Catherine
Howard was the granddaughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
and the cousin of Anne
Boleyn.
In 1509 Henry
VII died and
his son Henry VIII became king of England.
It was very important
to Henry that his wife,
Catherine of Aragon, should give birth
to a male child.
Without a son to take over from him
when he died. Henry feared that the Tudor family
would lose control of England. Catherine gave
birth to six children but five died within a few
weeks of being born. Only one child, Mary, survived
into adulthood.
By 1530 Catherine was
too old to have any more children. Therefore, Henry decided he would
have to have another wife.
His choice was Anne Boleyn, the 20-year-old
daughter of Viscount Rochford. Anne
gave birth to a daughter called Elizabeth.
In January 1536 Anne had
a son. Unfortunately the child was born dead. Later that year Henry
accused Anne of committing adultery with five different men. Anne
and the men were all executed. Ten days later Henry married Jane
Seymour. The following year, Jane died giving birth to a son.
Henry now at last had a male heir.
Henry began to look for
another wife. His Lord Chancellor, Thomas
Cromwell, wanted England to form an alliance with the Protestants
in Saxony. One way Henry could do this was by marrying Anne
of Cleves, the daughter of the Protestant leader, Duke John Frederick.
In 1539 Henry was sent
paintings of Anne but he suspected that the artist had exaggerated
Anne's beauty. Henry therefore sent Hans
Holbein to Saxony to paint her picture. On the evidence of Holbein's
painting. Henry decided to sign the marriage contract. However, when
Anne of Cleves arrived in England for
the wedding Henry was very disappointed with her. Although he agreed
that Holbein had captured her physical likeness. Henry did not like
her personality.
Henry divorced Anne
of Cleves and in 1540 married Catherine Howard. The following
year she was charged by Thomas Cranmer
of having sexual intercourse before her marriage with Henry Mannock,
Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpepper. In 1542 Catherine Howard and
the three men were executed.
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