The Other Tudors Read Online Free PDF

a textbook for young Henry with such aphorisms as, ‘Choose a wife for yourself. Prize her always and uniquely.’ 8 Skelton’s writings may also have informed Henry’s view that certain women were not to be respected – women who betrayed their husbands or lovers. In ‘Womanhood, Wanton, Ye Want’, comparing a woman’s chastity to a locked door, Skelton wrote:
    Your key is meet for every lock,
Your key is common and hangeth out;
Your key is ready, we need not knock,
Not stand long resting there about;
Of your doorgate we have no doubt … 9
    This philosophy is reflected in Henry’s attitude to several of his mistresses. They are the ‘wantons’ – ladies who betray their marriage vows, even with the King. They may be loved, but they can be left without feelings of guilt, as they are unworthy of his respect. The long-term mistresses may be found husbands, but they are faithful to the King; the husband is mere window dressing. They are worthy of respect as long as the King is their sole lover. Only when he was young and finding his feet did Henry take mistresses who had enjoyed previous relationships, Anne Hastings with Sir William Compton and Jane Popincourt with the duc de Longueville. In later years, Henry made a great fuss of demanding that his wives should be virgins when they came to the marriage bed.
    The year before Henry’s birth, Prince Arthur, then aged two, was betrothed to Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, the rulers of Spain. The Spanish were constructing an alliance against the menace of France by marrying their children into the royal houses of England, Portugal and the Holy Roman Empire (based on Austria and the Netherlands). Ferdinand and Isabella, however, were unwilling to send their daughter to England while there were questions as to the strength of the Tudors’ hold on the throne. In March 1500, after King Henry had executed a couple of Pretenders, along with the imprisoned, unfortunate Earl of Warwick who had a strong claim to the throne, the Spanish signed a treaty of alliance and said that Catherine would be in England in May (in fact she did not arrive until the following year). England was now safe. Even the young Prince could learn the lesson that a dead enemy is no threat.
    When Catherine of Aragon arrived in October 1501, the Royal Family was at Richmond Palace. Henry VII waited until she was at Dogmersfield, where he went to meet her. Prince Arthur came to meet them from Ludlow. The Princess was then taken to Lambeth Palace in London and Prince Arthur went to the King’s Wardrobe, a royal residence near St Paul’s Cathedral. It had been decided that the 10-year-old Henry would escort Catherine into the City of London two days before her wedding, so she could see the pageants and tableaux set up in honour of the marriage on her way to the Bishop’s Palace, where she would stay until the wedding. All the displays praised Arthur’s regal manliness and emphasised Catherine’s role as the future mother of kings.
    Henry also led the bride to church, and after the marriage returned Catherine to the Bishop’s Palace for the banquet. After the feast, came the much disputed wedding night. Arthur contended that his marriage had been consummated. The morning after, he called ostentatiously for wine: He is reputed to have said, ‘I have this night been in the midst of Spain, which is a hot region, and that journey maketh me so dry.’ 10 This was later denied by Catherine. She maintained, when the question arose, that Arthur had wanted to appear more healthy and manly before his friends and servants. She said that she was sexually ‘as intact as when I emerged from my mother’s womb.’ 11
    As regards Henry’s marriage, there appears to have been one tentative suggestion that he might marry Eleanor, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian, whose grandson Charles was promised to Henry’s sister, Mary. Was this to reduce the number