Rachael Dickzen

Other English History Posts:
My Favorite Thomases: A Review of and Often Arbitrary Ranking of Tudor Thomases
Six the Musical Historical Costume References: Queens 1-3 ; Queens 4-6 (I have like 20 posts about Six)
Henry VIII’s Jousting Accident Probably Didn’t Change his Personality
Shakespeare English History Plays Family Tree
Historical Inspirations in Game of Thrones

(This title is an homage to the brilliant “An Abundance of Katherines” by John Green! It’s not about the Tudors, but you should go read it anyway.)

Last year, I wrote a blog post on “My Favorite Thomases,” giving a little overview of numerous Tudor Thomases and ranking them somewhat arbitrarily. I had such a good time doing this, that I’ve decided to write another post ranking various Tudors, because their parents were all unimaginative and kept giving them the same names! Future posts on Henrys, Marys, Edwards, Margarets, and Richards may also emerge in time.

I originally started off this post with two parts, with terrifically long entries on each Katherine. I’ve scaled it back to just one, more organized post, just to simplify. So if this post seems familiar to you, that’s why.

While a significant deciding factor of the “Thomases” ranking was a look at how terrible/good they were, I really can’t say that any of these Katherines/Catherines did any super terrible things. The ones ranked lower were really just less interesting to me than the ones at the top, or perhaps made decisions I consider a bit more careless or stupid.

Quick Note: As I’ve noted before, spelling of names was not standardized in Tudor times at all. Plenty of people spelled their own names in several different ways on different documents or just as the whim hit them. So honestly, I’m not fussing over the exact spellings of each name, although I’ve endeavored to use the name that the person themselves used most often.

Don’t forget to vote for your favorite Tudor Katherine at the end of the post!

11. Katherine Woodville, Duchess of Buckingham (through her first husband, Henry Stafford), Duchess of Bedford and Countess of Pembroke (through her second husband Jasper Tudor) (c. 1458-1497)

Summary: She outlived two husbands, survived three different kings, was immensely wealthy most of her life, and had some fairly notorious children.

Under Edward IV:
- Katherine Woodville was Elizabeth Woodville’s sister and sister-in-law to Edward IV. She served her sister the Queen in the mid to late 1460s.
- First Marriage: Katherine married her husband Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham while they were both children; contemporary accounts of her sister Elizabeth’s coronation indicated that both Katherine and her husband were still small enough that they were carried on the shoulders of squires. The duke of Buckingham reportedly resented his marriage to a woman of inferior birth, but the couple still had 4 children together. They were married for ~13 years before they had any children.
Under Richard III:
- Her First Husband’s Death: Her husband Henry Stafford was initially a close ally of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, when he usurped the throne from his nephews. However, Katherine did not attend Richard’s coronation, likely due to his hostility toward the Woodvilles. Henry Stafford later betrayed Richard III and was executed for treason in November 1483.
- Katherine and her children may have gone on the run after his death, but Katherine was quickly captured along with her younger son Henry and brought to London. Although the Duke left his wife a sizable jointure of 1,000 marks in his will (roughly equivalent to 460,430 pounds today, I figured out, using the UK National archives currency converter - this was the equivalent of 22,201 days of wages for skilled tradesmen), Katherine was attainted by Parliament because of his treason and was thus, deprived of his money. Her eldest son was kept in Richard’s custody. It is unknown where Katherine spent the remainder of Richard III’s reign, but she may have lived with her sister the Dowager Queen in sanctuary or in a trusted nobleman’s household. Richard did grant her a small annum of 200 pounds in April 1484 (roughly equivalent to 138,257 pounds a year).
Under Henry VII:
- After Henry VII defeated Richard III and took the throne, her two eldest sons were placed in the wardship of the king’s mother, Margaret Beaufort, and they grew up in her care. Katherine’s attainder was reversed by Parliament and she received both her dower lands and the jointure her first husband left her in her will, making her an exceedingly wealthy woman.
- Second Marriage: Katherine married the king’s uncle Jasper Tudor in 1485, when she was about 27 and Jasper was 54. Katherine was given a place of honor at her niece Elizabeth of York’s coronation in 1487. After ten years of marriage, Jasper died. Katherine was only mentioned briefly in his will.
- Third Marriage: Only a few weeks after Jasper’s death, she married Sir Richard Wingfield without royal license. Henry VII fined them a huge sum of 2,000 pounds, which was not paid until Katherine’s eldest son became Duke of Buckingham and came into his inheritance. Her third marriage lasted only about a year before she died in 1497. Although Richard Wingfield would outlive her by about 27 years, in his will, he ordered masses be said for her soul.
Her Children:
- Her eldest son Edward Stafford (Duke of Buckingham) was executed by Henry VIII for treason, continuing in his father’s footsteps.
- Her younger son Henry Stafford (Earl of Wiltshire) was also suspected of conspiring with his brother, but managed to stay in the king’s good graces until his death a few years later in 1523. When he died without children, his earldom became extinct. His title was granted a few years later to Thomas Boleyn.
- Her daughter Anne had a bit of a sex scandal under Henry VIII and was rumored to be having an affair with the king’s courtier William Compton. Her husband was so suspicious of her that he sent her to live in a convent 60 miles away from the royal court. Although there was no evidence of their adultery, William Compton actually did bequeath land for her in his will (which was very unusual for the time) and had the executors of his will include her in prayers for his kin.

10. Lady Kateryn Gordon of Scotland (also known as Kateryn Huntleye) (c. 1474-1537)

Summary: She outlived three husbands and served three separate Tudor royal women (Elizabeth of York, Catherine of Aragon, and Mary Tudor), despite first coming to court as the wife of a rebel leader.

