A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Catherine of Arragon
Notwithstanding the contract, that prince, at fourteen years of age, made a public protestation against it; yet, being overcome by the advice of his council, he was married to her immediately after his accession to the throne, and both of them were crowned by Dr. Warham, then archbishop of Canterbury, July 5, 1505. Her beauty, sweet disposition, and other excellent qualifications, kept her almost for twenty years in the king's good graces. She was not only learned herself, but also a patroness of learned men; more particularly of Ludovicus Vives, and the celebrated Erasmus.
But though the king never discovered, during all this time, the least disaffection to her; yet not having a son to succeed him, and the affronts offered to his daughter Mary by the courts of France and Spain, by declining an alliance on pretence of her illegitimacy, might make an impression on his mind; and, some scruples of conscience on a marriage which had been partly approved, partly condemned, by his father and counsellors, but more, perhaps, his becoming enamoured with the charms of Anne Boleyn, made him resolve to be divorced from his queen. When the cause was brought into court, she threw herself on her knees before him, appealing to him for the affection, faithfulness, and obedience of her conduct, during their union: beseeching him to protect her, a powerless and injured stranger, who had been the wife of his brother only by title, from the malice of her enemies: then, rising, she left the court, before which she would never again consent to appear. She accused cardinal Wolsey, as the author of her calamities, because she could not always tolerate his vices, and her nephew, the emperor, had disappointed his views of the papacy.
The affair of the divorce being determined; without submitting to a sentence not sanctioned by the pope, or renouncing her pretensions, she retired to Kimbolton castle, in Huntingdonshire; where she led a life of constant devotion and remarkable austerity, for the space of three years, when she fell dangerously ill, about the latter end of December, 1535. Six days after which, being very weak, she dictated the following letter to the king:
- "My king and dearest spouse, "Insomuch as already the hour of my death approacheth, the love and affection I bear you, causeth me to conjure you to have a care of the eternal salvation of your soul, which you ought to prefer before mortal things, or all worldly blessings. It is for this immortal spirit you must neglect the care of your body, for the love of which you have thrown me headlong into many calamities, and your ownself into infinite disturbances. But I forgive you with all my heart, humbly beseeching Almighty God, he will in heaven confirm the pardon I on earth give you. I recommend unto you our most dear Mary, your daughter and mine, praying you to be a better father to her than you have been a husband to me: remember also three poor maids, companions of my retirement, as likewise all the rest of my servants, giving them a whole year's wages besides what is due, that so they may be a little recompensed for the good service they have done me; protesting unto you, in the conclusion of this my letter and life, that my eyes love you, and desire to see you more than any thing mortal."
This letter drew tears from the king. In a few days after, she died at Kimbolton. In her will, she appointed her interment to be private, in a convent of Observant friars, who had done and suffered much for her: the king complied with her request in regard to her servants; but would not permit her remains to be buried as she desired, perhaps more to show his resentment to that religious order, who had been against him in the affair of the divorce, than in opposition to her will. He ordered her to be interred in the abbey church of Peterborough, with all the pomp and ceremony due to her high birth. And, in respect to her remains, though there was a dissolution of all the religious houses in 1543, he not only spared that abbey-church, but advanced it to the dignity of a cathedral.