Today in 1541 Henry VIII’s fifth wife Catherine Howard was questioned about her salacious past by Archbishop Cranmer and her uncle the Duke of Norfolk.
She was also confined to her chambers and would never see Henry again as he had abandoned her at Hampton Court the day before. Eustace Chapuys the Imperial Ambassador, wrote what he knew in a letter to the Queen of Hungary:
“On the evening of the 6th the Privy Councillors returned and stayed nearly all night deliberating in the King’s apartments, and then the day after, night and day, at the house of the Bishop of Winchester, where it was resolved to discharge most of those who were at Hampton Court with the Queen, all coffers and chests being sealed and the doors guarded. Among others who remained inside the palace was the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has charge of everything.”
Catherine knew she was in big trouble and she became so hysterical that Cranmer couldn’t question her and so they came back the next day.
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:
Autumn 2018 Tudor Summit: Claire Ridgway on Katherine Howard
James Boulton on Tudor Queens
From the shop:
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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 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).
