17
Catherine Howard was the second of Henry VIII’s wives to be beheaded for adultery but unlike her cousin Anne Boleyn, Catherine was guilty. Catherine may have been as young as fifteen when she caught the eye of the king and she was completely ill-equipped to deal with the demands of queenship. At a time when queens were expected to be chaste and virginial at marriage, Catherine had already enjoyed affairs with two lovers. She then preceded to commit adultery with a third, possibly with the intention of producing a son for the ageing king. Catherine Howard loved the trappings of power that queenship brought her but she was unable to see the danger that also accompanied the position. Catherine’s sudden arrest and execution caused shock across Europe but the picture of her conduct that emerged from Henry’s investigations meant that there was little sympathy for her. There is no doubt however that Catherine Howard was completely unsuited for the position of queen. Further to this, although she was disloyal, her relatives and her husband must also bear some of the blame for her downfall, since it was they who initially placed her in such an inappropriate position.
Catherine Howard’s date of birth is not recorded but she was probably born between 1521 and 1525. Since Catherine was not listed in her step-grandfather’s will of 1524 but was in his wife’s of 1527, it is entirely possible that she was born around 1525.1 She would therefore have been only around fifteen at the time of her marriage, an unusually early age even for the Tudor period. Catherine’s mother Joyce Culpeper was a widow when she married Lord Edmund Howard and it is likely her wealth attracted him to her. Certainly Joyce Culpeper’s stepfather and mother were suspicious of Edmund and entailed Joyce’s inheritance on her children.2 Edmund was also to marry two more wealthy widows following Joyce’s death when Catherine was still very young.
Lord Edmund Howard was a younger son of the Duke of Norfolk and as such a member of the most prominent noble family in England. However he was ineffectual, never finding favour at court or lasting employment. The only evidence of his character also suggests that he was henpecked by his wives. In a letter to Lady Lisle, Edmund wrote:
Madame, so it is I have this night after midnight taken your medicine, for the which I heartily thank you, for it hath done me much good and hath caused the stone to break, so that now I void much gravel. But for all that, your said medicine hath done me little honesty, for it made me piss my bed this night, for the which my wife hath sore beaten me, and saying it is children’s parts to bepiss their bed.3
Edmund Howard was constantly short of money and from August 1537 until just before his death in 1539, he was absent from England in his capacity as Mayor of Calais.4 Catherine probably had little contact with either of her parents. At some point during her childhood she was sent to join the household of her father’s stepmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk at her home in Horsham.
It was not unusual for noble girls to be boarded out in the households of wealthy relatives and Catherine’s parents probably hoped that she would receive a good education at her grandmother’s house. Catherine would have been educated with the other noble girls in the duchess’s household and she was taught to read and write although it is unlikely that her education extended much beyond this. The duchess, however, also wanted Catherine to be musical and appointed a neighbour, Henry Manox, to teach her the virginials.5
Socially Henry Manox was far beneath Catherine. However he and Catherine quickly began a relationship. Manox himself spoke about how ‘he fell in love with her and she with him, but the duchess found them alone together one day and gave Mrs Katharine two or three blows, and charged them never to be alone together’.6 Catherine must have been very young when she and Manox first began their affair and it is likely that he initiated it, perhaps hoping to marry a Howard bride. Catherine was probably flattered by the attentions of an older man and may have been encouraged by the other girls in the household to reciprocate. There was little privacy in the duchess’s household and Catherine would have known about the love affairs of the other members of the household.
Manox always denied that he and Catherine consummated their relationship and Catherine’s extreme youth and inexperience probably played a part in this. They do appear to have lain naked together, however, and it was later claimed that Manox knew of secret marks on Catherine’s body.7 Manox was dismissed when the duchess discovered him and Catherine meeting secretly in the duchess’s chapel chamber.8 For Catherine, this probably marked the end of the affair; she may never have taken the relationship very seriously, instead seeing Manox as an amusement. Manox was not deterred, however, and followed the household when it moved to the duchess’s house at Lambeth. Catherine was probably irritated by the appearance of her former lover because by this time she had found a new lover.
