Katherine was one of Elizabeth of York’s younger sisters. Her parents were Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. When her father died in 1483 she was not yet four years of age but like her older siblings found herself in sanctuary at Westminster and declared illegitimate under the terms of Titulus Regius which accepted Bishop Stillington’s declaration that Edward was pre-contracted in marriage to Lady Eleanor Talbot (Butler) prior to his secret marriage to Elizabeth Woodville.
Eventually Elizabeth Woodville came to terms with Richard III and her daughters returned to their nursery or to court. Richard promised that he would provide for his brother’s children but the marriage of an illegitimate daughter of a king would never be as sparkling as that of a princess.
However, in 1485 Fortune’s wheel took a downward turn for Richard on the battlefield at Bosworth and Henry Tudor became king. He had sworn to marry Katherine’s sister Elizabeth, and with no sign of the two sons of Edward IV, Titulus Regius was revoked and an order was issued for all copies to be destroyed. Katherine was once again a Plantagenet princess. Her care and education lay in the hands of her sister Elizabeth who married Henry uniting the houses of York and Lancaster but her marriage was in her brother-in-law’s gift.
Katherine and her sisters were valuable pawns in the marriage game. it was suggested at one time that she marry the Duke of Ross but nothing came of the proposal. It was essential so far as Henry was concerned that the princesses were either married out of the country to countries sympathetic to Henry Tudor or else they should be married to men he trusted at home. Henry trusted precious few people – which isn’t surprising given the number of rebellions he had to deal with once he became king.
In 1495, Henry thought he had found just the man – William Courtenay, heir to the Earl of Devon. She was packed off to Tiverton where she became a mother in 1496. In 1497 her husband rose further in royal favour when he helped to defeat Perkin Warbeck, a royal pretender. Two more children followed, a daughter Margaret and another son named Edward. Catherine could often be found at court with her sister and she took an active part in royal events including the betrothal celebrations of her niece Margaret Tudor to James IV of Scotland.
Unfortunately Courtenay’s favour was not to last. He was implicated in the Duke of Suffolk’s rebellion in 1502 and found himself incarcerated in the Tower – although evidence was lacking. Henry VII swiftly confiscated all his goods leaving Katherine and her three children dependent on Elizabeth of York, but at least they were still free and Courtney did not suffer a traitor’s death. His main problem was that he was married to a Plantagenet princess and Henry VII simply didn’t trust that he wouldn’t make an attempt on the throne. Poor Katherine faced difficult times which were compounded by the death of her youngest son while she was with Elizabeth. Without the funds to pay for Edward’s funeral, Katherine was reliant upon her sister’s kindness for the burial of the little boy and for her mourning robes.
The following year, it was Katherine who led the mourners to Westminster where Elizabeth of York was buried. The queen had died as a result of complications following childbirth. Katherine had lost the sister to whom she was closest and the source by which she was able to live. Now she had to turn to her father-in-law for help and to her young nephew Prince Henry who was fond of his aunt.
After Henry VII’s death, Katherine’s life changed for the better. She was welcome at court, her husband was finally freed from his prison and Katherine was granted estates by which the couple could live, although she had to sign away her rights to her share of the earldom of March. When Courtenay died in 1511, Katherine took a vow of celibacy so that no new husband could be found for her. She also set about ensuring that her son, Henry Courtenay, who was now ten years of age should inherit his father’s title. In 1512 she arranged for her daughter Margaret to marry the heir of the Earl of Worcester.
She came rarely to court after that but she did become Mary Tudor’s godmother in 1516. She did not know that her Plantagenet bloodline would send Fortune’s wheel turning once more when her nephew Henry VIII attempted to divorce his wife Katherine of Aragon. Her son Henry Courtenay would be executed for corresponding with another cousin, Cardinal Reginald Pole. Her grandson Edward Courtenay would spend time in prison and because of his involvement in Wyatt’s Rebellion, which sought to topple Mary Tudor, be exiled from the country.
Katherine died on 15 November 1527 having spent the latter part of her life living in Tiverton.
Yes all is correct. King Henry Tudor was the son on Margaret Beaufort and half the French army as his father . She killed the two Princes in the Tower .Joined by her new husband Stanley of Hornby castle and Arch Bishop Morton who had been called back from King Richards excile only the day before the battle at Bosworth that was planned and made to place Margaret son on our throne and my family out of the picture . Morton even told friends where the boys bodies lay. Yet all still blame Richard 111which is nonsense
What a turbulent life poor Catherine had. Would it have been possible for her to have had help from either of her other two sisters when Elizabeth died ?
