Mary Tudor - Anna Whitelock [8]
Katherine, meanwhile, was stranded. She remained in England, mourning the loss of her mother, with little money and no clear status. She petitioned her father to come to her aid, describing how she was in debt and how greatly she needed money “not for extravagant things” but “only for food”; she was “in the greatest trouble and anguish in the world.”8
ON APRIL 21, 1509, amid scenes of great celebration, seventeen-year-old Prince Henry was proclaimed king of England. “Heaven and earth rejoices,” wrote Lord Mountjoy to the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus; “everything is full of milk and honey and nectar. Avarice has fled the country. Our King is not after gold, or gems, or precious metals, but virtue, glory, immortality.”9 Soon after his accession, Henry sought to establish his European status by reasserting England’s claim to the French Crown. He needed allies and looked to renew the alliance with Ferdinand of Aragon and marry his brother’s widow, Katherine. On June 11 they exchanged vows at the Franciscan church at Greenwich.
“Most illustrious Prince,” Henry was asked, “is it your will to fulfil the treaty of marriage concluded by your father, the late King of England and the parents of the Princess of Wales, the King and Queen of Spain; and, as the Pope has dispensed with this marriage, to take the Princess who is here present for your lawful wife?” Both parties answered, “I will.”10
Two weeks later, Henry and Katherine were crowned together at Westminster Abbey. He was eighteen, handsome, and athletic; she was twenty-three and described as “the most beautiful creature in the world.” Well educated and accomplished, she loved music, dancing, and hawking almost as much as Henry did. She was, in many ways, the ideal royal bride. Both were equally learned and pious and were keen readers of theological works. Katherine spent hours at her devotions, rising at midnight to say Matins and at dawn to hear Mass, and, very much her mother’s daughter, she proved to be politically able and determined. As Henry prepared for war with France in 1512, Katherine was closely involved. “The King is for war, the Council against and the Queen for it,” one Venetian diplomat reported.11
While Henry embarked on his campaign, capturing the towns of Thérouanne and Tournai in northern France, Katherine remained in England as “Regent and Governess of England, Wales and Ireland,” with authority to raise troops and supervise preparations for war against the Scots. Ten years earlier, when James IV of Scotland had married Henry’s elder sister, Margaret, he had sworn “perpetual peace” with England. He had now been persuaded by the French to renew their “auld alliance” against England. War was declared in August, and James launched an invasion across the border. As Peter Martyr, the contemporary Italian historian, reported:
Queen Katherine, in imitation of her mother Isabella … made splendid oration to the English captains, told them to be ready to defend their territory … and they should remember that English courage excelled that of all other nations. Fired by these words, the nobles marched against the Scots … and defeated them.12
The Scottish king was killed at Flodden Field. It was one of England’s most resounding victories over the Scots and Katherine’s finest hour. She wrote triumphantly to Henry, “In this your grace shall see how I can keep my promise, sending you for your banners a King’s coat. I thought to send himself unto you, but our Englishmen