Catherine met Francis Dereham when the household moved to Lambeth. He was of a much higher status than Henry Manox. He was also young, handsome and attractive to women, becoming a favourite of Catherine’s grandmother, the Duchess of Norfolk. Catherine was one of many young girls in the duchess’s household and the line between servants and noblewomen was blurred. Catherine shared a dormitory with both girls of her own rank and the duchess’s female servants and there would have been very little privacy. Catherine would have learnt from an early age that it was possible to take a lover with impunity and she may have imitated the older girls. Catherine’s youthful activities with Henry Manox were probably almost a game to her and an attempt at playing at being grown up. By around 1537, however, Catherine was ready to embark on a more mature affair. The girls’ dormitory would be locked at night but the key was easily stolen from the duchess.9 Once the door was unlocked the young men of the household would come to visit the girls, bringing food for midnight picnics.10 Catherine probably enjoyed the danger of these secret meetings and the chance to flirt with the young men. Soon, however, she and Dereham were known to favour each other over any others.
Catherine Howard and Francis Dereham certainly consummated their relationship.11 This would have seemed like a normal practice to Catherine growing up in the easy atmosphere of the girls’ dormitory and she later admitted that she had been taught about contraception and knew how to stop herself from conceiving a child.12 Catherine always denied that she and Francis Dereham had entered into any engagement with each other but Dereham claimed that he considered himself betrothed to her.13 As with Catherine’s affair with Manox, it seems likely that Catherine saw her action as harmless fun with a man who was her social inferior. Dereham probably hoped to marry Catherine and so ally himself with her powerful family and the couple addressed each other as husband and wife and talked of a marriage.14 They also exchanged love tokens, Dereham giving Catherine velvet and satin for a gown and also lending her £100 when he left for Ireland. Catherine, who would not have had money for these luxuries herself, was probably pleased to play the role of Dereham’s wife whilst they were in Lambeth together.
Catherine and Dereham’s relationship was soon common knowledge around the duchess’s household. Henry Manox had followed the household to Lambeth and quickly became jealous of Catherine’s new relationship. Hoping to have Dereham sent away, Manox wrote an anonymous letter to the duchess, informing her of the midnight picnics in the dormitory and of Catherine and Dereham’s affair.15 He then left the letter on her pew in the chapel. According to Manox, Catherine found the letter and showed it to Dereham. Catherine was probably furious with Manox, believing her connection with him to be historic and she instructed her new lover to warn Manox off. Armed with the letter, Dereham turned on Manox, abusing him for attempting to betray Catherine. It seems likely that the duchess already knew about her granddaughter’s love affair. The duchess appears to have been happy to ignore the evidence of love affairs in her household, providing that they were carried out discretely. According to the account of Katherine Tylney, one of the girls in the household, once the duchess:
found Dereham embracing Mrs Katherine Howard in his arms and kissing her, and thereat was much offended and gave Dereham a blow, and also beat the Queen [Catherine Howard] and gave Joan Bowmar a blow because she was present. When Dereham was wanted the duchess would say, ‘I warrant you if you seek him in Katherine Howard’s chamber you shall find him there’.16
The duchess probably reasoned that as long as the affair did not disturb her peace, it was harmless. She did however ask her son, Catherine’s uncle, to speak to Catherine about what was expected of her as a Howard.
Catherine probably never seriously considered the prospect of marrying Dereham, expecting the affair to simply dwindle out when they parted in the autumn of 1539.17 In late 1539, Henry VIII’s marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, was announced and over sixty ladies were appointed to serve the new queen, one of whom was Catherine Howard. Catherine must have been thrilled to hear that she was to visit court for the first time. It seems likely that this appointment marked the end of her affair with Dereham in her eyes and she probably expected to find a high-status husband at court. This is certainly what her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, and grandmother would have had in mind when putting Catherine forward for the appointment. Catherine would have been provided with fine new clothes for her position at court and probably felt proud of her new situation.
