Traitors of the Tower Read Online Free Page A

matter to him that he was now more feared than beloved by his subjects.
    Margaret was buried in the chapel in the Tower, near Anne Boleyn. The fine tomb she had had built for herself in Christchurch Priory, Dorset, can still be seen today, but it is empty. The Catholic Church now honours her as a martyr, and calls her ‘Blessed Margaret Pole’.

Chapter Four
    Queen Katherine Howard (1542) - ‘Rose Without a Thorn’
    Katherine Howard was one of the most tragic queens in history. Married young to the ill and obese Henry VIII, as his fifth wife, she was ill-fitted in nearly every way for her royal rank. She was to pay a high price for her failings.
    The exact date of Katherine’s birth is not known. It was between 1519 and 1525. Her father was a poor younger son of the noble Howard family. Her mother had died when Katherine was a child, and Katherine was brought up in Norfolk by her grandmother, the Duchess of Norfolk. The Duchess was guilty of neglect, and Katherine was badly taught and left to run wild.
    Katherine was a small girl, slim and pretty, with brown hair. She had a kind heart and was easily led. She was very young when her music master, Henry Manox, tried to seduce her. He would later boast that he knew of a secret mole on her body and had felt her private parts. Before he had got any further, the Duchess walked in on the pair. Shocked, she beat them both, and put an end to their love play.
    But she then seems to have left Katherine to do as she pleased. Katherine shared a bed-chamber with female servants and distant relatives. She saw, and took part in, the games with men that took place there. Before long, she fell in love with a cousin, Francis Dereham, and was soon sleeping naked with her lover.
    The other women quickly worked out what all the ‘puffing and blowing’ behind the bedcurtains meant. Some were quite shocked. Things got to the stage where the young couple were calling each other ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ in front of others. In Tudor times, this was taken as a contract between them, which was as binding as a marriage, and could only be set aside by the Church.
    The Duchess was not aware of all these goings-on. Soon, Dereham went to Ireland to seek his fortune. He had vowed to come back and claim Katherine as his bride. But then the Duchess moved her household to London.
    It was 1540, and Henry VIII had just married his fourth wife, the German Anne of Cleves; Henry was not attracted to his bride, and would not sleep with her. Instead, he had his advisers running round in circles trying to find a way to end the marriage.
    Katherine Howard’s uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, was the leading Catholic peer at court. He and his friends were keen to see Anne removed. They did not want the King coming under the influence of the church reformers who had arranged her marriage. They wanted a Catholic queen.
    Norfolk saw his niece, pretty Katherine Howard, waiting on Anne of Cleeves. It came to him that she would be the perfect wife for the King. This was not the first time that Norfolk had plotted to put a niece on the throne. He had been uncle to Anne Boleyn, but his hopes of greatness had been dashed when Anne was beheaded. But Katherine, the Duchess told him, was no Anne Boleyn: she was a good girl.
    Norfolk did his best to make the King notice Katherine, and his efforts soon bore fruit. By April 1540, Henry VIII had fallen so much in love with her that he could not keep his hands off her. Backed by her family, Katherine led him on. Henry made her grants of land, and it seems she wanted to be queen. But she was no Anne Boleyn. She was much younger and far more empty-headed. She had no idea that her past would come back to haunt her.
    As soon as Henry VIII had got rid of Anne of Cleves, he married Katherine. The wedding took place in July 1540 at the palace of Oatlands in Surrey. Then the royal couple spent ten days alone in private.
    Henry was then forty-nine, very fat, and old for his years.