First Marriage: Kateryn was a Great Granddaughter of James I of Scotland and a cousin of James IV. James IV gave her in marriage to the Yorkist pretender Perkin Warbeck, who quickly gained his favor upon his arrival at the Scottish court in July 1495. Warbeck claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the “Princes in the Tower” and the son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. After their marriage in January 1496 (marked with a jousting tournament), Kateryn was called the Duchess of York.
Her Husband’s Capture: Warbeck raided Northumberland with James IV in 1496 for a few short days before coming home to Scotland. In 1487, Warbeck tried to take advantage of Englishmen in Cornwall angry over taxes to launch another rebellion against Henry VII. Kateryn and their young son joined Warbeck as he tried to rouse troops in Ireland and England, but were left safely away from the battle when Warbeck fought Henry VII’s troops. After Warbeck was captured after leaving sanctuary, the king’s forces went to Kateryn, who was found wearing mourning (possibly for a second son).
Warbeck’s Execution: Kateryn was brought to Henry VII, where she met with her husband. Some historians claim that at this meeting, Warbeck confessed his true identity to her, causing Kateryn to weep. The couple stayed at the royal court for many months but were not allowed to sleep together. Kateryn was brought into Queen Elizabeth’s household and treated well, given a pension and a place of honor due her rank. Some historians claimed around this time that Henry VII fell in love with Kateryn. Warbeck was executed in November 1499 for conspiring against the king. Their son Richard came to London with Kateryn but disappeared from the record shortly thereafter.
Serving Elizabeth of York and Henry VII: Kateryn served Queen Elizabeth for the rest of the queen’s life, serving as chief mourner at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. After the Queen’s death, Kateryn apparently was close with Henry VII, playing cards with him, painting scenes for him, and acquiring medicines for him. He granted her land in Berkshire shortly before his death in return for her promise that she would not leave England without royal license. She became an English citizen in 1510.
Serving Catherine of Aragon and Mary Tudor: Kateryn later served Catherine of Aragon in 1509-1510, while she was Dowager Princess of Wales. From 1525-1530, she served Princess Mary (Henry VIII’s daughter) as chief lady of the privy chamber.
Second, Third, and Fourth Marriages: Kateryn married a gentleman usher of the king’s chamber in 1510-1512, who later died and left all his property to her. She married again in 1517 to a Welsh knight and went to live with him in Wales; he died in 1531 and named Katherine as executor of his will, leaving her significant property. She entered into her last marriage sometime before January 1536. She spent the last years of her life on her own lands in Berkshire, where she regularly went horseback riding.

9. “Kat” Astley (sometimes written as Ashley) (born Katherine Champernowne) (c. 1502-1565)

Summary: A much-loved governess to the future Elizabeth I who survived two imprisonments in the Tower of London and went on to serve the queen as one of her highest-ranking and most powerful ladies.

Serving Princess Elizabeth: Kat was appointed a waiting gentlewoman to the 4-year-old Princess Elizabeth in 1536, shortly after her mother Anne Boleyn’s death, and became her governess in 1537. We do not know about Kat’s educational background, but it must have been impressive, as she taught the young princess a variety of subjects. Numerous secondary sources state that Kat taught Elizabeth “astronomy, geography, history, mathematics, French, Flemish, Italian, and Spanish,” in addition to the usual noble women’s education of needlework, embroidery, dancing, riding, and deportment. I actually haven’t been able to find more primary sources or encyclopedia sources that state that, but lots of blogs! In any case, contemporary records at the time indicate that those who met Elizabeth as a child found her extremely intelligent and “formidably learned,” indicating that Kat was indeed quite good at her job.
Marriage: Kat married Sir John Astley/Ashley, a senior gentleman attendant of Elizabeth’s in 1545. Apparently her new husband was also a distant relation of Elizabeth through her mother Anne Boleyn. As she was over 40 at the time, she was past childbearing age, so this marriage was likely for love.
After Henry VIII’s death: After Henry VIII died in 1547 and Edward VI took the throne, the teenage Elizabeth was sent to live with her stepmother Kateryn Parr and her new husband Thomas Seymour. Kat accompanied her charge there. There, she witnessed Seymour’s flirtatious behavior toward the 14-year-old princess, which was at the very least inappropriate and may have actually constituted sexual abuse. Eventually, Parr found Elizabeth in Seymour’s arms and sent Elizabeth away.
First Imprisonment: When Thomas Seymour was investigated for treason in early 1549, Kat was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London, along with her husband John and Elizabeth’s cofferer [treasurer]. There, she was interrogated on everything she knew about Seymour’s doings with Elizabeth. She was eventually released in March 1549 and returned to live with Elizabeth at Hatfield.
Second Imprisonment: Under the reign of Mary I, only a few years after Elizabeth herself was released from the tower, Kat was arrested and sent to Fleet Prison for owning seditious books. She was imprisoned for three months and afterward, was forbidden from seeing Elizabeth.
Serving Elizabeth I: Once Elizabeth rose to the throne, Kat served her as Chief Gentlewoman of the Bedchamber, wielding great power and influence at court. Kat died in July 1565 after a brief illness, after serving Elizabeth for almost 30 years. Elizabeth was incredibly fond of her and supposedly said “Anne Boleyn gave me life but Kat Ashley gave me love.”

8. Lady Catherine Carey (known after her marriage as Catherine Knollys) (c. 1524-1569)

Summary: A cousin of Elizabeth I who was rumored to have been her half-sister as well, Catherine served two Tudor queens consort and a queen regnant, endured religious exile, and had a prosperous family life, with over a dozen children surviving infancy.