Catherine Howard has been called the most beautiful of all Henry VIII’s wives and it is possible that this was why she was selected above her cousins and sisters to represent the Howard family at court. She was described by the French ambassador as ‘a lady of great beauty’18, although he later qualified this by saying she was more graceful than beautiful and very short.19 Even if Catherine Howard was not a beauty, she certainly stood out at court, probably due to her liveliness and her youth. It is likely that she gained many admirers and it quickly became apparent that one of these admirers was the king. Catherine was a first cousin of Anne Boleyn and her relatives had first-hand experience of how to attract and keep Henry’s interest. Catherine was tutored by her family on how to behave and she presented an air of youthful purity.20 For Henry, Catherine appeared the exact opposite of his hated wife, Anne of Cleves and, by mid-1540, it was clear to the court that he wished to free himself of his current wife so that he could marry Catherine. Catherine cannot have found the aged and bloated king attractive, but she probably revelled in the presents and status that his affection gave her. According to the French ambassador, ‘the king is so amorous of her that he cannot treat her well enough and caresses her more than he did the others’.21 Catherine’s youth made Henry feel youthful again and the couple were married quietly on 28 July 1540.
Catherine was probably aged only around fifteen or sixteen at the time of her marriage and appears to have been determined to enjoy herself. Henry adored her and caressed her publicly, pandering to her every desire. Catherine loved dancing and spent much of her time as queen enjoying the pursuit, even dancing with her husband’s ex-wife, Anne of Cleves. Catherine also loved presents and Henry showered her with gifts. Over Christmas and New Year 1540–1541, Catherine received a number of rich presents from Henry, including a square containing twenty-seven table diamonds and twenty-six clusters of pearls.22 Catherine probably also loved the ceremony that went with being a queen. She had her own private barge, a huge household and probably enjoyed the status that her role as queen conferred on her. Catherine was probably thrilled when on her first ceremonial entry to London she was saluted by the guns from the Tower as she passed by barge down the river.23 For Catherine, being queen must have seemed beyond her wildest dreams and she was determined to make the most of the opportunities that her role opened up for her.
Henry’s marriage to Catherine rejuvenated him and he appeared almost young throughout the second half of 1540.24 Henry was nearly fifty, however, and this transformation could not last forever. In March 1541, Henry’s leg ulcer, which had given him trouble for several years, dramatically closed causing his life to be in danger. Probably not wishing his pretty young wife to see him in such a way, Henry barred Catherine from his presence. After his recovery, Henry remained depressed and this was the first sign of trouble in their marriage. Catherine must have been alarmed at Henry’s moods and may have sought consolation elsewhere. In May 1541 Catherine also seems to have become somewhat depressed.25 When Henry anxiously asked her why, she said that she had heard a rumour that he intended to take Anne of Cleves back. Henry immediately sought to console her, saying that he would never take Anne back, even if he were free. Catherine may not have been entirely reassured, however, as Henry does not seem to have ruled out the possibility of exchanging her for someone else. Despite these troubles, Catherine was still in high favour when she and Henry set out on a northern progress in the summer of 1541.
