heart of glass: catherine of aragon

Katharine, Queen of England.

Today two of my lovely housemates/fellow Tudor fanatics and I trekked out to Peterborough for the Katharine of Aragon Festival (I prefer this spelling of her name, but in keeping with my tradition of naming each post after a song, the title is after Rick Wakeman's spelling). On this day in 1536, Queen Katharine, first wife of Henry VIII, was laid to rest at Peterborough Cathedral.

I am going to go all Tudor nerd on you all before getting to the many pictures I took. Some of you may know that I spent the better part of my senior year of college writing my French thesis on the reputation of Anne Boleyn in sixteenth-century France. I had long considered myself to be on Team Anne until I really began researching her, and Henry and Katharine.

After centuries of negative attitudes toward her, Anne Boleyn has become glamourised in popular culture. She is depicted as alluring, bewitching, cunning, and youthful--worthy of replacing Katharine as Queen of England. Equally, Katharine, a princess by birth who was beloved by the English people until her death, even after her divorce from Henry, is now viewed as the boring, old, fat, and pious queen. She is without a doubt misrepresented in essentially every modern depiction of her life.

Most people think of Katharine of Aragon as she is represented in her later portraits.

Like here.

(Lucas Horenbout, c. 1525, NPG London)

Or here.
(English School, c. 1530, NPG London)

When looking at these pictures, we are looking at a woman whose husband is losing interest in her as the exotic Anne Boleyn arrives back at his court from time spent in France. We are looking at a woman who had suffered at least five miscarriages during her marriage to Henry, including the devastating loss of a son who lived almost two months. Only a princess, Mary, survived past infancy. Katharine was clearly defeated by the end of her life, but still fought until the day of her death against the divorce Henry imposed upon her.

Sixteenth-century woodcut,
Marriage of Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragon.

But Katharine and Henry were married for twenty years, and were by all accounts very much in love for the early years of the marriage. And unlike the portraits dating from the end of her life, Katharine was considered a great beauty during her youth. While most modern films depict her as having darker "Spanish" looks, she was fair, with blue eyes and auburn hair. My favourite portraits of her are by Michael Sittow.

Notice that a halo was later painted in behind her head.
The people of England viewed her basically as a saint.
(Michael Sittow, c. 1502, Kunsthistorisches Vienna)

Another version of slightly lesser quality, sans halo.
(Aft. Michael Sittow, c. 1503)

Must take a minute to look
at Katharine's AMAZING jewelry.

Gold, enamel and black pearls = heaven.
I would KILL for a reproduction of this.

And the gold shells and gothic "C" on the bodice!

Here she is depicted as the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene.
(Michael Sittow, c. 1502-03)

This is another sweet portrait
of a younger Katharine, age eleven.
(Juan de Flandes, c. 1496)

When you look at Katharine's early life, she was actually pretty amazing. The daughter of the powerful Ferdinand II and Isabella I of Spain, she was highly educated and greatly accomplished. Henry was besotted with her and chose to marry her after she was widowed by her first husband, his older brother Arthur (who she may or may not have slept with and thus "The King's Great Matter"). Henry put a great amount of trust in Katharine. She served as regent while he was on military campaign in France, during which time the Scots invaded England. She rode north in full armour, even though she was heavily pregnant, to inspire the troops, who defeated the Scots at the Battle of Flodden Field. Then she sent Henry the bloody coat of the dead King James IV of Scotland. But would you expect anything less from Isabella's daughter?

Of course things later soured, due to the lack of a male heir, and Katharine was deposed in favour of Anne Boleyn. Interestingly, on 29 January, the same day that Katharine was buried, Anne miscarried her second child. It was a boy, the son Henry was so desperate to have. How's that for karma? You all know the rest of the story. Divorced, beheaded, died, etc.

ANYWAY, the day trip!

Good morning, Peterborough.

A grey day in the city centre.

I knew I liked this town when I saw Henry VIII and his courtiers
in niches above the local Pizza Express.

Oh Henry.

The west façade of Peterborough Cathedral dates to 1237.
It is in the Early English Gothic style.
It has no direct precedents or successors in cathedral architecture.

Moi chez Peterborough.

There is a large graveyard in the cathedral grounds.

This reminds me of The Secret Garden, I'm not sure why.

And back to the most gorgeous west front.
Let's go inside.

View from the west.

The gorgeous original wooden painted and gilded ceiling
in the nave dates to 1230-50 and is extremely rare.

I can't get enough of the ceilings.

L-R: choir ceiling, central tower star, nave painted ceiling.

Choir ceiling with gilded stars.

Wouldn't it be amazing
to have a ceiling like this in your house?

Sumptuous.

Perpendicular fan vaulting in the apse.
Gotta love cathedral architectural terminology.

What of the stained glass, you may wonder?
Sadly there's no original glass left.
All was destroyed in the Civil War.

So beautiful.

Traces of heraldic murals.

I'm so obsessed with heraldry.

Gorggg.

Cathedral graffiti.

Deliciously grim.

Deliciously goth.

Mary, Queen of Scots, was initially buried at Peterborough.
She now rests in Westminster Abbey.

Reliquary of St. Oswald.

Medieval paint vestiges, St. Oswald's Chapel.

Dancing in the cathedral.

Frozen love.

Henry and Katharine at her grave.
Bizarre, non?
The real Katharine's probably rolling in there.

The pomegranate was Katharine's emblem.
She remains beloved by many, centuries after her death.
They travel here to leave flowers and pomegranates at her grave.