Family Background: Catherine was the daughter of William Carey, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Esquire of the Body to Henry VIII, and Mary Boleyn, and thus, a cousin of Elizabeth I’s. Some believe that Catherine was an illegitimate child of Henry VIII, but there is no definitive evidence to prove such a theory.
Early Time in Service: Catherine likely witnessed the execution of her aunt Anne Boleyn in 1536, at the age of around 12. She served both Anna of Cleves and Catherine Howard as a maid of honor.
Marriage: In 1540, she married Sir Francis Knollys, an English courtier and member of parliament who was favored by Henry VIII and had been in attendance on Anna of Cleves when she arrived in England. During Mary I’s reign, Catherine and her husband, who were staunch Protestants, fled to Germany.
Serving Elizabeth I: Catherine, a favorite of Elizabeth’s, was made Elizabeth I’s Chief Lady of the Bedchamber upon her cousin’s accession to the throne. While holding this high profile position, she gave birth to more than half a dozen children (she had 14 overall. All survived infancy except one). Her husband was appointed treasurer of the queen’s chamber in 1566 and promoted to treasurer of the household in 1570.
Later Years: Catherine’s husband Francis had the dubious honor of serving as the keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots, from 1568 to 1569. Catherine died in January 1569 while he was away dealing with Mary; Mary herself blamed Elizabeth for Catherine’s death, saying that Francis’s enforced absence was the cause. After Catherine’s death, her husband Francis would serve Elizabeth as a treasurer, advisor, and MP. He spoke out in support of the Puritans in particular. He eventually died in 1596.
Catherine’s Daughter Lettice: Catherine’s daughter Lettice would eventually marry the queen’s favorite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, without the Queen’s knowledge or approval. Although Lettice was the daughter of Elizabeth’s cousin and a former maid of her privy chamber, the furious Elizabeth banished her from court for the rest of her life.
Relation to Elizabeth II: Catherine Carey was the 11th great-grandmother of Elizabeth II, the current queen of the United Kingdom.

7. Lady Katherine Grey (later Katherine Seymour, Countess of Hertford) (1540-1568)

Summary: As an heir to the throne in dangerous times, Katherine was punished for her secret marriage and imprisoned for the rest of her life.

An Heir to the Throne: Katherine was a granddaughter of Henry VIII’s sister Mary and Jane Grey’s younger sister. According to the usual laws of succession, Katherine and her sisters were preceded in the line of succession only by Henry VIII’s three children and the descendants of Princess Margaret (Henry VIII’s elder sister who married the king of Scotland). However, Henry VIII had excluded the Scottish regnal line from the succession in his will, which placed Katherine and her two sisters even closer to the throne.
First Marriage: In the final months of Edward VI’s life, Katherine and her older sister Jane were married on the same occasion to the relatives of powerful noblemen as part of a plot to put Jane on the throne in place of Catholic Princess Mary. Jane was married to Guildford Dudley, the son of Edward VI’s chief minister John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, while Katherine was married to Henry, Lord Herbert, the heir apparent to William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke.
Annulment of Marriage : After Jane’s nine day reign came to an end and Mary took the throne, Henry’s father separated his son from Katherine and had their marriage annulled on the grounds of non-consummation. Although Mary I initially planned to spare Jane , both Jane and her father the Duke of Suffolk were both executed following Wyatt’s rebellion.
Serving Mary I and Elizabeth I: Katherine was a maid of the privy chamber under Mary I but was demoted to a maid of the presence chamber under Elizabeth (all the higher gentry had access to the presence chamber). This indicated that Katherine was not in the queen’s favor. Despite this, as Elizabeth’s presumptive heir, Katherine’s marriage was the subject of much discussion among Elizabeth’s councilors and of others at court.
Secret Second Marriage: In December 1560, Katherine secretly married Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, with only a priest and one witness (Edward’s sister, Jane) present. This was against the law, as anyone in the line of succession had to have royal permission to marry. Jane died a few months later, leaving them without a live witness to their marriage.
- Fun fact: Edward Seymour (who was the son of the more famous Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, who was executed under Edward VI) had a distant claim of his own to the throne, as he was descended from Edward III.
First Pregnancy and Initial Imprisonment: While Edward was abroad in Europe, Katherine realized she was pregnant. This was incredibly dangerous for a noblewoman and heir to the throne whom everyone believed to be single. Late in her pregnancy, she confessed her secret marriage and pregnancy to Robert Dudley, the Queen’s favorite, and begged him to intercede with her to the queen. Whatever Dudley said, it didn’t help, as Katherine was promptly thrown into the Tower of London. Her husband was also imprisoned shortly thereafter.
First Son and an Invalid Marriage: While in prison, Katherine gave birth to a son, Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp in September 1561. Shortly thereafter, a church commission declared Katherine’s marriage invalid. As the priest who conducted their marriage could not be found and their only witness had died, they had no evidence to prove otherwise.
Second Son: Sympathetic guards in the tower had allowed Katherine and Edward to spend time together, which resulted in Katherine giving birth to a second boy in February 1563. The furious Queen Elizabeth had her own lieutenant of the tower locked up and had Katherine and her husband sent to different country houses, where there could be no more secret liaisons.
Parliamentary Debates About Katherine’s Life: Throughout Katherine’s imprisonment, her supporters worked both in court and in Parliament to have her sons recognized as legitimate, the couple freed from prison, and Katherine recognized as heir to the throne. In fact, a member of parliament named John Hales actually published a 1563 book which discussed Katherine’s right to the throne under Henry VIII’s will and pointed to protestant clerics who had ruled that Katherine’s marriage was valid under church law (Hales was later sent to the tower by Elizabeth). In 1566, numerous members of parliament who supported Katherine fought for the right to debate the succession, despite the queen’s direct command not to do so.
Final Years: Despite all efforts to help her, Katherine spent the rest of her life in prison, where she fell further into despair at being separated from her husband and eldest son. When she died in January 1568, at age 28, she had been separated from them for over four years. Her husband Edward was later freed in 1571 and lived to the ripe old age of 84; in his final years, he found the priest who had married them, definitively proving the validity of their marriage.
Relation to Elizabeth II: Despite the sad end to her own life, Katherine is the 10th great grandmother of Elizabeth II, the current queen of the United Kingdom.

