Katherine Parr (1512-48)The Crimson Queen

"To Be Useful In All That I Do”

Parr family motto “Love with Loyalty”

Background

• Parrs were wool producers from Westmoreland

• Allied with Yorks but rejected Richard III

• Thomas Parr made new alliances with Lancastersbacking Henry VII

Parr FamilyKendal Castle

Thomas ParrMaud Green

William(1513-71)

Katherine(1512-48)

Anna

GodmotherKatherine of Aragon

Upbringing

• Maud, lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon

• Some contact with Cuthbert Tunstall, associate of Erasmus, author of De arte supputandi (arithmetic)

• Fluency in French; some Latin

• Riding, hunting

• Chess, coin collecting, music, dancing

Rye House, Hertfordshire, gate house

Marriage (I)

1523 Negotiation with Lord Dacre for marriage with Henry Scrope fail on question of dowry1529 Marriage to Edward Borough (Burgh) of Gainsborough

[Insanity noted in the family]No known children

1531 Mother, Maud, dies leaving Katherine her bed and [rosary] beads gifted by Katherine of Aragon1533 Edward Borough dies

Gainsborough Old Hall, 1803

Snape Castle, Yorkshire

Marriage (II), 1534

John Neville, Lord Latimer (1493-1543)

– 3rd marriage; 14-year old son; 9 year-old daughter

Lady Latimer

Lord Latimer

• Religious conservative

• Captured during Pilgrimage of Grace

– Took oath of pilgrim and became a reluctant (?) spokesperson

– Katherine confined to Snape

– Latimer pardoned for role after Pilgrimage suppressed

Widow again

• Lady-in-waiting to Princess Mary

• Met Thomas Seymour

– Religious convictions unknown

– With King’s fleet against French

– Appointed to Privy Council, right before Jane’s death

Thomas Seymour (1509-1549)

Of parson rare strong limbes & manly shape

of nature framed to sarve on seae & lande

of Frindship firme in good state & ill hape

in peace heade[wise] and in ware skill greate bouldehande

on horse on fote in perill or in playe

none coulde excel though many did asaye

A subiecte true to Kinge & searvant greate

frind to Gods truth enimye to romes deceate

sumptuose abroad for honnor of the lande

temperate at home yet keapte greate state with staye

and gave more mouthes more meate

than some advanst one higher steps to stand

yet against nature reason & iust lawes

his bloud wase spilt iustelese [guiltless]

without iust cause.

Path to Marriage (III)

“Howbeit God withstood my will therein most vehemently for a time, and through his grace and goodness made that possible which seemeth to me most impossible; that was made me renounce utterly my own will, and to follow his [God’s] will

most willingly.” Letter to Thomas Seymour, 1547

by her that ys yowrs to serue and obey duryngher lyf,Kateryn the Quene KP

Marriage to the King

• License from Cranmer

• Ceremony conducted by Gardiner– In English with oration in Latin

• Place: Queen’s cabinet, Hampton Court

• King’s party: Thomas Darcy,

• Queen’s party: Sister, Anne; Jane Dudley, duchess of Suffolk, Anne Hertford

• Present: Margaret Douglas (niece), Mary, Elizabeth

Vows

• I Henry, take thee, Katherine, to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death us do part, and thereto I plight thee my troth

• I Katherine “ “ health, to be bonaire and buxom in bed and at board, till “ “

Wife

• Ordered ‘fine perfumes’ and sweet herbs for her bed

• Took milk baths

Silk for the King and Queen

1542 and 1547

• 13,287 yards of silk removed from stores

– 1,102 yards or 8.3% went to Katherine,

– 7,114 yards or 53.5% were delivered to Henry

• 8,466 yards of silk remained in the king’s silk house at Whitehall at his death (including new purchases)

• First year – 117 pairs of shoes

Katherine Parr and Education

• Role in education of Prince Edward

• Care of Princess Elizabeth

– Choice of tutors

– Example of her regency

• Worked on improving her own Latin

Edward education

• Richard Cox, former headmaster at Eton

• John Cheke, Regius Professor of Greek, Cambridge

– Memorizing Erasmus and the Bible (age 8)

– Latin composition

– Greek

• Roger Ascham, calligraphy

1543/44 3rd Act of Succession

Order of succession

• His 2nd son, Edward, and his descendants

• Potentially, any children, male or female, of Henry and Katherine

• Mary and her descendants

• Elizabeth and her descendants

• As given in Henry’s last will

Regencies in 1544

• Mary de Guise, Scotland

• Mary of Hungary, government of the Netherlands

• Katherine Parr, England

Katherine’s Council

• Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury

• Thomas Thirlby, bishop of Winchester

• Edward Seymour, earl of Hertford

• Thomas Wriosthley, lord chancellor

• William Petre, clerk to the Council

• Lord Parr of Horton

Proclamations July to September 1544

• Determine if French in England have been made citizens (denizens); Expel others

