A
"Rose without a Thorn," daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and first cousin
(once removed?) of Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard married Henry Tudor on
July 28th, 1540 at the age of 19 (Henry was 49) becoming his 5th wife.
She rekindled his enthusiasm for life after much torment from losing
Jane Seymour and divorcing Anne of Cleeves (to whom she served as
lady-in-waiting). She enjoyed dancing and other such courtly
indulgences.
But having a reputation before her marriage in terms of numerous lovers (including music teacher Henry Mannox) and
a vivacious nature that called her fidelity into question, she was
accused in November 1541 of treason/adultery. Her accomplices, Thomas
Culpeper (a distant cousin) and Francis Dereham, were executed in
December of that year while she was placed in the Tower and finally
beheaded on the 13th of February, 1542. Happy Valentine's Day, Henry.
A bit of inspiration to go along with this post - the
song Marry Me by Emilie Autumn on the album Opheliac relates Catherine's
perspective in what I like to think is an entirely plausible tone -
both grimly hopeless and fluffy minded. Understandable teenage behavior,
and since she was after all very young in the scheme of things,
well...she is certainly not amongst my favorite of Henry's queens, I do
have a bit of sympathy for the girl. A good reminder that things can
spiral out of control quickly if you aren't conscious of your decisions
and refuse responsibility for your actions and are generally promiscuous. Also of note is
Claire Hummel's Historically Accurate Disney Princesses. Delightful revisions of the classical fairytale ladies. While I wasn't exactly aiming for the level of historical accuracy that Claire was - I did fancy the style. Combined with what I've been learning in the Oatley Academy (Which I need to catch up on ><) I think I've made great improvement! : D More to come soon!!
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