6. Queen Katheryn Howard (c. 1523-1542)

Summary: Katheryn Howard was a vivacious but neglected teenager who was involved with and abused by men from an early age, served Henry VIII’s fourth wife, became his fifth wife, and was executed tragically young.

A Noble Family: Katheryn was a member of the illustrious aristocratic Howard family and Anne Boleyn’s first cousin. Her immediate family however, was not wealthy and her father often had to beg for handouts from his rich relatives. Her mother had five children with her first husband and then had another six with Katheryn’s father; as one of the youngest children, Katheryn was likely not her parents’ top priority.
Life with the Dowager Duchess: After her mother’s death when Katheryn was about 5 years old, she was sent, along with several of her siblings, to live with her father’s stepmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. Although it was common for noble families to send their children to be trained in other noble households, the Dowager Duchess’s household was notoriously lax and undisciplined. It is reported that the children there ran a little wild; several of the older girls there entertained male visitors in the girls’ dormitory at night, receiving gifts in return.
Content Warning, Sexual assault:
- Henry Mannox: At age 13, her adult music teacher Henry Mannox molested her repeatedly. Katheryn later reported, “At the flattering and fair persuasions of Mannox, being but a young girl, I suffered him at sundry times to handle and touch the secret parts of my body, which neither became me with honesty to permit nor him to require.” This seems to indicate that Katheryn felt coerced into sexual activity with Mannox.
- Francis Dereham: At 15, she allegedly entered into a “relationship” with Francis Dereham (who was at least 28), one of the Duchess’s secretaries. Katheryn said in her confessions that they referred to each other as husband and wife and Katheryn kept track of Dereham’s money for him while he was away on business, but her actual testimony about their sexual activity seems to indicate that he coerced her into sexual activity against her will. This “relationship” was apparently common knowledge among many of the Duchess’s maids of honor and attendants. However, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk put a stop to it when she discovered it.
- Basically, the evidence indicates that Katheryn Howard probably was sexually active before her marriage. She herself testified that this activity was coerced and rape. As a very young girl with really no one looking out for her, she likely felt very pressured by these significantly older men into doing things she didn’t want to do.
Service to Anna of Cleves: Her uncle, the influential Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard, obtained a place for her in Anna of Cleves’ household, where she served as a maid of honor. There, Henry met her and became a bit infatuated, claiming he had never known her “like to any woman” and giving her great gifts of land and expensive cloth. He called her his “very jewel of womanhood” (the story that he called her “his rose without a thorn” is a myth). Contemporary accounts describe Katheryn as giggly and vivacious.
Marriage to Henry VIII: Katheryn married Henry when she was possibly around 17 and he was 49, less than a month after his marriage to Anna of Cleves was annulled. She was Queen from July 1540-November 1541. Katheryn could read and write but was not as well educated as many of Henry’s other wives. She enjoyed dancing but was often distracted and jocular during her lessons. While Queen, people who knew of her previous “relationships” with Dereham and Mannox began to blackmail her for their silence about her relationships pre-marriage; she may have appointed some of these to her royal household.
“Relationship?” with Thomas Culpeper: After her marriage to Henry, Katheryn supposedly became romantically involved with one of Henry’s favorite courtiers Thomas Culpeper, who called her “my little sweet fool” in his letters. Katheryn’s lady-in-waiting Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford (George Boleyn’s widow), reportedly assisted with their secret meetings for several months.
- I always thought that Katheryn Howard’s adultery with Thomas Culpeper was pretty well supported by evidence (i mean, it’s certainly “more supported by evidence” than the allegations against Anne Boleyn, but THAT’S NOT SAYING MUCH). However, when I researched into it more, the case is a lot more nebulous than I realized. Her relationship with Thomas Culpeper was supported by a “love letter” from her found in his chambers, but the phrasing in the “love letter” was actually pretty standard for letters between close friends in that time. It’s definitely possible that their relationship wasn’t a torrid love affair at all, but simply a friendship that was misunderstood and resulted in both of their deaths. I’m sorry, Katheryn, for everything wrong I’ve said about you before.
The Investigation into Katheryn’s Past: Nasty gossip and rumors really brought about Katheryn’s downfall. Allegedly, a fairly random man named John Lascelles tried to talk his sister Mary into working for the Queen, but she refused, saying she knew of Katheryn’s sexual activities when they both lived together in the Duchess’s household and that she wouldn’t be willing to work for her after that. Lascelles reported this to the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, who then launched a quiet investigation into Katheryn’s background. During that time, he spoke to Mary Lascelles and Lady Rochford. This investigation turned up the supposed love letter from the Queen in Culpeper’s chambers (which again, by the standards of the time, may have actually been just a friendly letter). Thomas Cranmer was apparently deputized to tell Henry about the Katheryn situation, as everyone else was too scared to do so, and Henry liked Cranmer best (see: why I ranked him #1 in the “My Favorite Thomases” post). (Note: Cranmer may have had ulterior political motivations to topple the Howards as well).
Katheryn’s Imprisonment: Soon thereafter, Katheryn was questioned by a delegation of councillors. Cranmer later said, “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." She was stripped of her title as queen on November 23 1541 and imprisoned in Syon Abbey (which her ghost supposedly haunts to this day) throughout the winter of 1541. Henry refused to see her again. (Interestingly enough, their marriage was never formally annulled). Throughout her imprisonment, Katheryn refused to admit that there was a precontract between her and Francis Dereham, even though that precontract would have terminated her marriage to Henry and possibly saved her life.
- Several of Katheryn’s relatives were also imprisoned in the tower during this debacle, although the Duke of Norfolk managed to escape this fate by groveling to the king and blaming his niece and stepmother in a letter. The Howard prisoners were found guilty of concealing treason and sentenced to life imprisonment and forfeiture of goods
Culpeper and Dereham’s Executions: In December 1541, Culpeper and Dereham were both executed publicly at Tyburn for high treason. Culpeper, as a noble, was beheaded, and Dereham, as a commoner, was hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Attainder and Sentence: To authorize Katheryn’s execution, Parliament passed the Royal Assent by Commission Act of 1541. This act stated that it was high treason for the queen consort to fail to disclose her sexual history to the monarch within twenty days of their marriage. It also made it high treason for either a third party or the queen consort to have “carnal knowledge” of the consort. [SIDENOTE: The fact that they needed to pass this act seems to indicate to me that they did NOT have very strong proof that Katheryn actually committed adultery, and wanted an excuse to get her out of the way as quickly as possible].
Katheryn was attainted for treason by Parliament on the basis of that act, which means that she did not have a trial like her cousin Anne Boleyn did.
Execution: There are accounts that Katheryn asked for the execution block to be brought to her chamber so she could practice how to lay her head upon the block. Although there’s a legend that, on the scaffold, she said something along the lines of “I die a Queen but I would rather have died the wife of Culpeper,” contemporary accounts indicate that she stuck to the traditional final words asking for forgiveness and praising the king. (Remember, the king could take his revenge on a condemned person’s family after they were executed). Lady Rochford was beheaded immediately after her.

5. Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster (born Katherine de Roet) (c. 1350 – 1403) [*Okay, she’s technically not a Tudor, but her existence and children led directly to the Tudor monarchy, so I consider her Tudor-adjacent*]

Summary: A woman of relatively low status who rose to become Duchess of Lancaster and the ancestress of multiple monarchs of England. After a two and a half decade affair with John of Gaunt, the two married, and their children were legitimized in unprecedented acts by the Pope, the king, and Parliament.

Early Life: Although much about Katherine’s early life is unknown, we do know that her father, Paon Roet, was part of Queen Philippa’s retinue when she came over from Hainault to marry Edward III. We know nothing about Katherine’s mother, and very little about where or when Katherine was born, but it does seem that she grew up at the English court and there, served Blanche of Lancaster, the wife of John of Gaunt (the Duke of Lancaster and a son of Edward III).
- Fun fact: Her sister Philippa de Roet married Geoffrey Chaucer.
First Marriage: At some point, she married Hugh Swynford, a retainer of the Duke’s, with whom she had at least two children. Her daughter Blanche was likely named for the Duchess of Lancaster; John of Gaunt was little Blanche’s godfather.
Governess to John and Blanche’s daughters: Katherine became governess to Philippa and Elizabeth of Lancaster, the daughters of John and Blanche. Blanche died in 1369, and Katherine’s own husband Hugh died in 1371.
Affair with John of Gaunt: Her relationship with John of Gaunt began around 1372, which was coincidentally, also around the time he married for the second time, to Constance of Castile. It’s unclear what Constance thought of Katherine, but Katherine was given the task of telling Edward III about the birth of Johns’ daughter with Constance (also named Katherine). By the mid 1370s or so, records indicate that Katherine’s relationship with the Duke was pretty well known, as she was being approached by others with requests for patronage. Katherine and John had four children together, who were named John Beaufort, Cardinal Beaufort, Thomas Beaufort, and Joan Beaufort.
Marriage to John of Gaunt and Legitimization of their Children: After Constance died, the Duke married Katherine in 1396, over 20 years after their relationship had began. At that point, then-king Richard II and the Pope made the unprecedented move of legitimizing the Beaufort children, which was formalized with an official legitimation ceremony during the Parliament of 1397. Later, after their half-brother Henry IV came to the throne, he inserted a clause into their legitimation act which barred them from inheriting the throne of England, although he probably didn’t have the authority to alter an existing parliamentary statute without further approval of parliament.
Descendants: Despite efforts to keep the Beauforts from having a claim to the throne, Katherine Swynford’s relationship with John of Gaunt led to the entire Tudor dynasty; her great-great-grandson Henry Tudor became Henry VII of England in 1485.

4. Queen Catherine de Valois (previously Princess of France) (1401 – 1437) [*she didn’t live in the time of the Tudor monarchy but she married a Tudor, and is the reason they all existed, so I’m calling her Tudor-adjacent as well*]

Summary: A French princess who left her country to marry an English king as part of a peace treaty and gave birth to another English king. After her first husband’s death, she married a low-ranking Welshman and had two sons. Her grandson Henry Tudor started the Tudor dynasty.

