CATHERINE OF VALOIS, or OF FRANCE, 1401-36; Queen of Henry V. of Eng land. She was unfortunate in her childhood, her father, Charles VI. of France, being subject to prolonged fits of insanity, while her mother—who was one of the most aban doned women of the time—neglected her children to such an extent that they were often without suitable food or clothing. She was at last taken away from her mother and educated in a convent. When she was only 12 years old, Henry asked her hand in mar riage, coupling the proposal with a demand for a large dowry in money, and the restitu tion to England of the French provinces once held by the English crown. The proposi tion was indignantly rejected, and Henry soon afterwards invaded France and asserted his claims in a manner that was not to be resisted. All his claims were admitted, and when he married Cal herine at Troyes in 1420 he received immediate possession of the provinces claimed, the regency of France during the life of the father-in-law, and the reversion of the sovereignty after the death of Charles. In 1421, Catherine was crowned
at London, and in Dec. of that year she became the mother of Henry VI. The next Year she was in France. where her husband died, and she returned to London with the "funeral cortege; hut after the funeral little is heard of her history, the only notable event being her secret marriage to Owen Tudor, the heir of a princely house in Wales, who had distinguished himself for bravery atAgincourt. His position in England, however, was low, and the marriage was long kept secret—a necessity that caused Catherine much vex ation and probably hastened her death. Her son by Tudor was made earl of Richmond, and married Margaret Beaufort, heiress of the house of Somerset, and junior representa tive of the branch of John of Gaunt, and she became the mother of Henry VII., and consequently the ancestress of the Tudor line of English kings.
(see CATIIARDTE, ST.)iS frequently used as a charge in coats of arms, when it is represented with teeth.