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Friends,
I have recently been doing some research on Executioners during the 15th,16th, and 17th Centuries. It’s a grim topic, I know, but it’s interesting to look into the study of societal norms and religious beliefs. Now, before you start asking me questions, please note that I will write a blog about it soon.
And I have an idea for a future book….
But I digress.
As I delved into the dusty archives of ghost stories, I came across the names of two women with the same execution date: February 13, 1542.
Not particularly unusual in the context of Henry VIII’s reign as King of England. He was known for being a little ‘reactive’ to perceived disrespect or adultery claims. A little too friendly with executioners if you ask me.
While Anne Boleyn is mentioned more often than not, we never really talk about the young girl who met the same ruthless death a little less than six years later.
Katherine Howard.
Who Was She?
Cousin to Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII’s 5th wife.
A young girl of 15 or 16 (birthday unknown) pushed into the bed chamber of a man who was 49/50 years old.
A teenager swept up in the drama of royal scandals and political intrigue.
A woman who needed someone to protect her from the scheming of couturiers twice her age, who would use her for their own means to gain more power.
You may be wondering why I decided to jump off the train of witches, mythology, and spooky. The answer is simple. It is believed that Katherine’s ghost is still running through the corridors at Hampton Court, trying to find King Henry to plead her case.
Possibly in hopes of finding forgiveness for her crimes.
Most likely looking for her head.
For that reason, I felt like a blog should be dedicated to Queen Katherine, remembering that a young girl lost her life and is not just a character in a Broadway musical.
Time Lines
In all honesty, trying to describe the downfall of Katherine is a 3- to 5-part, maybe even 15-part blog series. There are so many spiderwebs of moving parts that it’s sometimes hard to make sense of it all. Nevertheless, I have broken it down as best I could for you.
9 July 1540- King Henry annuls his marriage to Anne of Cleves.
28 July 1540- King Henry and Katherine are married in a private ceremony.
8 August 1540- King Henry publicly acknowledges Katherine as Queen.
The Rumors Start
November 1541—King Henry learns that Queen Katherine may or may not have had relationships with Henry Mannock (a music teacher), Francis Dereham (who called her ‘my wife’), and Thomas Culpepper, who was not only her cousin but also her fiancé at some point, all before her marriage to him.
While this all started as petty gossip, Katherine didn’t help herself by appointing Francis Dereham as her private secretary, which, in retrospect, may have lent some validity to the charges against her.
Add to the boiling pot the confessions of Katherine’s friends and former lovers! Now, under normal circumstances, I would say we could legitimately ignore the ‘confessions’ because we know they were typically made under torture.
Except for a tiny thing… There is a letter. A letter from Thomas Culpeper that could only be described as a love letter. Ironically, according to historians, he was not tortured. He admitted to having ‘thoughts’ about bedding Kathrine but never acting on them.
In my book, this proves Katherine was most likely not having a sexual relationship with Culpeper. However, perhaps the relationship was a little too friendly for its own good.
Side note:
I will include a link at the end where you can read Katharine’s progression of confessions as her interrogation continues.
Changing Laws
On 7 February 1542, Parliament passed a Bill of Attainder that declared it treason for a woman who was not ‘pure’ to marry the king. Because of this bill, Katherine was no longer considered ‘chaste’ before marriage and, therefore, was guilty as charged.
It is worth noting that a Bill of Attainder differs from a law. The charges in the bills were usually considered treason, but they didn’t have to ‘satisfy’ the legal definition of that or any other crime.
In other words, the Bill of Attainder would be written to tailor an action to criminality when it was not considered criminal at the time of its performance.
For example, before Katherine’s marriage to King Henry, no law required that the future Queen be a virgin. Then, because of all these rumors hitting the fan- wham, bam-it is suddenly illegal.
And considered to be treason!
The Final Days
10 February 1542- Katherine was taken to the Tower of London, and her execution was scheduled for three days later. According to the woman who was with Katherine in her final moments, she spent the night prior practicing.
The teenage Queen was so scared of a botched execution that she spent hours kneeling and laying her head on the executioner’s block so that it was in the perfect position for a swift death.
13 February 1542- Katherine was executed—a swift death by a sharpened axe.
Directly following her body being carted to the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, her friend and cousin to Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Rochford, laid her own head on the bloody butcher block and fell to the same fate.
According to records, both women were buried under the altar in the chapel near Anne and George Boleyn’s bodies.
Ghostly Sightings.
According to gossip and legend, after Katherine Howard was arrested, she managed to break free from her guards and ran down what is now known as the Haunted Gallery, screaming for King Henry.
And the screaming continues to this day.
Or does it?
There are some different theories about who the ghostly intruder is at Hampton Court. Some say it couldn’t have been Katherine Howard because, at the time of her arrest, King Henry did what he did best—hide from the drama. He wasn’t even at court.
Some say it is the ‘Grey Lady,’ long thought to be King Henry’s nursemaid, Dame Sybil Penn, who died of smallpox in 1562 and had her remains removed from her grave in 1829.
Or it could be Queen Jane Seymour, who died at Hampton Court while giving birth to King Henry’s only son.
Maybe it’s all three women? Or it could be none. There are plenty of souls of people who died at the hands of scheming men and women who all wanted to be ‘in charge.’
Final Thoughts
If Katherine’s soul is still unable to cross, it might be because she is looking for her friends. Perhaps she is still pleading for their lives, not her own. I have no proof. I just have a feeling that Katherine’s last moments would have been spent mourning her friends and not herself.
Regardless of who still walks the halls of Hampton Court, the lives of innocent children deserve to be remembered. And no matter how Hollywood or Broadway wants to portray Katherine, we must not forget this- she was a child when she was sentenced to death.
Click here to read Katherine’s ‘confessions’ and decide for yourself whether she was guilty of treason.
Until next time, Keep Reading and Stay Caffeinated.
For further reading, I found some books you may enjoy:
Young and Damned and Fair. In this thrilling reappraisal of Henry VIII’s fifth wife, history unfurls as if in real time to explain how the Queen’s career ended with one of the great scandals of Henry’s reign. This is a grand tale of the Henrician court in its twilight, a glittering but pernicious sunset during which the king’s unstable behavior and his courtiers’ labyrinthine deceptions proved fatal to many, not just to Catherine Howard.
The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Either annulled, executed, died in childbirth, or widowed, these were the well-known fates of the six queens during the tempestuous, bloody, and splendid reign of Henry VIII of England from 1509 to 1547. But in this “exquisite treatment, sure to become a classic” (Booklist), they take on more fully realized flesh and blood than ever before.
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