Princess of France: Catherine was the youngest daughter of King Charles VI of France and his wife, Isabeau of Bavaria. She was educated at a convent in Poissy.
First Marriage to Henry V: There actually had been discussion of Catherine and Henry, Prince of Wales (who later became Henry V) during her childhood, but these came to naught at the time. Shortly after taking the throne in 1414, Henry V pressed his claim to the title King of France (which derived from his great-grandfather Edward III). This was part of an ongoing English effort to gain French recognition of their ownership of several lands, including Anjou, Brittany, Flanders, Normandy, Touraine, and Aquitaine. France offered Catherine’s hand in marriage, a large dowry, and Aquitaine as part of these negotiations. After the negotiations broke down, England invaded France, officially continuing the series of conflicts known as The Hundred Years’ War between the two countries. After a legendary English victory at Agincourt in 1415 and a brutal 1417-1420 campaign (including a nasty siege of Rouen that resulted in a lot of non-combatant deaths), France recognized Henry as the heir and regent of France in the Treaty of Troyes. The treaty also finally set the long-discussed marriage of Henry V and Catherine of Valois in motion, and they married on June 2, 1420. Catherine then traveled to England with her husband and was crowned queen in Westminster Abbey on February 23, 1421.
Widowhood: Only a few months after her coronation, Henry left a very pregnant Catherine behind as he went back on military campaign in France. Catherine gave birth to the future Henry VI on December 6, 1421. Henry V never met his son, as he became ill and died the following year during the siege of Meaux. The widowed Catherine was still only 21 and her son, the new king of England, was only 9 months old.
A few years later, Catherine’s rumored plans to marry a nobleman inspired Parliament to pass a 1427 bill which stated that, if the queen dowager married without the king’s consent, her husband would forfeit his lands and possessions. This bill also stated that the king could not give consent until he came of age at 16. As Henry was still only 6 years old, this put quite a damper on Catherine’s marriage prospects.
Relationship with Owen Tudor: At some point, Catherine took Welshman Owen Tudor as her lover. Owen was a courtier in the king’s household, but it’s a bit unclear what he did there. At one point, he served the steward of the king’s household, and at least one chronicler says that Owen was Catherine’s sewer, a servant who serves and tastes dishes. Although there’s no evidence that the two ever had a formal wedding ceremony, their marriage was commonly accepted as valid. They had several children together, most notably Edmund, born in 1430, and Jasper, born in 1431.
Death and Legacy: Catherine died on January 3, 1437 shortly after giving birth. After she died, Owen was arrested for violating the law of the remarriage of the queen dowager, and imprisoned, first in Newgate Prison, and later in Windsor Castle. He eventually was released on bail; later, he received a pardon and had his bail cancelled. Afterward, he became a member of the king’s household and was well treated.
Catherine’s sons Edmund and Jasper were made earls by their stepbrother. Edmund’s son Henry (born after Edmund’s own death from the plague) would grow up to become Henry VII, the first Tudor king. Jasper became a mentor, guardian, and long-time close ally to his nephew Henry VII.
Catherine was buried in Henry V’s Chantry Chapel in Westminster Abbey. Her funeral effigy still survives and has been on display in the Westminster Abbey museum at times.
Catherine’s remains: [warning, this part deals with mistreatment of a body and gets macabre and gross] Sadly, Catherine’s coffin was destroyed at some point during renovations to the Abbey chapel. Her remains were moved to a wood chest lined with lead, which was placed on the floor near Henry V’s tomb. Her body became a bit of a macabre tourist attraction for a few centuries, as we have numerous witness accounts saying that the chest lid would sometimes be opened to display her remains. The famous diarist Samuel Pepys even wrote in 1669 that he visited her body and kissed her mouth (!). Over the years, portions of her body were vandalized or even removed as souvenirs. Her remains were moved into a vault nearby in 1788, which at least put her out of reach of hooligans. Finally, in 1877, with the permission of Queen Victoria, Catherine’s remains were removed from the old coffin, placed in a new one, and were re-interred in a newly built tomb.

3. Queen Katharine of Aragon (born Catalina, Dowager Princess of Wales and Princess of Aragon) (1485 – 1536)

Summary: A Spanish princess who endured years of deprivation as both a young widow and as an abandoned wife. In between, she was a perfect queen for Henry VIII, serving as regent in his absence and spearheading the English victory over the Scottish. A brilliant, religious, and devoted wife and mother, she refused to be set aside for another woman without a fight.

