The Bourchier and Bowker Pages

Discovering the ancestry of the South African Bowkers, and the English Bourchiers

First Name Last Name
Home Search Login  
Print Bookmark
Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon

Female 1485 - (6 Jan 1535/1536)

Personal Information    |    Media    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Catherine of Aragon 
    Birth 5 Dec 1485  Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Gender Female 
    _UID 4600C4FC09D7D711BA22444553540000DA83 
    Death (6 Jan 1535/1536)  Kimbolton Castle Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Burial Peterborough Abbey Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Person ID I15  Bourchiers
    Last Modified 4 Apr 2020 

    Father King Ferdinand V of Castile and Aragon Ferdinand of Aragon, - King Ferdinand V of Castile and Aragon 
    Mother Isabella of Castile 
    _UID 6E00C4FC09D7D711BA224445535400000203 
    Family ID F20  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Duke of Cornwall Arthur Tudor,   b. 20 Sep 1486, St Swithin's Priory, Winchester Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 2 Apr 1502, Ludlow Castle, Shropshire Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 15 years) 
    Marriage 14 Nov 1501  St Paul's Cathedral, London Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    _UID 6B00C4FC09D7D711BA22444553540000FFD3 
    Family ID F19  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 2 King Henry Tudor, King Henry VIII, Duke of Cornwall,   b. 28 Jun 1491, Greenwich Palace, Greenwich Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 28 Jan 1547, Whitehall, London, Engand Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 55 years) 
    Marriage 11 Jun 1509  Greyfriars, Greenwich Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    • secretly
    • a papal dispensation was given
    Marriage pronounced null 23 May 1533  [1] 
    _UID 4700C4FC09D7D711BA22444553540000DB93 
    Children 
     1. Duke of Cornwall Henry Tudor,   b. (1 Jan 1510/1511), Richmond, Surrey Find all individuals with events at this locationd. (22 Feb 1510/1511), Richmond, Surrey Find all individuals with events at this location
     2. Duke of Cornwall ... Tudor,   b. Nov 1514   d. Nov 1514 (Age 0 years)
     3. Mary Tudor, Queen Mary I,   b. (18 Feb 1515/6), Greenwich Palace Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 17 Nov 1558
    Family ID F12  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Photos
    Catherine_aragon    		Catherine_aragon
    Keywords: Picture

  • Notes 
    • Catherine of Aragon (Castilian: Catalina; also spelled Katherine of Aragon, 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England from 1509 until 1533 as the first wife of King Henry VIII; she was previously Princess of Wales as the wife of Prince Arthur.

      The daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Catherine was three years old when she was betrothed to Prince Arthur, heir apparent to the English throne. They married in 1501, and Arthur died five months later. In 1507, she held the position of ambassador for the Spanish Court in England, becoming the first female ambassador in European history.[1] Catherine subsequently married Arthur's younger brother, the recently succeeded Henry VIII, in 1509. For six months in 1513, she served as regent of England while Henry VIII was in France. During that time the English won the Battle of Flodden, an event in which Catherine played an important part.[2]

      By 1525, Henry VIII was infatuated with Anne Boleyn and dissatisfied that his marriage to Catherine had produced no surviving sons, leaving their daughter, the future Mary I of England, as heiress presumptive at a time when there was no established precedent for a woman on the throne. He sought to have their marriage annulled, setting in motion a chain of events that led to England's schism with the Catholic Church. When Pope Clement VII refused to annul the marriage, Henry defied him by assuming supremacy over religious matters. In 1533 their marriage was consequently declared invalid and Henry married Anne on the judgement of clergy in England, without reference to the Pope. Catherine refused to accept Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and considered herself the King's rightful wife and queen, attracting much popular sympathy.[3] Despite this, she was acknowledged only as Dowager Princess of Wales by Henry. After being banished from court, she lived out the remainder of her life at Kimbolton Castle, and died there on 7 January 1536. Catherine's English subjects held her in high esteem, and her death set off tremendous mourning among the English people.[4]

  • Sources 
    1. [S1] Vicary Gibbs (ed.) and others, The Complete Peerage, (13 volumes (in 14 parts). London: The St Catherine Press Ltd. 1910-1959 Volume 14 (addenda and corrigenda). Stroud: Sutton Publishing Ltd. 1998. Microprint edition of volumes 1-13. Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd. First published 1982; reprinted 2000.), Volume 3, page 442.