The Court was ordered into mourning—a command which Anne Boleyn distinguished herself by imperfectly obeying.[1] Catherine was buried at Peterborough, with the estate of Princess Royal;[2] and shortly after, on the foundation of the new bishoprics, the See of Peterborough was established in her memory. We may welcome, however late, these acts of tardy respect.[3] Henry, in the few last years, had grown wiser in the ways of women; and had learnt to prize more deeply the austerity of virtue, even in its unloveliest aspect.
- ↑ See Lingard, vol. v. p. 30. Hall says—'Queen Anne wore yellow for mourning.'
- ↑ The directions for the funeral are printed in Lingard, vol. v. Appendix, p. 267.
- ↑ It ought not to be necessary to say that her will was respected—Lord Herbert, p. 188; but the King's conduct to Catherine of Arragon has provoked suspicion even where suspicion is unjust; and much mistaken declamation has been wasted in connection with this matter upon an offence wholly imaginary.In making her bequests, Catherine continued to regard herself as the King's wife, in which capacity she professed to have no power to dispose of her property. She left her legacies in the form of a petition to her husband. She had named no executors; and being in the eyes of the law 'a sole woman,' the administration lapsed in consequence to the nearest of kin, the Emperor. Some embarrassment was thus, created, and the attorney-general was obliged to evade the difficulty by a legal artifice, before the King could take possession, and give effect to the bequests.—See Strype's. Memor., vol. i. Appendix, pp. 252–5.
rative is treated as throughout a mere wild collection of fables. Reasons of state had obliged the King to separate Mary from her mother, during the preceding year. The ambassador applied for leave to take her with him to Kimbolton at the end of November, when the illness was first considered serious. The King then said that he would think about it. Catherine afterwards rallied, and it does not appear that the request was renewed.
