Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542) was Queen of England from July 1540 until November 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a first cousin to Anne Boleyn (the second wife of Henry VIII), and the niece of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Her uncle secured her a place in the household of Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, where Catherine caught the King's interest. They were married in July 1540 at Oatlands Palace in Surrey, just 19 days after the annulment of his marriage to Anne. Henry was 49, and Catherine, 17.
After rumours of her childhood entanglements reached Henry in November 1541, Catherine was stripped of her title as queen and investigated for adultery and treason. Three months later, she was beheaded for these crimes and her body thrown into a mass grave. An enduring figure in Tudor history, Catherine's life has continuously been a source of discussion by historians and portrayals in media productions. Modern-day historians have taken a kinder and more nuanced view of Catherine's character, the accusations against her, and her relationship to the men who took advantage of her in her youth.
Early life
Catherine was born in Lambeth in or about 1523, although the exact year or date is unknown. The estimate is based on the wills of family members, the known birth order of her and her siblings in dated records, and the age range of her ladies-in-waiting, who were in the same age group and often in the same past household of the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, where Catherine spent much of her childhood and adolescence. The year 1522 has also been suggested, based on remarks by the French ambassador to England in 1541, who met Catherine on several occasions in 1540 and 1541. The consensus among historians is that 1523 is the most likely year; 1522 is also credible, but suggestions of 1518 or 1525 are both unsustainable.For an assessment of the different dates, between 1518 and 1527, see https://www.garethrussell.co.uk/when-was-catherine-howard-born
Catherine did not have a good start in life, largely due to the poor decisions of her father, Edmund Howard. As the third son of a prominent family, Edmund's opportunities were limited to relying on the generosity of wealthier family members and his own ability to pave his way. He was both overly proud and a spendthrift. His insult to the King and subsequent events continued to devolve and ensnare him, and by extension, his family. Edmund developed a gambling addiction that left him under constant threat of debtors' prison, and he went into hiding on multiple occasions. In a desperate 1527 letter to Thomas Wolsey, he wrote, "Humbly I beseech your grace to be my good lord, for without your gracious help I am utterly undone. Sir, so it is that I am so far in danger of the King's Laws by reason of the debt that I am in, that I dare not go abroad, nor come in mine own house, and am fain to absent me from my wife and my poor children ... Sir there is no help but, through your grace and your good mediation to the King's Grace."
If Cardinal Wolsey did assist the family in response to the 1527 letter, for which there is little evidence, the funds arrived piecemeal and were probably insufficient. The lowest point for the family came between 1524 and 1531, the period that roughly corresponds with Catherine's birth and early years. This suggests a girl likely neglected and potentially unwanted, as her birth meant a future dowry to fund. Generally, Catherine's early life was filled with uncertainty and instability, which explains why she has often been described as barely literate and generally unlearned. She was clearly not a priority for her father, still less her education and future prospects. In 1531, help came indirectly through her cousin and soon-to-be queen, Anne Boleyn, whom Edmund approached for a position; he was appointed Comptroller at Calais.
Whether due to her mother Joyce's death in about 1528, the family's financial problems, or Catherine's nearing the age suitable for wardship, the Howard household was broken up in 1531, when she was about eight. Two of her older half-sisters were married, and Catherine and her brother Henry were sent to be wards to Agnes Howard, her step-grandmother and the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. The duchess managed large households at Chesworth House in Horsham, Sussex, and at Norfolk House in Lambeth where dozens of attendants and many wardsusually the children of aristocratic but poor relativesresided. Sending children to be educated in aristocratic households was common among European nobles, but supervision at both Chesworth House and Lambeth was apparently lax. The Dowager Duchess was often at Court and seems to have had little direct involvement in the upbringing of her wards and young female attendants.
At Horsham, in about 1536, Catherine began music lessons with two teachers, one of whom was Henry Mannox, and they began a relationship. Mannox's exact age at the time is unknown. It has been suggested that he was in his late thirties, perhaps 36, but this is not supported by Catherine's biographers. Evidence shows that Mannox was not yet married, and it would have been unusual for someone of his background to remain unmarried into his mid-thirties. He married in the late 1530s, perhaps in 1539, and there is evidence that he was the same age as two other men serving in the household, including his cousin Edward Waldegrave, who was in his late teens or early twenties between 1536 and 1538. This suggests that Mannox was also in his early to mid-twenties in 1536.
The details and dates of this relationship are debated among modern historians. The most popular theory, first put forward in 2004 by Retha Warnicke, is that the relationship was abusive, with Mannox grooming and preying on Catherine between 1536 and 1538; this is expanded upon by Conor Byrne. Other biographers, such as Gareth Russell, believe that Mannox's interactions with Catherine took place over a much shorter period, that Mannox was roughly the same age as her, but that "their relationship was nonetheless inappropriate, on several levels." He believes that Catherine was increasingly repulsed by Mannox's pressure to have sex with her and angered by his gossiping with servants about what had occurred between them.
