The Wives Of Henry VIII By Antonia Fraser

At this point, Henry does not know anything of love. Throughout the whole First Book, Henry ignorantly disregards any possibility of love. ³I knew I did not love Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her² (30). He willfully entered a relationship with Catherine, but did not have serious intentions with her, yet. To him it was just a ³game ... in which you said things² like ³I love you² (30). Henry casually speaks of this so-called love to Catherine, but her past experience with her fiancé have made her cautious when dealing with love. She knows the reality of love and the extent of Henry¹s feelings, ³You don¹t have to pretend you love me² (31).

He never returned home so she thought that he was dead. She says that she was young and not necessarily ready to marry Roger when she did. She loved him but she wasn't in love with him. She did care about Roger because he asked her not to tell anyone that he was her husband and she didn't tell anyone. She respected what he wanted done and if she didn't care about him at all then she would have told everyone that he was her husband. She was in love with Arthur but could never confess that to anyone else besides him because she didn't want anything to go wrong for Arthur. Arthur was supposed to set a good example about how to deal with life and not to commit sins because he was the minister of the church in their city. Little did everyone know that he was the adulterous. No one ever suspected him of it because no know would've thought that a minister would do

Middle Life: In 1767, at the age of 15, Catherine married Andrew Barry. They lived two miles away from Catherine’s childhood home. Catherine had three children.

The split from Rome had made England vulnerable and Thomas Cromwell had suggested his next wife to be of a political match, much like the first. Anne of Clebes was the chosen match. The marriage took place on January 6, 1540, and by then Henry was already looking for ways to get out of the marriage. The King did not find his new bride attractive and had found an attraction to a young Kathryn Howard. Anne gave the King no problems with his annulment proceedings.

Cramner appealed to Parliament to confirm that Henry’s marriage to Catherine was invalid. Henry secretly marries a lady in his court, Anne Boleyn, in 1533. He decides to officially break with the Catholic church the following year and makes himself the head of the Church of England. He appoints Cramner as his new Archbishop and Cramner publicly declares the marriage between King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon as invalid.

Catherine de' Medici was a French lady who was married into the royal family at the age of fourteen in the sixteenth century. She was different than other women during this time period, and she enjoyed studying astrology and the arts. She was also the one who ordered the Tuileries to be built. She formed a very close relationship with the King and her father-in-law, King Francis I, and even named one of her children after him. However, her husband and the King's son, Henry, despised Catherine, and openly had an affair with another mistress named Diane. Despite this, he and Catherine still tried to have children, yet failed the first few years of their marriage. Catherine was shamed by the people for not having children at this point, and some

As king of England, Henry has the power and the unquestionable authority to act based off his own desires even if they are not legally or morally acceptable. Because his current wife, Catherine, who was also his brother’s widow, has failed to birth a son, he wishes to divorce her and take Queen Anne as his new wife. Without a male heir to the throne, Henry’s lineage will come to an end and England will be left without a successor. He admits this to More during their meeting in Act 1, saying,

Catharine of Aragon was Arthur’s widow, and seven years after his death Henry VIII married her on June 11, 1509 when he was seventeen years old . The new prince, Henry VIII, did not waste any time in experimenting with his new found power. He quickly found two ministers his father greatly disliked when he was alive, and he had them arrested and then executed. Execution soon became Henry VIII’s standard way of punishing anyone who crossed his path.

The Spanish-English marriage alliance of Catherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur was arranged when the children were very young. Catherine traveled to England only to face tragedy when her young husband, Arthur died in 1502.Henry VII wanted to marry Catherine to his younger son, who would be, Henry VIII so that he did not lose the dowry money from Catherine's parents and to secure some other agreements between the two countries. In the Catholic Church, it was forbidden to marry the wife of a deceased brother. A papal dispensation was required for the marriage. It was easily obtained from Pope Julius II. Henry VII died before the marriage took place but Henry VIII immediately married Catherine once he became

Inside the castle, Henry’s sister, Queen Dowager of France, and a select few other women played the virtues of the ideal wife. Among the top of the Tudor court, as perseverance, was Anne. King Henry had had two “official” mistresses before, and had been rid of them after each became pregnant. Anne’s sister, Mary, happened to be the second one and after her release from service, Henry had his eyes set on Anne. No mistress befor had put up any resistance to him, and he most likely expected the same acquiescence from Anne.

Catherine could not produce him an heir that would live past infancy. Henry desperately wanted a son to rule after he died. And in order to do this he needed to marry someone else who could bear him not just more children, but a male heir. Not even a year into their marriage, Henry started taking mistresses on the side. First is said to be one of the Stafford sisters, Elizabeth or Anne. It’s thought that it was Anne because her husband was so angry he sent her away to a convent sixty miles away from the Court and she was not allowed to have any visitors unless it was her husband. Another one of his supposed mistresses associated with Elizabeth and Mary Stafford is Elizabeth Bryan. There is no proof. She never had any children that were suspected

Her marriage was tuff, although she loved him, Henry was more in love with his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, which he spent most of his time with. Diane gained a lot of influence in the governing of France. This bothered Catherine, but she kept her personal feelings to herself.

History remembers King Henry VIII and his many wives. Very few remember his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. She was known as being quite beautiful and a great queen. Despite how poorly treated she was Catherine remained strong. The beloved Catherine of Aragon was the most remarkable queen due to the way she led her kingdom.

After these events Catherine is soon forgiven by Henry. It is then that Catherine discovers James has called off his engagement to Isabella due to her pursuit of Captain Tilney, only she was to realise he had no intention of marriage. Isabella’s social standard is ruined by this scandal and Catherine soon realises that their friendship was all but a

A feminist interpretation of any piece of literature would explore “…the belief that women are oppressed or disadvantaged by comparison with men, and that their oppression is… illegitimate or unjustified.” In “The Wolds Wife” Carol Ann Duffy explores the idea that women are subject to oppression in everyday life and as a result of this lose their sense of identity, however within three of the poems in this collection- Little Red Cap, Medusa and Pygmalion’s Bride – Duffy rejects convention by positioning the female as the protagonist within her poems therefore rejecting societal expectations. The women in these poems do not always abide by the stereotypical behaviours of a woman and the heteronormativity which is enforced through not only the media but through fairy tales where young children are taught that as a girl they need to be saved - Duffy renounces this idea through demonstrating in her poems that this should not be “accepted as the way of doing things” therefore criticising patriarchy.