• Regulate price of armor

• Imprisonment of deserters

• No person exposed to plague may come to Court

• Amend to allow French to remain in England

Psalms or Prayers1544

Possible Parr translation in collaboration w. George Day

Prayers or MeditationsKatherine Parr, 1545

First English book by a queen in her own name

Twelve editions through 1556

Gardiner and allies

• “Heresy had “crept into every court and even into the Privy Chamber”

• Heresy at Canterbury

• Henry shows charges to Cranmer and appoints him to lead the investigation

• Most charged are pardoned but some executions

Parr Lamentation of a Sinner , 2nd ed., 1547

To set forth my whole stubbornness . . . To declare the excellent beneficence, mercy and goodness of God, which is infinite, immeasurable . . .• Had once “sought for such riffraff

as the Bishop of Rome had planted in his tyranny and kingdom”

• Henry was “our Moses”• Termed evangelical• Four editions• Banned by Queen Mary

Erasmus, Paraphrases of the New Testament, translation

• Direction of Katherine Parr

St. Matthew Parr? Udall?

St. John Mary and her tutor, Francis Mallet

St. Luke Nicholas Udall

St. Mark George Owen

• 20,000 copies from 1548−1551

Confrontation with Henry

Henry after a discourse by Katherine on religion

A good hearing it is when women become such clerks, and a thing much to my comfort, to come in mine old days to be taught by my wife.

Gardiner suggested this sounded like sedition and began looking at evidence from her readings and ladies-in-waiting.

Confrontation

• Word of the investigation leaked to Katherine who becomes ill and pleads with Henry

Katherine: She had no opinion worth having since she deferred to him next to God

Henry: “You have become a doctor, Kate, to instruct us and not to be instructed or directed by us”

Kate: She had disputed about religion so you“mightwith less grief pass over this painful time of your infirmity, being attentive to our talk”

Henry VIIICornelis Metsys, ~1545

Death of Henry VIII

• Regency Council of executors

• Katherine not part of regency

• Resentment of role of Edward Seymour

– Dispute over property and jewels

• Given manors of Chelsea and Hanworth

Henry VIII tomb

Sellaio wrote to Michelangelo in 1521

“Giovanni Cavalcanti has had a model made by BaccioBandinelli. Its size is considerable and is in the shape of the arch at the foot of the Capitol, with steps round it, and the roof in the manner of a funerary canopy. On the steps and all round the structure there will be 142 life-size bronze figures, above there will be an effigy of the king on horseback, and several reliefs, also cast in bronze. It is believed that the gilding for all these bronze carvings alone will amount to 40,000 gold ducats. I do not know whether it will ever be built. “

Tomb of Horatio Nelson, St. Paul’s

Henry VIII Tomb

• Marbles and bronzes made by Benedetto da Rovezzano for Wolsey’s tomb

• Reused for planned tomb of Henry VIIIin Westminster Abbey

• Moved to Windsor during reign of Elizabeth

• Stripped by Commonwealth

• Sarcophagus used in 1808

St. George’s Chapel Windsor Castle

Henry VIII: Bookworm

• 329 volumes at Greenwich arranged by color

• 910 at Whitehall

– Theology

– Warfare

– Medicine

– Music

– Romance

1547 Inventory

423 page manuscript Jewels and plate

Secret jewel house

Ordinance and munitions

Ships

Armories

Stables

Revels

Tents

Vestry

His estateSeptember 1547 Inventory

• 3,690 entries for precious metals and stones (278 1/8 ounces of gold)

• 2,028 pieces of plate

• 2,450 tapestry wall hangings, and 300 other tapestry furnishings

• 150 paintings

• 237 items for revels - costumes and props

• Musical instruments from bagpipes to virginals

His estateSeptember 1547 Inventory

• Palaces and wardrobes worth ~£300,000

• Military and naval stores worth ~£300,000.

• 58 naval vessels in Anthony rolls

• 400 guns and 6,500 handguns in the Tower of London

• 2,250 guns in coastal and border fortresses.

• Forts, armories

Royal Gold Cup

“a Cuppe of gold with Imagerie, the knopp a crowne Imperiall and aboute the bordre of the cover and the foote a Crowne garnished with lxii garnishing perles weyinglxxix oz," and identified by its original number of pearls”

London Bridge, 1597

Manors of Katherine Parr, dowager

Tudor

Chelsea Manor Hanworth House, stables

4th Marriage

Thomas Seymour (1509-1549)

1547 Lord High Admiral, Knight of the Garter, Privy Council

Support – Mary

“If the memory of the King’s majesty my father (whose soul God pardon) will not suffer her to grant your suit , I am nothing able to persuade her to forget the loss of him who is yet very ripe in my own remembrance.”

Adds a willingness to help him “wooing matters apart, wherein I being a maid am nothing cunning”

Princess Mary to Thomas Seymour

Support – Edward VI

Advice to Thomas Seymour

• 1st suggests Anne of Cleves

• 2nd Mary

Finally writes to Katherine, thanking her for her acceptance of Thomas

Marriage

Daughter, Mary

Katherine dies 2 weeks later

Mary??