Katherine of Aragon

“Divers Children,” The Many Pregnancies of Katharine of Aragon

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Guest article by Lissa Bryan On June 21, 1529 Katharine of Aragon entered a courtroom at Blackfriars. A hearing had been convened by papal agents to rule on the question of the legitimacy of her marriage to King Henry VIII. Henry claimed he had sinned by marrying his brother’s widow and was enduring the curse in Leviticus 20:21:  And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be [More]

Understanding the Man: Henry VIII (Part Two)

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As many of you may already know, King Henry VIII is my favorite monarch of the Tudor dynasty. If it wasnt for his reign I do not believe the Tudors would be as popular as they are today. In this episode I continue on my journey to explain the Henry I have learned to love...and hate. With the creation of Showtimes "THE TUDORS", many of us were aware of the name Henry VIII but really didnt know much about him. In the show we were able to see that there was more to the [More]

Understanding the Man: Henry VIII (Part One)

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As many of you may already know, King Henry VIII is my favorite monarch of the Tudor dynasty. If it wasn't for his reign I do not believe the Tudors would be as popular as they are today. With the creation of Showtime's THE TUDORS, many of us were aware of the name Henry VIII but really didn't know much about him. In the show we were able to see that there was more to the man than the execution of two of his six wives. While I understand that THE TUDORS tv program had a [More]

Book Review: “La Reine Blanche” by Sarah Bryson

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Of the two surviving sisters of Henry VIII, his younger sister Mary was by far his favorite. Nothing shows that more than when he forgave her for secretly marrying Charles Brandon before returning from France after the death of her first husband, King Louis XII of France. When I heard that author Sarah Bryson was releasing a book about Mary Tudor I was excited to learn more about the Tudor princess and French queen. She has fascinated me since her amalgamation in [More]

Get Out of Jail Free Cards: The Many Annulments of Henry VIII (Guest Post)

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By Jillianne Hamilton Everyone knows Henry VIII was unlucky in love. Not nearly as unlucky as many of his wives, of course, but Henry would certainly have considered himself the most unfortunate man in England when it came to his married life. The excuses he used to get out of his marriage varied from wife to wife. But he and his advisors were able to come up with excuses that never put the king at fault. Ever. His first marriage was the most complicated to end [More]

Six Ways Shakespeare Impacted the History of the Last Medieval Queen (Guest Post)

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Guest article by Cassidy Cash But, I beseech you, what's become of Katharine, The princess dowager? how goes her business? William Shakespeare, Henry VIII, Act IV, Scene I When it came time to write his play, Henry VIII, Shakespeare painted a picture of Katharine of Aragon, one of the most famous figures of history and the first wife to Henry VIII. We recognize that truth is often stranger than fiction, but when it comes to historical fiction, we often take the fiction [More]

FLODDEN: A Tale of Two Queens (Guest Post)

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Guest article by Leanda de Lisle The battle of Flodden, which took place in Northumberland over five hundred years ago, is not only a story of fighting men. It is also a tale of two Queens. Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots, who lost her husband in the battle on 9 September 1513 and Katherine of Aragon, Queen, Captain General of the English army that killed him.  It is a story of a devastating defeat, but also of ultimate triumph. For Margaret Tudor it began in August [More]

The Last Days of Katherine of Aragon (Guest Post)

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Guest Post by Sarah Clement In 1531 Henry VIII formally separated from his wife of over twenty years, Katherine of Aragon. For some time, he had been bringing pressure upon her to accept a divorce or take holy orders so that he may marry someone else. In this case, Anne Boleyn. Katherine's refusal to do so and her insistence that they were man and wife even after their marriage had been annulled and Henry had married Anne Boleyn would cause her no end of problems. The [More]

Katherine of Aragon and Her Pomegranate Seeds (Guest Post)

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Guest Article by Wendy J. Dunn Finding Katherine Katherine of Aragon first captured my heart when I was deep in the research for my first Tudor novel, Dear Heart, How Like You This? When I finished that novel, I knew I just had to write about her, only to discover a writing road burdened with false starts and pit holes. Very early on, I decided to use Katherine of Aragons personal symbol of the crowned pomegranate as my inspiration for the overarching title for t [More]

The Act in Restraint of Appeals, 1533: A Divorce at Last (Guest Post)

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The Act in Restraint of Appeals, 1533: A Divorce at Last Guest article by Samia Chebbah It is well-known that Henry VIII wanted to make official his relationship Anne Boleyn when he was already married to Catherine of Aragon. According to Paul G. Friendmann's chronology, the case of the divorce between Henry VIII and his Queen started at Westminster in May 1527[1]. The Pope, Clement VII, who was the only authority to grant him that request, was against that idea and [More]