Catherine Howard is accused of adultery

Catherine Howard (c.1523 – 13 February 1542) was probably born in Lambeth (now
part of London). Catherine was a daughter of Lord Edmund Howard (c 1478–1539)
and Joyce Culpeper (c 1480–1531).
She was Queen of England and the fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England.

HISTORY WHERE IT HAPPENED

When Henry had his marriage to Anne of Cleves annulled on 9 July 1540, rumours
swirled that Catherine was pregnant with his child.

Catherine married Henry VIII on 28 July 1540, at Oatlands Palace, in Surrey, almost
immediately after the annulment of his marriage to Anne of Cleves was arranged.
However, she was beheaded after less than two years of marriage to Henry on the
grounds of treason for committing adultery while married to the King. Catherine was
the third of Henry's consorts to have been a member of the English gentry.

It was alleged that early in 1541, Catherine embarked upon a romance with Henry's
favorite male courtier, Thomas Culpeper, a young man whom Catherine had
considered marrying during her time as a maid-of-honour to Anne of Cleves.

Catherine and Henry toured England together in the summer of 1541, and
preparations for any signs of pregnancy, which would have led to a coronation, were
in place. During this time, however, a crisis began to loom over Catherine. People
who had witnessed her indiscretions at Lambeth began to contact her for favours in
return for their silence, and many of them were appointed to her household.
 DOWNFALL
By late 1541, the northern progress of England had ended, and Catherine's
indiscretions had become known to John Lascelles, a Protestant reformer whose
sister, Mary Hall, had been a member of the Dowager Duchess's household; Mary
had been a witness to Catherine's sexual liaisons. Lascelles presented the
information to Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury and one of Henry's
closest advisors.

Cranmer, aware that any precontract with Dereham would invalidate Catherine's
marriage to the king, gave Henry a letter with the accusations against his wife on 1
November 1541, as they attended a feast at Hampton Court.

On 2 November 1541, Henry VIII arrived to celebrate mass in the Holy Day Closet at
Hampton Court. Waiting for him was a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Thomas Cranmer.

This letter told Henry the alarming and intimate news that his young wife, Catherine,
had been accused of adultery. It emerged that Catherine had held illicit nocturnal
meetings with a junior member of the King’s Privy Chamber called Thomas
Culpepper.

At first, Henry disbelieved the allegations, thinking them fabrications made by

Lascelles and his sister. Henry left Hampton Court, and the interrogations to find out
the truth began. Within a few days, corroborative proof was found, including the
confessions of Dereham and Culpeper after they were likely tortured in the Tower of
London. Catherine was confined to her lodgings at the palace. Cranmer discovered a
love letter to Culpeper in Catherine's distinctive handwriting, which is the only letter
of hers that still survives, other than her confession. Catherine was subsequently
charged with treason, but she never admitted to infidelity.

THE LEGEND
According to legend, she banged on the doors and screamed Henry's name.
Eventually, she was recaptured by her guards and confined to her rooms at
Hampton Court, accompanied only by Lady Rochford. However, there is
considerable doubt as to the story's authenticity, since Catherine was not fully
aware of the charges against her until Cranmer and a delegation of councillors were
sent to question her on 7 November 1541. Even the staunch Cranmer found
Catherine's frantic, incoherent state pitiable, saying, "I found her in such
lamentation and heaviness as I never saw no creature, so that it would have pitied
any man's heart to have looked upon her." He ordered the guards to remove any
objects that she might use to commit suicide.

While a precontract between Catherine and Dereham would have had the effect of
terminating Catherine's royal union, it also would have allowed Henry to annul their
marriage and banish her from Court. Catherine would have been disgraced,
impoverished, and exiled, but, ultimately, she would have been spared execution.

INPRISONMENT AND DEATH (1541-1542)

Catherine was stripped of her title as queen on 23 November and imprisoned in
Syon Abbey, Middlesex, throughout the winter of 1541. Culpeper and Dereham
were executed at Tyburn on 10 December 1541, Culpeper being beheaded and
Dereham being hanged, drawn, and quartered. According to custom, their heads
were placed on top of London Bridge. Many of Catherine's relatives were also
detained in the Tower.

Parliament passed a bill of attainder on 7 February 1542. The bill made it treason,
and punishable by death, for a queen consort to fail to disclose her sexual history to
the king within twenty days of their marriage, or to incite someone to commit
adultery with her. This solved the matter of Catherine's supposed precontract and
made her unequivocally guilty. She was subsequently taken to the Tower on Friday
10 February. The next day, the bill of attainder received the Royal Assent, and
Catherine's execution was scheduled for seven a.m. on Monday, 13 February.

She made a speech describing her punishment as "worthy and just" and asked for
mercy for her family and prayers for her soul. According to popular folklore, her final
words were "I die a Queen, but I would rather have died the wife of Culpeper".
Catherine was beheaded with a single stroke. Her body was buried in an unmarked
grave in the nearby chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. She was 20 years old.

Upon hearing news of Catherine's execution, Francis I of France wrote a letter to

Henry, regretting the "lewd and naughty behaviour of the Queen" and advising him
that "the lightness of women cannot bend the honour of men".
Sitografia:

- www.blackcat-cideb.com
- www.wikipedia.it
- www.englishhistory.net

Figueroa Mayra

Garbero Debora

Ivaldi Paola