Claire | May 11, 2023
Henry VIII’s great matter, his quest for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, caused him to break with Rome and was the beginning of the English Reformation. However, Henry chose to marry Catherine in 1509 and their marriage was happy for many years. In this talk, I explore how they came to […]
Claire | May 9, 2023
I’m going live on YouTube this Friday, 12th May, for a Q&A on the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. My video talk on the topic will be going live later this week, so you can watch that before the livestream. The link for the livestream is https://youtube.com/live/4EVAPL4HBA8?feature=share and I’ll be going live […]
Claire | November 30, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 30th November 1529, the Feast of St Andrew, Henry VIII received a dressing down from two women: his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and the woman he wanted to make his wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII’s treatment of his first wife was angering her, and Catherine told him so. And […]
Claire | November 8, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 8th November 1528, King Henry VIII made a rather strange public oration to “the nobility, judges and councillors and divers other persons” at Bridewell Palace. His speech was regarding his troubled conscience over the lawfulness of his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. In his speech, he […]
Claire | October 7, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 7th October 1529, in the reign of King Henry VIII, the pope wrote to the English king regarding his quest for an annulment of his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. It wasn’t good news for Henry VIII. Pope Clement VII had decided that Henry VIII’s marriage […]
Claire | June 27, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 27th June 1505, the eve of the date chosen for their wedding, thirteen-year-old Henry, Prince of Wales, the future King Henry VIII, repudiated his two-year betrothal to nineteen-year-old Catherine of Aragon, his brother’s widow. Why would Henry do this to Catherine at the last minute? Find out in this […]
Claire | June 25, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 25th June 1503, in the reign of King Henry VII, the nearly twelve-year-old Henry, Prince of Wales, the future King Henry VIII, got betrothed to seventeen-year-old Catalina de Aragón (Catherine of Aragon). The betrothal took place at the Bishop of Salisbury’s palace in Fleet Street, London. Henry was the […]
Claire | June 23, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 23rd June 1509, twelve days after their marriage, King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon processed through the streets of London dressed in their finery. This was their coronation procession. In this video, and transcript below, I share contemporary descriptions of the king and queen’s appearance and outfits, […]
