Catherine Parr’s Crisis
On July 12, 1543, Henry married Catherine Parr in a small chapel at Hampton Court. Catherine was 31, childless and already widowed twice. The wedding was low key, with only 24 guests, which has been used by some to suggest that it was a marriage of convenience. Henry was 52 and ailing, his girth expanding as his ulcerated leg increasingly disabled him. Catherine Parr had experience of nursing elderly husbands and was an experienced and much-loved stepmother. She made the perfect companion and nurse for the King- and surrogate mother his younger children, Edward and Elizabeth.
Yet Henry married Catherine “with a joyful countenance” suggesting that to him at least; he was acquiring someone more than a live-in nurse. In the first year of their marriage, he showered Catherine with gifts and showed great trust in her by making her regent of England during his final war against France in 1544. Henry and his new Queen had a great deal in common. Both loved hunting and music, books- and learning. To a certain degree, Henry encouraged his new wife’s intellectual life. He allowed his printers to publish her Prayers or Meditations in 1545- making Catherine the first Queen of England to become a published author.
However, in 1546, Catherine took this license too far when she decided to lecture the King on religion. In his declining years, Henry had back peddled somewhat regarding religion, preferring a more conservative Protestantism that was closer to the Catholicism of his youth. On the other hand, Catherine’s Protestantism was much more radical-dangerously so. So when she presumed to try to instruct Henry on the merits of her beliefs, the King turned on her. His irritation towards the Queen continued, with Henry remarking later “a good hearing it is when women become such clerks; and a thing much to my comfort, to come in mine old days to be taught by my wife.”
The arch-conservative Bishop Gardiner who was jealous of Queen Catherine’s influence scented an opportunity. In 1546, those with radical reforming views were in danger of being arrested and executed for heresy. In May 1546, one, Anne askew, was arrested. Gardiner and his ally, Henry Wriothesley, the Lord Chancellor tortured her to try and get her to implicate the queen. The interrogators questioned Askew closely about “My lady of Suffolk, my lady of Sussex, my lady of Hertford, my lady Denny, and my Lady Fitzwilliams” All were protestant members of Catherine’s inner circle. Interestingly, “My Lady Suffolk” was Katherine Willoughby herself.
The bishop had all of the ladies searched for forbidden books and Katherine herself wisely spirited away any copies of her own controversial reading matter. Nothing was found. In July 1546, Ann Askew was burnt for heresy without implicating the Queen or any of those around her. Yet the danger was not over for the queen. Gardiner and Wriothesley continued their investigations- with the full knowledge of the King who even consented to his wife’s arrest. But was Henry seriously trying to rid himself of his sixth wife so he could marry Katherine Willoughby?