{"id":2309,"date":"2014-07-21T07:07:27","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T11:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=2309"},"modified":"2015-01-04T07:19:39","modified_gmt":"2015-01-04T12:19:39","slug":"catherine-of-aragon-henrys-spanish-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=2309","title":{"rendered":"****Catherine of Aragon: Henry\u2019s Spanish Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"English<\/a>

Book Cover and Matching Lamp (photo: author)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Giles Tremlett<\/strong> \u2013 An excellent, well researched and highly readable biography <\/a>that breathes life into the woman Henry was married to for 24 years\u2014longer than all his other wives put together. As The Guardian<\/em><\/a> says, \u201cCatherine of Aragon tends to get shuffled into the Prologue, something to be rushed through as quickly as possible. You can\u2019t help feeling, along with Henry himself, that things would be so much pacier if only Spanish Catherine would hurry up and cede her place to that home-grown minx, Anne Boleyn.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Catherine stuck it out, refusing to be divorced from Henry and finally dying, abandoned and isolated from court\u2014though still much-loved by the common people. Her death freed Henry of Anne, as well, and only 19 weeks later Anne of the Waspish Tongue was beheaded. Neither woman produced a male heir, a persistent frustration for Henry.<\/p>\n

Catherine was well prepared to be a staunch defender of the Catholic principles that underlay her opposition to the divorce, even though she feared she and her daughter Mary might themselves be executed. She had powerful parents, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, to serve as role models. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was her nephew to whom she sent pleas for support. Catherine\u2019s ultimate decision not to goad Charles into war was \u201cpossibly as important as any other she made,\u201d says Tremlett.<\/p>\n

The impact of Catherine and Henry\u2019s marriage still reverberates. She petitioned the Pope for aid, and his support, albeit tardy, led to Henry\u2019s assertion of his authority over the church, the schism with Rome, and formation of the Church of England. In her five-year reign, Catherine\u2019s daughter Mary (\u201cBloody Mary\u201d) attempted to restore the Church, perpetuating the religious crisis, and it was left to Anne Boleyn\u2019s daughter Elizabeth I to complete the Reformation.<\/p>\n

Tremlett\u2019s descriptions of the political to-and-fro, court life for insiders and outsiders, and the place of women in Tudor society create living, breathing\u2014and unforgettable\u2014characters at this massive historical turning point.
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