Great Ladies: The Forgotten Witnesses to the Lives of Tudor Queens 2 (Pages 34 - 84)

 

In England Catherine of Aragon was isolated and living with limited means, so he kept asking her father for money for the dowry of her ladies-in-waiting, but Ferdinand of Aragon ignored her pleas. Catherine felt betrayed by Francesca de Cáceres when she deserted her to marry Francisco Grimaldi. Francisca de Cáceres fled in the night to marry Francesco Grimaldi without the consent of Catherine of Aragon. 

Henry VII died of tuberculosis at Richmond Palace on 21 April 1509 and was buried in the chapel he commissioned in Westminster Abbey next to his wife, Elizabeth.

Two months later Katherine married Henry VIII. The wedding took place on 11 June 1509. It was a private ceremony in the church of the Observant Friars outside Greenwich Palace. She was 23 years of age.

As a queen, Katherine befriended Elizabeth Stafford, Lady Fitzwalter. Elizabeth Stafford, Countess of Sussex (c. 1479 – 11 May 1532) was an English noblewoman.

Elizabeth noticed that the king had clandestine meetings with her sister Anne, married to George Hastings. The king banished her because he did not like her meddling. King Henry VIII and Lady Anne Hastings (born Anne Stafford, Countess of Huntingdon) are believed to have had an extramarital affair around 1510, marking what many historians consider the young king's first major marital indiscretion.Anne's family discovered the secret when she confided in a relative. The news reached her powerful brother, Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, creating a massive court scandal. Henry eventually sent Anne away from the court to appease the scandal and quiet the outrage from the noble Stafford family.

Henry took Elizabeth 'Bessie' Blount as his mistress, and she gave birth to his son, Henry Fitzroy. Blount's relationship with Henry VIII lasted for some time, compared to his other affairs, which were generally short-lived and unacknowledged. On 15 June 1519, Blount bore the King an illegitimate son who was named Henry FitzRoy, later created Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Earl of Nottingham. He was the only illegitimate son of Henry VIII whom the King acknowledged as his own. After the child's birth, the affair ended for unknown reasons. 

Henry was a well-known womaniser, and then when Anne Boleyn caught his eye, he became obsessed with her. In 1527 Henry tried to get an annulment to marry Anne.  Henry claimed that his marriage was not right because Catherine had been married to his brother, and that means going against the Bible's teachings. Catherine claimed that she and Arthur never had relations. There was a trial and three women were key witnesses.

Joan Vaux, Lady Guildford (also known as "Mother Guildford") was a prominent English courtier who served as a crucial witness regarding the consummation of Catherine of Aragon's first marriage to Prince Arthur. She said Prince Arthur and Catherine had lain together "as man and wife all alone five or six nights after the said marriage".  Her testimony was used by Henry VIII's legal team to strongly imply that the teenage couple had completed the physical union, supporting the King's push for an annulment.

Agnes Howard (née Tilney), Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, served as a critical witness regarding Catherine of Aragon during the legal proceedings of Henry VIII’s Great Matter.June 16, 1529, at the Cluniac priory in Thetford. Despite holding personal affection and loyalty to Catherine of Aragon (who had once gifted her a diamond and pearl pendant), the Dowager Duchess provided vital testimony for the King's case:   She testified under oath that she had been part of the formal court entourage that physically put Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon into bed together on their wedding night.

Mary Bourchier (born Mary Saye) served as an important witness during the Great Matter—the protracted annulment proceedings between King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon. Mary Saye married Henry Bourchier, the 2nd Earl of Essex, in 1497. Because of her high noble standing, she was appointed to attend to a young Catherine of Aragon following her arrival in England and subsequent marriage to Henry's older brother, Prince Arthur, in 1501. 

In 1531 Henry VIII sent Katherine to the More, Cardinal Wolsey's former residence. The More was a 16th-century palace in the parish of Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, where Catherine of Aragon lived after the annulment of her marriage to Henry VIII. It had been owned by Cardinal Wolsey. It lay at the northeast corner of the later More Park estate on the edge of the Colne flood plain.

Anne Boleyn was befriended by Honor Grenville, Viscountess Lisle. Honor Grenville, Viscountess Lisle (c. 1493–1495 – 1566) was a Cornish lady. Honor was one of the ladies who attended Anne Boleyn when she travelled to Calais with Henry VIII in 1532.

Henry and Anne married in a secret ceremony on 14 November 1532.