The Infanta of Spain: Catalina of Aragon was the daughter of Isabella I of Castille and Ferdinand II of Aragon (yes, the same Ferdinand and Isabella who sent Christopher Columbus out on his fun genocidal adventure and launched the Spanish Inquisition, but THAT’S a blog post for another time). She also was a descendant of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (husband of fellow Katherine, Katherine Swynford) by his second wife, Constance of Castile, and therefore, actually had a stronger claim to the throne of England than her own father-in-law, Henry VII.
First Marriage : At 16, Catalina left her home country of Spain in late 1501 to marry Prince Arthur, the son of Henry VII. Unfortunately, her husband died from illness in April 1502, only a few months after their wedding. Shortly thereafter, King Ferdinand proposed that a marriage be arranged between Katharine (as she was called in England) and Arthur’s younger brother, the 11-year-old Prince Henry. Although marriage between a man and his brother’s widow were within the forbidden degrees of affinity, it was thought that the Pope would provide a dispensation if it could be shown that Katharine and Arthur’s marriage had not been consummated. Katharine stated that although they had slept in the same bed, she remained a virgin. After much back and forth, Prince Henry and Katharine were formally betrothed in June 1503.
Widowhood and Struggles: Unfortunately for Katharine, the death of her mother Queen Isabella in November 1504 caused her own personal importance to plummet. King Isabella’s country Castile, would pass to her eldest daughter, Juana, leaving Ferdinand ruling over only his minor kingdom of Aragon. Katharine no longer represented a great Spanish alliance, and Henry VII quickly began to look to other, more advantageous marriage options for his remaining son.
Over the next few years, Katharine was left to struggle along with her household with very little money while her father and father-in-law squabbled over her dowry and widow’s jointure. She often had to sell her own property or beg for money from the Spanish or English king just to put food on the table; she often had no money to pay her servants.
Her suffering was briefly alleviated in 1507, when she served as the Spanish ambassador to England (the first female ambassador in European history). Her appointment improved her position at court, brought her into closer proximity to then-Prince Henry, and provided her a small allowance. Although Henry VII clearly thought Katharine would be a pushover in this role, she proved to be a good negotiator, and particularly played as go-between between Henry and Ferdinand during Henry’s attempts to marry her sister, Juana. However, a new ambassador eventually arrived in England, and Katharine returned to her previous neglected status.
Second Marriage: Just when things seemed darkest for Katharine, Henry VII died in April 1509 and his son Henry VIII came to the throne. In June 1509, he married her, making her queen of England. They were married for the next 24 years and in the early years, they appeared to be quite in love. In 1513, Katharine ruled England as regent while Henry was off on a campaign in France and encouraged English troops to victory in their battles with the Scots.
Pregnancies and Daughter: Katharine was pregnant at least six times but most of her children either miscarried or were stillborn. Only three of her children survived the birth, and only one, Princess Mary (the result of her fifth pregnancy), survived past two months of life. Katharine was always known as a highly intelligent and religious woman, but as more and more of her children died, she became increasingly devout and more interested in academic matters, particularly in her daughter’s education.
The King’s Great Matter: After Henry became obsessed with Anne Boleyn/developed his all-consuming desire to have a son, he attempted to get his marriage to Katharine annulled on the basis that she was his brother’s wife first. He also asked Katharine to retire to a nunnery. She steadfastly refused all efforts to put her aside and maintained until her death that she was a virgin before her marriage to Henry VIII and his rightful queen and wife.
Final Years and Legacy: Because of her stubbornness, Henry moved her out of his household and into increasingly shabbier and more isolated homes. He also refused to let her see her daughter, Mary. By the time she died in 1535 (probably of cancer), she likely had not seen her daughter for three or so years.
Katharine’s daughter Mary eventually became England’s first queen regnant and ruled the country for five years.

2. Katherine Willoughby (later Katherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, suo jure Baronness Willoughby de Eresby) (1519 –1580)

Summary: A steadfast Protestant who, despite a 35 year age difference, had a happy first marriage to the Duke of Suffolk, then later used her position and power to advocate for protestant causes. Under Queen Mary, she fled with her second husband to travel around Europe.

Early Life: Katherine Willoughby was the daughter of Katharine of Aragon’s longtime lady-in-waiting Maria De Salinas and her English husband, William, Lord Willoughby d’Eresby. She likely was named after Queen Katharine of Aragon. She had two brothers, but both died at a very young age. When her father died in 1526, seven-year-old Katherine was made a ward of the king. As his one surviving child, Katherine became a great heiress, inheriting his huge estate of around 60 manors. In 1528, Henry VIII sold Katherine’s wardship to his brother-in-law, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.
First Marriage: Katherine may have been betrothed to marry Charles’s son Henry, although the evidence is not clear. In any case, after his third wife Mary Tudor died in June 1533, Charles married Katherine himself. At the time, she was 14 and he was 49; he had served as her guardian since she was nine years old. (I know that Tudor values and culture were very different than ours but like….ew.)
Katherine would have two sons with Charles, Henry (born 1534) and Charles (born 1537). As Duchess of Suffolk and step-mother to some of Henry VIII’s heirs, Katherine was very close to the crown. With her husband, she welcomed Anne of Cleves to England in 1539, and helped plan the King’s 1541 royal progress.
Charles died in August 1545, when Katherine was 26. Unfortunately, both of their sons together died of sweating sickness in 1551 while off studying at Cambridge; they died within an hour of each other.
Friendship with Catherine Parr: Katherine served Queen Katheryn Parr as a lady-in-waiting and, likely due to their shared love of learning and religious reformation, the two became close friends. They remained friends even in the face of rumors that Katherine was Henry’s intended seventh wife. Later, Katherine was appointed guardian of the orphan daughter of Catherine Parr (who had died shortly after childbirth) and her fourth husband Thomas Seymour (who was executed for treason).
Religious Beliefs and Work: Katherine was a committed Protestant who often invited noted reformers to come speak to her household. At one point, she named her pet spaniel “Gardiner” to poke fun at the conservative Bishop Gardiner.
Katherine used her wealth and position as Duchess of Suffolk to support and fund the publication of several religious works in England, including Queen Katheryn Parr’s Lamentation of a Center, and writings by well known reformers such as Hugh Latimer and William Tyndale.
Under the reign of Edward VI, Katherine, along with other Protestant aristocrats such as William Cecil, helped fund the formation of several independent “Stranger Churches,” which were formed by Protestant foreigners from various countries across Europe, including Italy, the Netherlands, and France.
Second Marriage: In 1553, Katherine married her Master of the Horse and Gentleman Usher, Robert Bertie. After Mary I took the throne, the Protestant couple left England for continental Europe, visiting first Cleves, and then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During this period, they were even appointed them as administrators of Lithuana for a while, due to their friendship with the King of Poland. Their adventures abroad were actually turned into a ballad and a play
Katherine and Bertie had two children, who they took with them on all their continental travels. Their son Peregrine Bertie, born in Wesel, Germany in 1555, was named for their peregrinations in exile.
I actually found some evidence that noted that during their travels, Sigismund II Augustus, the king of Poland appointed Katherine the regent of Samogitia (modern day Lithuania) and made her husband Governor of Samogitia. He also apparently granted Bertie the earldom of Crolan. *This story does appear to be accurate, but I’m having trouble finding too much about it. Apparently it’s mentioned in Foxe’s Acts and Monuments (commonly called Foxe’s Book of Martyrs), but apparently there like 300 versions of it with different content, so I’ll need to keep searching. However, I DO know that later stories that the King of Poland had previously proposed to Katherine after the death of her first husband were invented by playwright Thomas Drue in his 1623 play about Katherine, “The Duchess of Suffolk.”
Katherine and Richard’s travels throughout Europe were also memorialized in a ballad, which you can read online here.
Return from Exile: After Mary I died and Elizabeth I took the throne, Katherine and Richard returned to England, where they lived out the rest of the days. Katherine remained close enough to the queen and the royal court to be named as custodian to her step-granddaughter Mary Grey, when Mary earned the queen’s ire by marrying without her permission.