Catherine and Mannox both confessed during her adultery inquisitions as King Henry VIII's wife that they had engaged in sexual contact, but not coitus. Catherine stated, "At the flattering and fair persuasions of Mannox, being but a young girl, I suffered him at sundry times to handle and touch the secret parts of my body, which neither became me with honesty to permit nor him to require."
Catherine severed contact with Mannox in 1538, most likely in the spring. It is not true, as is sometimes stated, that this was because she spent more time at the Dowager Duchess's mansion in Lambeth, as Lambeth was Mannox's home parish and he also married there, perhaps in 1538 or 1539. He was still living in Lambeth in 1541. Shortly afterwards, Catherine was pursued by Francis Dereham, a secretary of the Dowager Duchess. They allegedly became lovers, addressing each other as "husband" and "wife". Dereham also entrusted Catherine with various wifely duties, such as keeping his money when he was away on business. Many of Catherine's roommates among the Dowager Duchess's maids of honour and attendants knew of the relationship, which apparently ended in 1539 when the Dowager Duchess discovered it. Despite this, Catherine and Dereham may have parted intending to marry upon his return from Ireland, agreeing to a precontract. If they exchanged vows before intercourse, they would have been considered married in the eyes of the Church.
Ancestry Catherine was a granddaughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and his first wife, Elizabeth Tilney, but her father, Lord Edmund Howard, was the Duke's third son, and under primogeniture the eldest son inherited the estate. On her paternal side, Catherine was the niece of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and first cousin of poet and soldier Lord Henry Howard, styled Earl of Surrey (his courtesy title as heir apparent to the Dukedom of Norfolk),"Earl of Surrey Henry Howard", A Dictionary of British History, (John Cannon, ed.), OUP, 2009 and Lady Mary Howard, wife of Henry VIII's illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset. Through her father's side, she was also a first cousin of Mary, George and Anne Boleyn (Catherine's aunt, Elizabeth Howard, was the mother of the Boleyn siblings). She was also the second cousin of Jane Seymour, as her grandmother Elizabeth Tilney was the sister of Seymour's grandmother, Anne Say.
Catherine's mother, Joyce Culpeper, already had five children from her first husband, Ralph Leigh ( – 1509), when she married Lord Edmund Howard, and they had another six together, Catherine being about her mother's tenth child. With little to sustain the family, her father often begged for help from more affluent relatives.
After Catherine's mother died in 1528, her father married twice more. In 1531, he was appointed Controller of Calais. He was dismissed in 1539 and died in March that year. Catherine was the third of Henry VIII's wives to have been a member of the English nobility or gentry; Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves were royalty from continental Europe.
Arrival at court Catherine's uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, found her a place at Court in the household of the King's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. As a young and attractive lady-in-waiting, Catherine quickly caught the eye of several men, including the King and Thomas Culpeper. In the early stages of her time at court, and prior to the arrival of Anne of Cleves, the relationship between the King and Catherine has been little remarked upon. He seems to have found her attractive, and whenever they happened to be in each other's company they publicly flirted, but little else appears to have happened. As Anne arrived and the King came to show little interest in her, an opportunity for Catherine slowly began to present itself.
Prior to this point, Catherine and Culpeper had slowly entered into a quasi-relationship, one that was not sexual, although, from later testimony, Culpeper expected it to soon become so, also telling Catherine that he loved her. Catherine rejected this, and in response he moved on to another woman within the Queen's household. This deeply upset Catherine, who does appear to have had some level of feelings for him at this time, for on one occasion she broke down in tears in front of her fellow maids of honour. Prior to this instance, it was she who controlled how long her relationships lasted and when they ended. During this time, word reached Francis Dereham of the rumoured soon-to-be marriage between the pair, and he arrived at court to dispute this with them both. After being told off again by Catherine, he returned to the dowager duchess's household, which he requested to leave, as Catherine was no longer there. Believing this desperation temporary and soon to blow over, Agnes Howard denied this request.
The King had displayed little interest in Anne of Cleves from the beginning, but some historians have argued that, with Thomas Cromwell failing to find a new match, Norfolk saw an opportunity. The Howards may have sought to recreate the influence gained during Anne Boleyn's reign as queen consort. According to Nicholas Sander, the religiously conservative Howard family may have seen Catherine as a figurehead for their fight by expressed determination to restore Roman Catholicism to England. Catholic bishop Stephen Gardiner entertained the couple at Winchester Palace with "feastings". However, Russell does not accept this interpretation.