Henry had reigned for over thirty years in 1541 but had never visited the northern part of his kingdom. He had long planned, and put off, a progress to the north but finally, in the summer of 1541 was ready to set out. Henry and Catherine left London on 30 June with a great company of people and provisions.26 Henry had designed his progress to be a show of strength to the rebellious north. Catherine must have been excited at the prospect of travelling as queen although they were hampered from the start by bad weather and she may have rapidly begun to lose patience with the muddy, dilapidated roads. Nonetheless Catherine appears to have performed the public role of queen to perfection on the progress. She wore crimson velvet when she and Henry rode into Lincoln where they retired to their tent outside the city to change their clothes.27 The royal couple then emerged, Henry dressed in cloth of gold and Catherine in cloth of silver, and were ceremonially welcomed to Lincoln. Catherine must have been bored by the speeches and pageants that accompanied these visits, but there were no complaints made about her conduct. After Lincoln, the progress moved on, reaching Pontefract on 23 August and York on 16 September.28
Catherine’s public conduct as queen was immaculate but her private conduct left a great deal to be desired. She probably became acquainted with Thomas Culpeper soon after arriving at court to wait on Anne of Cleves. Culpeper was a distant cousin of Catherine’s mother and presented a very different proposition to either Henry Manox or Francis Dereham. When he and Catherine met he was already a member of Henry’s privy chamber, in high favour with the king. He was also young and handsome, no doubt attracting Catherine’s attention early on. He must have been an enormous contrast to Catherine’s sickly and elderly husband. Catherine and Culpeper probably became lovers early in her marriage and Catherine’s maids certainly noticed the queen’s suspicious conduct, giving Culpeper loving glances from the window and barring her maids from entry to her bedchamber unless they were summoned.29 Catherine was so much in Henry’s favour, however, that no one dared to go to the king with their suspicions. Catherine was infatuated with Culpeper and gave him a velvet cap decorated with a jewelled brooch, warning him to hide it so no one would guess where he had got such a rich item.30
Catherine knew that her affair with Culpeper was wrong but showed an almost childlike naivety in her conduct. She appears to have considered her husband to be an almost God-like figure and warned Culpeper not to mention their relationship in the confessional as Henry, as Head of the Church, would surely hear what he said.31 Catherine also committed details of her affair to writing, a dangerous practice in Henry’s suspicious court, and her only surviving letter is a love letter to Culpeper. Catherine wrote this letter around April 1541, before the progress:
Master Culpeper, I heartily recommend me unto you, praying you to send me word how that you do. It was showed me that you was sick, the which thing troubled me very much till such time that I hear from you praying you to send me word how that you do, for I never longed so much for [a] thing as I do to see you and to speak with you, the which I trust shall be shortly now. The which doth comfortly me very much when I think of it, and when I think again that you shall depart from me again it makes my heart to die to think what fortune I have that I cannot be always in your company. It my trust is always in you that you will be as you have promised me, and in that hope I trust upon still, praying that you will come when my Lady Rochford is here for then I shall be best at leisure to be at your commandment, thanking you for that you have promised me to be so good unto that poor fellow my man which is one of the griefs that I do feel to depart from him for then I do know no one that I dare trust to send to you, and therefore I pray you take him to be with you that I may sometime hear from you one thing. I pray you to give me a horse for my man for I had much ado to get one and therefore I pray send me one by him and in so doing I am as I said afor, and thus I take my leave of you, trusting to see you shortly again and I would you was with me now that you might see what pain I take in writing to you. Yours as long as life endures, Katheryn.32
Catherine’s letter demonstrates the love she felt for Culpeper and the pains she took in writing to him. She was unwise to record her feelings and it is possible that Culpeper kept this letter as evidence against her should her ever need it. Throughout her brief time as queen, Catherine showed a disregard for personal safety. She underestimated the potential dangers incurred by her actions. She also showed naivety in August 1541 by appointing Francis Dereham as her private secretary.33 Catherine simply does not seem to have realised that as queen she was constantly watched, her activities scrutinised. She continued her affair with Culpeper during the northern progress.
