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So for my New Years Eve #weirdbritishfacts 
I'm telling the story of how Tudor King, Henry VIII's wife, Catherine of Aragon, ended up with a more elaborate grave than her husband, in my own home city, just yards away from where I live & how I live everyday amongst history...(1)
I'm telling the story of how Tudor King, Henry VIII's wife, Catherine of Aragon, ended up with a more elaborate grave than her husband, in my own home city, just yards away from where I live & how I live everyday amongst history...(1)
Almost every day I walk past the incredible, imposing, gargantuan, gothic facade of Peterborough Cathedral's West Front. It's one of the most imposing sites in all of England. Despite the 1000's of days I've done so, it never gets old, the Cathedral will always be imposing...(2)
... I feel my hairs spike up & my heart beat faster whenever I'm in its presence. The West Front dates back to medieval times, the religious site, originally known as Medeshamstede rather than 'Peterborough' dates back long before that... To at least 600 AD. pre-Norman... (3)
... Pre-Viking (who destroyed the original Christian abbey)... Almost, though not quite, back to Roman Britannia... As I said, I'm so lucky to live in the shadows of such history.
But, as a child &, even now, as an adult, nothing gives me a greater thrill than standing...(4)
But, as a child &, even now, as an adult, nothing gives me a greater thrill than standing...(4)
... at the side of a Queen Consort of England, the Cathedrals most famous occupant. She is, of course, Queen Catharine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII, defender of the faith, daughter of Spain's most famous joint Monarchs, Isabella & Ferdinand 
, mother of 'Bloody Mary'... (5)
, mother of 'Bloody Mary'... (5)
... i.e Mary I, the first Queen regnant in English history. Cathaine's tomb is a marble fortress, elaborately guarded by an iron fence, that proclaims her "Katharine Queen of England". It's by far the most grandiose tomb of Henry VIII or any of his wives, but why???... (6)
... Why did this Tudor Queen inspire such a monument? And how did this apotive daughter of England 
, natural born daughter of Spain 
, end up in a sleepy rural backwater like Peterborough?
Well... Despite what every bodice ripping, historical, psychology gripping, drama...(7)
, natural born daughter of Spain , end up in a sleepy rural backwater like Peterborough?Well... Despite what every bodice ripping, historical, psychology gripping, drama...(7)
... might tell you, much of Henry VIII's life was not taken up with divorcing, outliving, or executing, various wives. Over half his rather long reign was taken up married to his first wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon, a love match Henry had married, Catherine had once been...(8)
... his Sister-in-law, married to Henry's older brother Arthur, before Arthur died shortly after their wedding. With Henry infatuated with his Sister-in-law, 6 years his senior, 17 year old King Henry married 23 year old Catherine, shortly after coming to the throne... (9)
... Catherine would spend 2 decades as, not just a dutiful, but arguably one of the most impressive & capable, Queen Consorts in English history. Her most famous moment came on 9th September 1513. Henry VIII was away, on war campaign, in France, with most of the best...(10)
... fighting men in the country. He left his wife, Catherine, as regent to rule England in his absence. And Henry's brother-in-law, James IV of Scotland, decided to invade England, presuming the Anglo-Spanish Queen would be unable to defend herself or her people...(11)
... but he hadn't reckoned on Catherine of Aragon. Not only did she muster an army to defend her husbands kingdom, she marched north, heavily pregnant, on horseback (we still have Catherine's armour, with expandable plates to accommodate her growing belly & bosom)... (12)
... & she took personal control of her army, which, not only annihilated the invading Scottish forces, but also killed James IV on the battle field. Catherine was triumphant & demanded the Scottish King's body be brought before her. When her courtiers only brought his...(13)
... blood-stained cloak, for fear of 'offending' her & her ladies who'd marched North with her, she was indignant & demanded his body, which she eventually got. She then wrote to Henry & sent the blood-stained cloak with the letter, admitting she had considered sending...(14)
... him the Scottish King's head, but was put-off by how quick it was putrifying in the late summer heat. Henry deified his wife, who rightly claims her place as one of the most successful military commanders in history (far more successful than her husband)... (15)
history (far more successful than her husband)... (15)
... But Catherine's downfall was sealed in those halcyon days of 1513. The pregnancy she'd endured during the war would end, like every of her pregnancy, but one, in a dead infant. Only a solitary child, a daughter, Mary, remained. Catherine seemed to accept her... (16)
... heir was female, though that should not be a surprise, given her own abilities & the fact her mother had been such a powerful Queen of Castille. But Henry wasn't so enthused. He perhaps remembered the tale of his ancestor Henry I, who left his throne to his indomitable...(17)
...daughter, Matilda, but whose accession was thwarted by her own cousin Stephen & that led to a 20 year civil war known as "The Anarchy".
