seen what she would have accomplished instead. 0:29:58.640 --> 0:30:01.160 Hers is a story of men who fell in love 0:30:01.680 --> 0:30:05.040 but was forced into duty instead, but met it with 0:30:05.120 --> 0:30:10.800 savvy and grace. She survived not out of luck, but 0:30:10.960 --> 0:30:20.760 because she made sure that she would. That's the story 0:30:20.800 --> 0:30:23.960 of Katherine Parr's marriage to Henry the Eighth, But stick 0:30:24.000 --> 0:30:27.560 around after a brief sponsor break to hear a short 0:30:27.600 --> 0:30:41.560 story about what happened when her coffin was unearthed. Katherine 0:30:41.600 --> 0:30:45.400 Parr was buried beneath Suddy Chapel, but over the next 0:30:45.480 --> 0:30:49.840 two centuries the chapel and a state above her fell 0:30:49.880 --> 0:30:55.240 into ruin. It wasn't until two when the owner of 0:30:55.280 --> 0:30:58.720 the property and a few visitors were curious enough to 0:30:58.840 --> 0:31:02.880 force their way down the narrow stone steps and see 0:31:02.920 --> 0:31:08.600