Catherine confided her affair to her kinswoman, Lady Rochford, who was also one of her ladies. Lady Rochford was the widow of George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, and had given evidence against her husband in the allegations of incest against him and his sister, Anne Boleyn. She was therefore well used to court intrigues and perfectly suited to organising meetings between Catherine and Culpeper. Catherine kept her other ladies barred from her bedchamber and, according to Hall’s Chronicle she had Culpeper:
brought to her chamber at Lyncolne, in August laste, in the Progresse tyme, by the lady of Rocheforde, and were there together alone, from a leven of the clocke at nighte, till foure of the clocke in the morning, and to hym she gave a chayne, and a riche cap.34
Throughout the progress, Catherine would wait until her household were in bed and then send Lady Rochford to let Culpeper into her chamber by the most private entrances. They would then spend part of the night together with only Lady Rochford there as any type of chaperone. Catherine met Culpeper like this throughout the journey and her servants came to suspect that something was amiss. A medieval queen had to be above suspicion of sexual impropriety to ensure the legitimacy of her children, and Catherine was playing a dangerous game. She had not become pregnant in over a year of marriage and it is possible that she reasoned that Henry could not give her a child. It is certainly possible that Catherine and Culpeper wished to conceive a royal heir themselves and so secure both of their positions at court.35
Catherine remained oblivious to any danger when the progress returned to Windsor on 26 October 1541.36 She was probably looking forward to returning to her life of pleasure in London and it is likely that she intended her affair with Culpeper to continue. As a Catholic queen, however, Catherine had many enemies. Soon after Henry and Catherine’s return from their progress, Archbishop Cranmer was approached by John Lassells, a religious reformer. Lassells’ sister, Mary Hall, had been raised with Catherine in the duchess’s household and reported to her brother that the queen had been ‘light of living’ and had had sexual relationships with both Francis Dereham and Henry Manox.37 Cranmer was shocked at what he heard and, on 2 November, handed a letter containing Lassells’s revelations to Henry. Henry reacted with disbelief as he had no reason to doubt Catherine’s honesty and ordered an investigation to protect her reputation. He said nothing of the matter to Catherine, believing it to be entirely false, and he and Catherine continued for a week in the high spirits with which they had returned from their progress. Henry’s peace of mind was shattered, however, when both John Lassells and Mary Hall stood by their stories. Under pressure, Henry Manox also confessed to having caressed Catherine and Dereham to having known her carnally. Faced with this evidence, Henry was devastated, and burst into a fit of weeping, demanding a sword to slay her himself.38 He was completely disillusioned with his seemingly pure young wife.
On 4 November 1541, guards burst into Catherine’s room at Hampton Court when she was practising her dance steps. Catherine would have been shocked and confused by this unexpected occurrence and her first though must have been that Henry had discovered about Culpeper. According to the French ambassador, ‘she was taken no kind of pastime but kept in her chamber, whereas, before, she did nothing but dance and rejoice, and now when the musicians come they are told that it is no more time to dance’.39 For a girl as joyous and active as Catherine, the change from queen to prisoner must have been hard to bear and her thoughts probably turned quickly to her cousin, Anne Boleyn. There is a legend at Hampton Court that Catherine slipped her guard and ran down the corridor from her rooms to the palace chapel where Henry was hearing mass.40 As she reached the door, she was grabbed by her guards and dragged screaming back to her rooms, ignored by her husband. If this ever occurred, it must have been on 6 November as Henry left the palace quietly that evening, never to be near her again. Catherine’s escape is part of the tragic legend that surrounds Catherine Howard and her ghost reputedly re-enacts her escape in the haunted gallery.
On 7 November Cranmer and Norfolk, Catherine’s uncle, came to interrogate her in her rooms.41 They found her hysterical and were unable to make any progress with her. The next day, Cranmer returned to her alone, later describing her state as pitiable.42Cranmer explained to her that Henry knew of her relationships with Manox and Dereham and Catherine must have been greatly relieved that Culpeper’s name was not mentioned. In tears, she confessed to Cranmer of her relationships with Dereham and Manox although she denied any marriage contract with Dereham. Henry appears to have been planning nothing worse than divorce for Catherine at this time and Catherine’s grandmother, the duchess, also stated that she was not worried about her, pointing out that she could not be executed for her conduct before her marriage.43 The duchess predicted that Catherine’s marriage would be annulled and her granddaughter sent back to her in disgrace. At that time the worst that could be proved against Catherine was that she had not been a virgin at the time of her wedding. Only Catherine, Culpepper and Lady Rochford knew that Catherine had committed a far worse crime against the king.