Eventually Catherine was shunted aside, along with the Roman Catholic Church she believed in so strongly, for the sake of Henry's... (18)
Eventually Catherine was shunted aside, along with the Roman Catholic Church she believed in so strongly, for the sake of Henry's... (18)
... powerful, protestant, mistress, Anne Boelyn. Catherine was sent away from court, into exile, at Kimbolton Castle in historical Cambridgeshire. Less than 3 years after Henry's union Anne, Catherine died at Kimbolton, still proclaiming herself Queen of England &... (19)
... still demanding to see her daughter Mary, who'd been kept from her, until her eventual death of heart cancer.
She was quickly buried at the nearest major religious site, which just happened to be Peterborough's newly founded cathedral (previously Peterborough Abbey)... (20)
She was quickly buried at the nearest major religious site, which just happened to be Peterborough's newly founded cathedral (previously Peterborough Abbey)... (20)
... On the day of Catherine's funeral, Anne Boelyn miscarried a baby boy, setting in motion a chain of events that would see Henry's 2nd wife executed just a few months after Catherine's own death. For several centuries Henry & all his various wives were buried in really... (21)
...very ordinary tombs. Henry himself was buried alongside his 3rd wife Jane Seymour in Windsor Chapel. He'd originally planned a grand monument to them both, but his son, Edward VI's, pious protestantism & his daughters Mary & Elizabeth's reluctance, meant he got little...(22)
... more than a plain marble floor slab () which eventually he'd share with his Stuart cousin, the executed Charles I. Anne Boelyn & Henry's 5th wife Katharine Howard, would be buried in the earth of the Tower of London's chapel, as traitors of the state... (23)
) which eventually he'd share with his Stuart cousin, the executed Charles I. Anne Boelyn & Henry's 5th wife Katharine Howard, would be buried in the earth of the Tower of London's chapel, as traitors of the state... (23)
Catherine Parr, Henry's final wife, was eventually buried in a modest tomb in her ancestral church, having outlived the King by a few years & remarried for a 4th time herself. Anne of Cleves, the shortest serving of Henry's wives, got the most privileged burial, having... (24)
... outlived Henry & the other 5 wives, following her divorce (annulment) after 6 months of marriage. She's buried in a slightly awkward, hard to spot, tomb in Westminister Abbey. Then there is Catherine of Aragon, forgotten, bar a small grave marker, for several centuries...(25)
... but she had a historical renaissance. In an era of moral puritanism, religious devotion & respect for a powerful queen (in this case Victoria)the Victorians came to deeply admire Catherine of Aragon's qualities... And in the 20th century they chose to celebrate her in... (26)
... the most fascinating of ways. Kibg George V's wife Queen Mary of Teck (the current Queen's grandmother) held a national fundraiser, encouraging every woman named Catherine or a derivative thereof, to donate a tiny sum to build Catherine a grander tomb. The result was...(27)
...the incredible marble & iron construction we see today...
And it's a great legacy to Catherine, & her power, that even now, when I visit her grave, her tomb is adorned with pomegranates (her heraldic symbol) & candles
, a fitting tribute to a great Queen! (28)
And it's a great legacy to Catherine, & her power, that even now, when I visit her grave, her tomb is adorned with pomegranates (her heraldic symbol) & candles
, a fitting tribute to a great Queen! (28)
