Catherine of Aragon 1485-1536
English queen, the first wife of Henry VIII

Born in Alcal� de Henares, Spain, the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, she was first married (1501) to Arthur, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Henry VII. Arthur died six months later, and in 1503 she was betrothed to his brother, the 11-year-old Prince Henry (later Henry VIII). They were married (1509), seven weeks after Henry's accession to the throne. Of their six children, only the Princess Mary (later Mary I) survived. In the years that followed, Henry's infidelities, and his anxiety for a son and heir, soured the marriage, and in 1527 he began proceedings for a divorce, in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Despite strong opposition from the pope, Henry and Anne were secretly married (1533), and the marriage to Catherine was annulled by Archbishop Cranmer. Catherine, who had offered a dignified, passive resistance throughout, was sent into retirement at Ampthill, Bedfordshire. In 1534 the pope pronounced her marriage valid, which provoked Henry's final break with Rome and began the Reformation in England. Catherine refused to accept the title of Princess Dowager, or to accept the Act of Succession (1534) which declared Princess Mary illegitimate, and retired to lead an austerely religious life at Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire.

Bibliography: Garrett Mattingly, Catherine of Aragon (1942)