Today in 1503 Catherine of Aragon was betrothed to Prince Henry of England.
Of course, this is a year or so after the death of her first husband, Henry’s brother, Arthur. Catherine’s status would be up in the air for another six years as her father, and father-in-law haggled about money and dowries, and her fortunes seemed to be so easily affected by foreign policy.
Only in 1509, after Henry became king, did he finally marry Catherine. It was a long six years as Catherine was essentially trapped in England, dependent on her Tudor in-laws, needing to sell off her dowry of plate and jewelry in order to pay her maids, and with an incredibly uncertain future. What a relief it must have been to have finally married Henry.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Episode 110: Arthur Tudor
Episode 47: Tudor Times talks about Katherine of Aragon
Episode 69: Supplemental – Chat with James Boulton on Katherine of Aragon
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop. She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.