Bridget was a nun by that time and had been reliant upon Elizabeth for economic support. Ann who was married to Thomas Howard suffered from poor health as well as the death of her children. The marriage wasn’t a particularly happy one either. In part this was because the dowry that Ann should have received was never forthcoming from the royal treasury. Inevitably it was Elizabeth of York who provided for her sister from her purse, so neither of them were in a position to help Catherine. Cecily died in 1507 and she had got herself into trouble with an unsanctioned marriage to Thomas Kyme, although she received help from Lady Margaret Beaufort. As a result of the unsanctioned marriage many of her possessions were confiscated – leaving her in difficult finances. It was actually Margaret Beaufort who paid her funeral expenses – in short the life of a princess was not all it was cracked up to be.
Despite her usually passive role in affairs of Henry VII’s court, Elizabeth of York did take an active role in asserting her sisters’ interests. In the aftermath of Bosworth, Cecily had been swiftly united with Lord Welles, but the others remained single for almost ten more years, by which time the queen was sufficiently established to arrange matters to their advantage. On Anne’s marriage to Thomas, Lord Howard,Elizabeth made an indenture with Howard’s father, the earl of Surrey, arranging for various of his lands and reversions, appointed by her council, to be granted to her son Henry, her half- brother Dorset, and others of her choosing, ultimately to the use of Anne and Lord Howard as jointure. Elizabeth also arranged to pay an annuity of Crzo to the earl for Anne’s diet and servants and to provide all of Anne’s clothes until the couple came into possession of the lands.199 A similar arrangement was made with Edward Courtenay at the time of his son William’s marriage to the queen’s sister Katherine, and although the indenture for this does not survive the eleven men appointed to hold the Courtenay lands were identical with those eventually appointed to hold the Howard lands, so this was almost certainly also arranged by Elizabeth.200 Joanna L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503 Wait, Catherine and Anne have the income transferred to the men chosen by Elizabeth. Elizabeth spends money on Catherine because she loves her sister
On Anne’s marriage to Thomas, Lord Howard,Elizabeth made an indenture with Howard’s father, the earl of Surrey, arranging for various of his lands and reversions, appointed by her council, to be granted to her son Henry, her half- brother Dorset, and others of her choosing, ultimately to the use of Anne and Lord Howard as jointure. Elizabeth also arranged to pay an annuity of Crzo to the earl for Anne’s diet and servants and to provide all of Anne’s clothes until the couple came into possession of the lands.199 A similar arrangement was made with Edward Courtenay at the time of his son William’s marriage to the queen’s sister Katherine, and although the indenture for this does not survive the eleven men appointed to hold the Courtenay lands were identical with those eventually appointed to hold the Howard lands, so this was almost certainly also arranged by Elizabeth.200Joanna L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503
Wait, Catherine and Anne have the income transferred to the men chosen by Elizabeth. Elizabeth spends money on Catherine because she loves her sister
royalty.
The date of this, as of the previous marriage of Cecilia, is uncertain; but probabilities combine to place it be-tween February 1503, the date of the queen’s death, and the January of the following year, the time of the meeting of parliament. At this parliament, Cecilia, in conjunction with Lord Willoughby, and three other per-sons, who were the heirs male of the Wells estates, pre-sented to the king a petition, affording a curious specimen
1 Rotuli parliamentorum, 24 Hen.VII., No. 96.
– Much pains have been taken by searches amongst the inqui-sitions post mortem of the period in the archives of the dioceses of Lambeth and Winchester, to find information about this person; their entire failure corroborates the opinion that he was from the middle if not the lower ranks of life.
