Catherine of Aragon-Queen of England

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 Catherine of Aragon-Queen of England

Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536 CE) was a Spanish princess who later became the queen

of England after her marriage to Henry VIII of England (1509-1547 CE) (Cartwright, 2020). She

was the youngest daughter of Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. She

was a great beauty with fair skin, red-gold hair and was believed to possess the grace found in

queens. She had been trained to become a queen all her life since when she was a toddler. She

was a God fearing woman and a committed follower of the Roman Catholic. Catherine Aragon

was educated and intelligent and her parents prepared her well for her role as a leader. Her

marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales had been arranged when she was as young as three years

old. A strong union was formed between England and Spain against their common enemy,

France due to the marriage. This paper discusses about how strong Catherine was, her

accomplishments, how she survived for so long, and the history of the period she lived.

One of Catherine’s strength was that she was well educated and intelligent. Her parents ensured

that she was taught and well informed of her duties from a tender age. She learnt many languages

including English which initially seemed difficult for her. She was passionate about education

and would often support universities financially. She enjoyed reading books on philosophy and

the scriptures.

Catherine was a strong woman whereby she overcame a deadly sickness. During the

marriage with Arthur, they both contracted a deadly sweating sickness which was sweeping the

area and resulted to Arthur’s death. Catherine was the only survivor. She became stranded in an

alien land after Arthur’s death since the strong union formed between Spain and England had

through the marriage had been shaken. There were high chances of her being sent back to Spain

after the ordeal. However Catherine believed in her destiny and was determined to become a

future Queen of England and Ireland.

 The strength of Catherine is portrayed when she stood firm and did not fall for King

Henry VII’s manipulation. After her mother’s death, Catherine led a difficult life since her father

in law King Henry VII (reigned 1485-1509) cut her allowances and treated her harshly

(Cartwright, 2020). She suffered for a couple of years and her father did not even respond to her

letters. She got into debts in order to get the basic necessities to feed herself and her household.

For a couple of years she lived like a slave and had no chance of enjoying freedom in the English

court. She was left alone and everyone around her was discussing about her fate. Despite the

hardships, she endured everything while holding on tightly to her great destiny. She believed she

was a leader and did not give up on her dream to become a Queen.

One of Catherine’s achievements was being appointed as the first female ambassador of

Spain in England. King Ferdinand Aragon II, her father appointed her in the year 1507

(Cartwright, 2020). She had informed her father about all the mistreatments and the magnitude of

harassment she received from her father in law. Her father trusted her intelligence and believed

that she would represent Spain magnificently. She managed to earn her position in the English

court and King Henry VII stopped his manipulation and finally earned respect for her. She

gained more experience and knowledge in politics and portrayed her strength as a leader. The

female ambassador position earned her respect from Henry VIII who by then was a Prince.

Catherine of Aragon finally achieved her destiny that she took pride in of becoming a

Queen of England in the year 1509 (Cartwright, 2020). After Henry VII death, Prince became

King and he finally wedded Catherine freely. They were both young and active and very much in

love. She worked very hard and would often be involved in the matters of the state. She also

gave advice king Henry VIII. The king trusted her whereby he left Catherine as regent to govern

the state when he left with his army on campaign to France. The King always insisted on
Catherine’s involvement in all matters and would not make a decision without her opinion.

Henry showed great admiration of Catherine for involving her in all the state affairs.

Raising the Army in the battle of Flodden in the absence of King Henry VIII was one of

the biggest Catherine’s Achievements. The king of Scotland James IV declared war on England

and stormed It. King James IV, believed they had a better chance of winning the battle because

King Henry VIII was absent. Catherine played a very big role in defense preparation and this

circumstance helped portray her great leadership skills. The queen united with the council to

mobilize soldiers to formulate a defense force. She also communicated with the local

government men to ask for men and more battle horse and gave them a precise time limit. She

took over the finances of the country since there was no time to waste when the country was

being invaded. She did her calculation to ensure enough funding and supplies were provided for

the battle. She served as a great example of her mother and did a magnificent job in the roles that

were thought to be of men only. Catherine brought 1500 sets of armor and rode north together

with the soldiers sacrificing her safety so as to defend the country. She encourage the troops to

continue being strong for their country and kept their spirit high. The English soldiers managed

to defeat the Scotland army and King James IV was actually killed in the battle. Catherine sent a

piece of King James IV’s bloody coat to King Henry to inform him of their victory. Catherine

was no coward but a very strong woman who would not accept defeat. She did a very great job

and was successful when she regent.

According to the eyes of the contemporary court, Catherine’s biggest failure was the

failure to give Henry VIII a son who would an heir. Katherine gave birth to a son in 1511 but the

baby barely survived. She did not give up but continued going on to get pregnant for about six or

more time but only one child survived. Princess Mary was the only surviving child of Queen
Catherine and she devoted her life in raising her. The loss of the many children made the King

find Catherine unpleasing and this had a great effect on her mentally and physically. Catherine

turned into religion and fasting for her lack of a son and the stress instilled a sickness in her.

Henry was so obsessed with a son since the Tudor dynasty was new because his father had just

taken the throne from the York dynasty. Lack of a son made Tudor less legitimate and a son was

a sign of security to the throne. On top of that Catherine was pushed away from involving herself

in government matters when her father betrayed England and now the King consider the France

Alliance more. Despite all this Catherine kept her head high and remained loyal to the crown.

Eventually King Henry divorced Catherine who had become old rapidly and married Anne

Boleyn who was young and active. Catherine was denied the chance to see her daughter Mary

and was banished from the English court with a very few number of staff. However, Catherine

never stopped loving her husband even after the divorce and even in her death bed she still loved

and adored Henry.

In conclusion, Catherine of Aragon was a very great and strong woman who dedicated

her life in achieving her destiny. She never stopped at all cost and despite all the challenges, she

made her way through to reach her destiny. She stood up firmly for her truth and even when she

was trolled all her life with the question if they consummated their marriage with Arthur, she

denied even on her death bed. She still proclaimed to be Henry true wife and the true queen of

England even on her death bed. Despite of all the disrespect and mistreatment she still respected

the king. The Tudor and the society may see Catherine as a stubborn and dowdy old woman who

was replaced by a better woman but she was a magnificent woman. Catherine is a pure definition

of a woman with determination, leadership skills, and inner strength and that made her to be

outstanding as a queen.
REFERENCES

Beer, M. (2018). A queenly affinity? Catherine of Aragon's estates and Henry VIII's Great

Matter. Historical Research, 91(253), 426-445

https://academic.oup.com/histres/article-abstract/91/253/426/560356

Cartwright, M. (2020). Catherine of Aragon. World History Encyclopedia.

https://www.worldhistory.org/image/12069/catherine-of-aragon/