On 11 November, it was decided that Catherine would be taken to Syon House where she would be lodged modestly without any of the state of a queen.44 On 13 November, Catherine’s household was officially discharged and the next day Catherine was taken to Syon with only four gentlewomen and two chamberers to serve her and keep her company.45 The change in status must have been dramatic for Catherine and she always refused to admit that she was no longer queen. Her jewels were also confiscated and she was allowed only a modest wardrobe, including six French hoods with gold trim, but no jewels.46 She probably thought that this would be the worst that would happen to her and envisaged her future as one of long and dull retirement.
However by 11 November, Thomas Culpeper’s name had begun to be mentioned in the investigations surrounding Catherine. A charge of adultery was a much more serious offence than that of premarital unchastity and Catherine must have been concerned that the king would find out about Culpeper in his investigations. Catherine was questioned regarding Culpeper and under pressure admitted that they had met and that she had given him presents but denied that they had consummated their relationship.47 She placed the blame on Lady Rochford for encouraging her to meet with Culpeper. Lady Rochford, however, claimed that Catherine and Culpeper had committed adultery and blamed Catherine for forcing her to become involved. Culpeper also denied his guilt, claiming that ‘it was the queen who, through Lady Rochford, solicited him to meet her in private in Lincolnshire, when she herself told him that she was dying for his love’.48 Catherine, Lady Rochford and Culpeper each blamed the others, hoping to save themselves and this suggests that Catherine and Culpeper’s relationship was not genuinely romantic.
Culpeper and Lady Rochford were quickly arrested and Lady Rochford reputedly went mad in prison.49 Dereham and Culpeper were tried together in early December and, despite both denying their guilt, were condemned to death. The two men were executed at Tyburn on 10 December 1541. Culpeper’s sentence was commuted to beheading by a king who probably retained some vestige of affection for him. Dereham, however, suffered the full traitor’s death of being hanged drawn and quartered.50 It seems likely that Henry retained an especial hatred for Dereham, seeing him as the corrupter of his pretty young bride.51 Catherine’s feelings at these executions are not recorded. She may have been horrified at the deaths of these two men that she had loved. Equally, however, she may have blamed them as the cause of her own misfortunes. Soon after the executions, Catherine’s grandmother and uncle, Lord William Howard, were taken to the Tower for their complicity in Catherine’s youthful conduct.52 Despite the deaths of Dereham and Culpeper, Catherine probably still hoped that she would escape with her life. By early 1542, it was rumoured that Henry intended to divorce Catherine and condemn her to life imprisonment.53
Catherine’s hope was misplaced, however. On 16 January 1542, parliament opened in London and they condemned Catherine and Lady Rochford to death without trial.54 On 10 February 1542, Catherine was taken from Syon by water to the Tower.55 Catherine’s barge would have passed under the heads of Dereham and Culpeper on London Bridge and she must have shuddered at this sight of her lovers.56 Catherine was terrified. Once inside the Tower, she gave herself up to weeping and tormenting herself.57 On the evening of 12 February, she was told that she would die the next day.58 Catherine calmed herself somewhat when she heard this news and asked for the block to be brought to her so that she could practice for the next morning.59 Early on 13 February, Catherine and Lady Rochford were led out of the Tower together. Catherine was to be executed first. She was so weak that she could hardly speak and had to be helped up to the scaffold.60 She does not appear to have made a long speech due to her extreme terror but confessed that she deserved to die before kneeling and placing her head on the block. Catherine was then beheaded with an axe, being followed by her accomplice, Lady Rochford, a few minutes later.
Catherine Howard was almost certainly under twenty when she died and may have been as young as sixteen or seventeen. Her life was short and extreme, just like that of her cousin and predecessor, Anne Boleyn. Catherine Howard was plucked out of obscurity by her marriage to the king and was completely unsuitable for her role as queen. Although she was certainly guilty of adultery and pre-marital misconduct, blame for her conduct lay at least in part with her family and the king for placing her in a situation for which she was quite unsuitable. Catherine Howard lived only a short life and left little legacy, her only lasting contribution being a law that made it illegal for a non-virgin to marry the king. However she was not the only Tudor queen to die as a teenager on the executioner’s block and her husband’s great-niece, Lady Jane Grey, also suffered the same fate primarily due to the ambitions of her family.