consecrated, and was married to Henry the Fifth of England, June 3rd., 1420. Henry the Fifth had previously conquered nearly the whole of France, and received with his bride the promise of the regency of France, as the king was again insane, and on the death of Charles the Sixth, the sovereignty of that country, to the exclusion of Catharine's brother and three older sisters. Catharine was crowned in 1421, and her son, afterwards Henry the Sixth, was born at Windsor in the same year, during the absence of Henry the Fifth in France. The queen joined her husband at Paris in 1422, leaving her infant son in England, and was with him when he died, at the castle of Vincennes, in August, 1422.
Some years afterwards, Catharine married Owen Tudor, an officer of Welsh extraction, who was clerk of the queen's wardrobe. This marriage was kept concealed several years, and Catharine, who was a devoted mother, seems to have lived very happily with her husband. The guardians of her son, the young Henry the Sixth, at length suspected it, and exhibited such violent resentment, that Catharine either took refuge, during the summer of 1436, in the abbey of Bermondsey, or was sent there under some restraint. Her children (she had four by Owen Tudor,) were torn from her, which cruelty probably hastened the death of the poor queen. She was ill during the summer and autumn, and died January, 1437. The nuns, who piously attended her, declared she was a sincere penitent. She had disregarded the injunctions of her royal husband, Henry the Fifth, in choosing Windsor as the birth-place of the heir of England; and she had never believed the prediction, that "Henry of Windsor shall lose all that Henry of Monmouth had gained." But during her illness she became fearful of the result, and sorely repented her disobedience.
CATHARINE PARR,
Sixth and last wife of Henry the Eighth, was the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Parr, of Kendal, and was at an early age distinguished for her learning and good sense. She was first married to Edward Burghe, and secondly to John Neville, Lord Latimer; and after his death attracted the notice and admiration of Henry the Eighth, whose queen she became in 1543. Her zealous encouragement of the reformed religion excited the anger and jealousy of Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, the Chancellor Wriothesley, and others of the popish faction, who conspired to ruin her with the king. Taking advantage of one of his moments of irritation, they accused her of heresy and treason, and prevailed upon the king to sign a warrant for her committal to the Tower. This being accidentally discovered to her, she repaired to the king, who purposely turned the conversation to religious subjects, and began to sound her opinions. Aware of his purpose, she humbly replied, "that on such topics she always, as became her sex and station, referred herself to his majesty; as he, under God, was her only supreme head and governor here on earth." And so judiciously did she conduct herself on this occasion, that she obtained a restoration of the king's favour, which she kept until his death, when he left her a legacy of four thousand pounds, besides her jointure, "for her great love, obedience, chasteness of life, and wisdom." She afterwards espoused the Lord Admiral Sir Thomas Seymour, uncle to Edward the Sixth; but these nuptials proved unhappy.
