Today in 1501 Katherine of Aragon set sail from Laredo Spain to go to England and marry Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales. It was actually the second attempt at sailing. After waiting nearly a month for good winds, she set sail originally on August 17, but a huge storm in the Bay of Biscay forced the ships back to Spain. She had been very frightened and thought she was going to die. The ships were so battered that they needed re-fitting before the journey could resume, which she did from a different port today.
She had already been away from home, which at that point had been the palace of the Alhambra in Granada, since May, and had traveled 500 miles on horseback to northern Spain during the summer. By all accounts her journey was exhausting, and she finally landed in Plymouth on October 2.
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 47: Tudor Times talks about Katherine of Aragon
Episode 69: Supplemental – Chat with James Boulton on Katherine of Aragon
From the shop:
Check out this Andalucian Princess Collection.
Featuring: Catherine of Aragon Andalucian Princess Sleeveless Long Dress
Ps. All products are made on-demand and can take a few weeks to ship.
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 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