432
CECILIA, THIRD DAUGHTER OF
of womanly finesse. Cecilia well knew that Henry VII. would be pleased with any step that would place her in a position beneath his jealousy, and is even said to have chosen her husband on that account, “rather for comfort than credit”, yet she feared that her marriage might be made use of as a pretext to deprive her of the dower which she enjoyed as Viscountess Wells, and that the king might feign displeasure at her proceedings, as an excuse for seizing upon her lands. To obviate this con-tingency, she ingeniously contrived to bribe King Henry, by the present of a small proportion of her revenue, and by the promise of a reversion of the whole for ten years after her death, to leave her in peaceable possession of the remainder. Her petition, after referring to the late husband formerly made of the Wells estates to her restitution, so far as concerned four manors in Lincolnshire, of which she requests the king to take immediate possession, with the reservation that the property should return into her hands in case she survived him; but if the king were the survivor, she generously offered to him and to his heirs the entire revenues of the Wells estates for ten years after her decease, on condition of their reverting, at the expiration of that term, to the male heirs of the late viscount. The circumstance that three heirs themselves joined in a petition the purport of which was to deprive them of their revenues for so long a period, proves their anxiety to secure for their royal relative the enjoyment of her dower, and also their appreciation of the danger she had incurred of losing it.
The last clause of the petition is remarkable, on account of its reference to the second husband of the Lady Cecilia. The petitioners further pray, “that it be enacted by the said authority, that Thomas Kymbe, and the said Dame
‘ Fuller’s Worthies, vol. ii., p. 105.
433
EDWARD THE FOURTH.
Cecil, now his wife, and late wife of the said viscount, and all others which have received and taken any issues and profits of any of the premises, and every parcel thereof, or the same occupied or meddled with, by their commandment or the commandment of either of them, since the decease of the said viscount, be not in any wise therefore charged or chargeable, but thereof be quiet and discharged for ever.” The petition was favourably re-ceived, and the royal assent signified by the subscription,
Cecily did not fall into poverty. She retained most of her land in 1506-07, and she clearly realized that she was about to die. She left her husband and came to her second mother’s side. Margaret paid for her funeral because of love. Margaret also spends money on clothes and food for many of her relatives’ children.
Thomas and Anne will also spend time at many of his father’s other estates, including another London property located in Tottenham. They also stayed at Framlingham for a period of time, which was an ancient property of the Howard family and a favored residence of the Earl of Surrey. He passed away there in 1524 and remained in the Castle Chapel for over four weeks before being moved to the family tomb at Setford Abbey. The glorious moment of Framlingham occurred in 1533, when Mary Tudor raised a flag in the castle after the death of her brother Edward VI, declaring her intention to inherit the throne, and the same was true during Lady Jane Grey’s extremely brief nine day reign.
The two sets of accounts of the gamekeeper at Framlingham Park have been preserved, dating back to between 1508-13 and 1515-19. Among these accounts, 19 records between 1508 and early 1513 detailed the activities of Lord Howard and Anne on the property. Sometimes they would attend hunting parties, but the accounts show that Thomas and Anne also frequently gave deer meat to local nobles, taking on related roles in the absence of the Earl and Countess of Surrey. Anne presented gifts to a servant, a local pastor, and Lord Willoughby, whom Thomas (undoubtedly accompanied by Anne) had hosted. During or after his visit, she also sent venison to various recipients such as the municipal authorities of Bury, Norwich, Ipswich, Daymouth, and Bangor. What evidence can prove that Anne is unhappy? Her mistress’s name on Wikipedia is fake. She was the mistress of her husband’s second marriage.
At the same time, Edward proposed more stringent conditions in negotiations with the Duke of Maximilian and the Duchess of Mary of Burgundy. His two daughters, the eldest Elizabeth and the third Cecily, have already found suitable prospective husbands, who are heirs from France and Scotland, respectively. The situation of the second daughter Mary was quite unfortunate. She was the first candidate for her sister’s marriage to Prince Charles, and no special arrangements were made for her before her engagement to King Frederick I of Denmark in 1481. Mary herself passed away at a young age on May 23, 1482. For the fourth daughter, someone proposed a more outstanding marriage by marrying the young child Philip (born in 1478), who was the only son and heir of Maximilian and Mary. Edward ruthlessly exploited the Duke’s urgent need for English support to facilitate Anne’s marriage at a low price. Maximilian once hoped that Anne could bring a dowry of 200000 crowns; On the other hand, Edward regarded not paying the dowry as part of the cost of signing an alliance with Burgundy. When Maximilian argued that it was quite unreasonable for the bride of one of the wealthiest heirs in Europe to have no dowry at all, he had little success in persuading Anne’s father to open the purse. The original marriage treaty signed on August 5, 1480, was modified through supplementary agreements on August 14 and 21, which effectively exempted Edward from the obligation to pay any dowry, on the condition that he paid the Duke the first year installment of the 50000 crowns annuity he had requested from Burgundy. In fact, Edward IV had no intention of paying Anne’s dowry
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