While revisiting my post on Anne and Catherines pregnancies, I really felt for Catherine. She went through so much to give Henry a son and heir: - 31st January 1510 – A stillborn daughter born 33 weeks after the marriage. This is reported by Diego Fernandez, Catherine’s chancellor, in the Calendar of State Papers (Spain) - 1st January 1511 – Birth of a son, Henry, who died on 22nd February at just 52 days old. - 17th September 1513 – Birth of a son who was either stillborn or who did not survive long. The Venetian Calendar of State Papers records that the child was alive at birth: “a male heir was born to the King of England and will inherit the crown, the other son having died.” - November 1514 – According to Dewhurst, the Venetian ambassador, wrote to his senate in November that “The Queen has been delivered of a stillborn male child of eight months to the very great grief of the whole court”, Holinshed, the chronicler, ” reported that “in November the Queen was delivered of a prince which lived not long after”, and John Stow wrote “in the meantime, to Whit, the month of November, the Q was delivered of a prince which lived not long after”. - 18th February 1516 – Birth of a daughter, Mary, the future Mary I. - 10th November 1518 – Birth of a stillborn daughter. The Venetian ambassador wrote “The Queen has been delivered in her eighth month of a stillborn daughter to the great sorrow of the nation at large”. All those pregnancies, all that grief, and then to be abandoned. I often wonder what Catherine thought about Henrys obsession with having a son when her mother Isabella I of Castile was such a powerful queen.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 14:48:29 +0000
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