Gertrude Courtenay, Marchioness of Exeter, closest associate of Katherine, was dismissed by Anne Boleyn. Gertrude Courtenay, Marchioness of Exeter, (née Blount; c.1499/1502 – 25 September 1558) was an English Marchioness, married to Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter and a member of the courts of Henry VIII of England.

Gertrude contacted Elizabeth Baton, the Nun of Kent, who was broadcasting antiBoleyn prophesies. Elizabeth Barton (1506 – 20 April 1534), known as "The Nun of Kent", "The Holy Maid of London", "The Holy Maid of Kent" and later "The Mad Maid of Kent", was an English Catholic nun. She was executed as a result of her prophecies against the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn. In around 1532, began prophesying that if Henry remarried, he would die within a few months. She said that she had even seen the place in Hell to which he would go. With her reputation undermined, Barton was arrested by the Crown in 1533 and forced to confess that she had fabricated her revelations.

Anne found it difficult to have a relationship with Mary as she refused to accept her as her father's new wife. Anne sent Anne Shelton to join the household of Mary and Elizabeth to gain more control. Anne, Lady Shelton (née Boleyn; c. 1483– 8 January 1556) was a sister of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and one of the aunts of his daughter, Queen Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. In 1533, Lady Shelton and her sister, Lady Alice Clere, were placed in charge of the household of the King's daughter, Mary. There is some evidence that Lady Shelton was harsh towards the young Mary, often taunting her with Elizabeth's higher status, but it is widely believed that she never resorted to actually hitting the young girl to chastise her. 

Kimbolton Castle is Katherine's residence and where she died. Kimbolton Castle is a country house in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire. It was the final home of King Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. 

Henry went off Anne when she failed to give him a child, and his new interest was Jane Seymour. 

Anne's relationship with the women in court was difficults. Some like her but others blamed her for the king's breakup with Rome. 

One of Anne's ladies was Elizabeth Somerset, Countess of Worcester, who later accused Anne of immorality. Elizabeth Somerset, Countess of Worcester (née Browne; 1502–1565) was a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn and the main informant against her. 

Mary Carey, Anne's sister, was dismissed from court for marrying beneath her station. In 1534 Mary secretly married an Essex landowner's younger son: William Stafford. Since Stafford was a soldier, his prospects as a second son so slight and his income so small, many believed that the union was a love match. When Mary became pregnant the marriage was discovered. Queen Anne was furious and the Boleyn family disowned Mary. The couple were banished from court.

Jane Boleyn, Anne's sister-in-law, was banished for her involvement in an intrigue against the king's mistress. Jane and Queen Anne worked together to uncover and banish a suspected royal mistress from court to protect Anne's position.  Jane was forced to leave court, though her exile lasted only a few months before the king moved on and allowed her to return.

Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond, was fond of Anne. Mary FitzRoy, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset (c. 1519 – December 1555 or 1557), born Mary Howard, was a daughter-in-law of King Henry VIII of England, the wife of his illegitimate son Henry FitzRoy.

Anne was arrested on May 2, 1536. She was taken to the Tower of London. In the Tower, initially she became hysterical, demanding to know the location of her father and her "sweet brother", as well as the charges against her. The charge was treason, in that she and the other defendants had intended Henry's death: the shock of the news of her adultery was alleged to have put his life at risk. Anne was taken by barge from Greenwich to the Tower of London and lodged in the royal apartments.

Lady Bridget Wingfield (born Bridget Wiltshire) was a close neighbor, childhood acquaintance, and lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn whose alleged deathbed confession was later used as evidence against the queen. Bridget died in early 1534. Two years later, during Anne Boleyn's 1536 trial for treason and adultery, prosecutors claimed that a dying Lady Wingfield had confessed secrets regarding Anne’s past behaviour. he exact contents of Bridget's supposed confession remain unknown because official trial records vanished, but legal notes from the period suggest it involved questioning Anne's moral character prior to her royal marriage.

Anne's alleged lovers were executed on May 17, 1536, and Anne two days later. 

May 17, 1536, five men alleged to be lovers of Queen Anne Boleyn were executed for high treason at Tower Hill and the Tower of London. The men were: George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, Anne’s brother, accused of incest and treason.Sir Henry Norris, groom of the Stool and close friend of King Henry VIII.Sir Francis Weston, a young courtier.William Brereton, a prominent court official.Mark Smeaton, a court musician.

Henry married Jane Seymour on May 30, 1536.