1. Queen Kateryn Parr (previously Lady Burgh and Lady Latimer, later Lady Seymour) (1512-1548)

Summary: The incredibly intelligent and devout Kateryn Parr became the first woman to publish a book in English, outlasted three husbands, and finally was able to marry the man she loved, only to perish herself in childbirth. She served as regent for Henry VIIi while he was away, helped reunite him with his children, and managed to outwit her Catholic enemies in the court.

Family Background: Kateryn’s mother, Maud Parr, was one of Katherine of Aragon’s ladies-in-Waiting. The Queen served as Kateryn’s godmother, and she probably was named after her.
She was highly educated and fluent in French, Latin, and Italian.
First Two Marriages: In 1529, the 17-year-old Kateryn married Sir Edward Burgh; he died four years later.
1534, Kateryn married John Neville, Baron Latimer, and thus joined one of the oldest and most powerful families in the North. Baron Latimer was twice her age and had already had two wives before Kateryn. Kateryn served as stepmother to his two children, John and Margaret.
Hostage During the Pilgrimage of Grace: When Catholic rebels rose against the king in 1536 during The Pilgrimage of Grace, Latimer worked with the rebels, although he was likely forced into his role under threat of violence. He served as a spokesman for the rebels when they negotiated with Henry VIII. Henry initially agreed to the terms and issued a pardon to the rebels.
Latimer later was summoned to London to beg for mercy from the king. While he was away, the North rose again and a mob attacked Snape Castle, where Kateryn and her step children lived. They were taken hostage and the rebels demanded that Lord Latimer return immediately. He somehow talked the rebels into releasing his family and letting them leave.
Latimer’s association with the rebels (although unwilling) damaged the family’s reputation and kept them away from the royal court for many years. Eventually though, the family was able to return to London, where Lord Latimer eventually died in 1543.
Decision to Marry Henry VIII: The twice-widowed Kateryn then joined Lady/Princess Mary’s household. It appears that she was in love with Thomas Seymour (Jane Seymour’s brother and uncle to Prince Edward) by the time she caught Henry VIII’s eye. When he proposed, devout Kateryn accepted him, as she believed that God wished her to become the Queen. They married on July 12, 1543. Henry then conveniently gave Seymour a job which moved him to Brussels.
Queen Kateryn: Kateryn became close to all three of Henry’s children and helped improve their relationships with their father. She also was likely influential in the development of Lady/Princess Elizabeth’s and Prince Edward’s Protestantism, as she found reforming humanist tutors for them both. In 1544, when Henry went off with his military to France, he left Kateryn as regent of England (only the second of Henry’s wives to be granted this honor).
Reformist Views: Kateryn held strong reformist (and arguably Protestant, although she might not have identified that way openly) views that several more traditional advisors, particularly Bishop Stephen Gardiner, viewed with suspicion. Evangelical preachers regularly spoke to the Queen and her ladies, and her household discussed and studied theological ideas together.
In 1546, some of Henry’s officials attempted to turn the king against Kateryn and get her arrested, Fortunately, Kateryn found out about the arrest warrant beforehand and threw herself on the King’s mercy, literally collapsing from apparent distress and vowing to Henry that he knew best on religious matters and she had only ever debated with him in order to distract him from his pain. The following day, a detachment of men tried to arrest her, but Henry sent them away.
Writing: In her life, she wrote and published three religious books. Psalms or Prayers, an English translation of John Fisher’s 1525 Psalms, was published anonymously in 1544. In 1545, her Prayers or Meditations, a collection of religious texts, became the first book in English published in England by a woman under her own name. Finally, in 1547, after Henry’s death, Kateryn published The Lamentation of a Sinner, a three part book of reflections that discussed her own sinful nature extensively, condemned Roman Catholics, and advocated for people to be able to read the Bible in English for themselves. This last bit actually conflicted a bit with some of Henry VIII’s own policies within his life, which vacillated on how much access people, and particularly noble women, should have to the Bible.
Final Marriage: After Henry VIII’s death on January 28, 1547, Kateryn rekindled her relationship with Thomas Seymour and secretly married him less than six months after Henry’s death. Edward VI (Henry’s young son and the new king) and the ruling council were not informed of Catherine’s marriage to Seymour for several months. Once it became common knowledge, everyone was pretty annoyed at the quick and secretive marriage. They were publicly reprimanded by the ruling council and both the king and Lady/Princess Mary were vocal in their disapproval of the union. Note: Kateryn holds the record for the most-married English queen
Somewhat surprisingly, given that she had not conceived during her first three marriages, the 35-year-old Catherine became pregnant by Seymour. However, she died a few days after giving birth to a daughter, Mary Seymour. Kateryn’s funeral was the first protestant funeral to be held in English.
Within a year after her death, Thomas Seymour was arrested for treason and executed. Their orphaned daughter Mary was put under the guardianship of Katherine Willoughby. Although we don’t know exactly what happened to her, she doesn’t show up in records past a certain point, which likely indicates that she died before she was two.

And there we have it! 11 Tudor/Tudor-Adjacent Katherines. Which one’s your favorite? Be sure to vote in the poll below.