CATHARINE OF ARAGON, Queen of England, the youngest daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile: b. Alcal5. de Henares, Spain, 15 Dec. 1485; d. Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire, 7 Jan. 1536. In 1501 she was married to Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VII. Her husband dying about five months after, the King, unwilling to return her dowry, caused her to he contracted to his re maining son, Henry, and a dispensation was pro cured from the Pope for that purpose. In his 15th year the Prince made a public protest against the marriage; but at length yielding to the representatives of his council, he consented to ratify the contract, and on his accession to the throne in 1509 was crowned with her. The inequality of their ages and the capricious dis position of Henry were circumstances very adverse to the durability of their union, and it seems surprising that Catharine should have acquired and retained an ascendancy over the affections of the King for nearly 20 years. The want of male issue, however, proved a source of disquietude to him, and scruples, real or pretended, at length arose in his mind con cerning the legality of their union, which were greatly enforced by a growing passion for Anne Boleyn, one of the Queen's maids of honor. He made application to Rome for a divorce from Catharine. But all that Henry could obtain at Rome was a promise to investigate the case. Catharine, meanwhile, conducted herself with gentleness and firmness, and could not in any way be induced to consent to an act which would render her daughter illegitimate, and stain her with the imputation of incest. Be ing cited before the papal legates, Cardinals Wolsey and Campeggio, in 1529, she declared that she would not submit her cause to their judgment, but appealed to the court of Rome; which declaration was declared contumacious. His failure to secure the sanction of the Pope to the divorce induced the King to decide the affair for himself ; and the condemnation of his conduct expressed on this occasion by the court of Rome provoked him to throw off his submission to it, and declare himself head of the English Church— an act of royal caprice and of great importance in English history. In 1532 he
married Anne Boleyn; upon which Catharine, no longer considered Queen of England, retired. to Ampthill in Bedfordshire. Cranmer, now raised to the primacy, pronounced the sentence of divorce, notwithstanding which Catharine still persisted in maintaining her claims. Shortly before her death she wrote a letter to the King, recommending their daughter (after ward Queen Mary) to his protection, praying for the salvation of his soul, and assuring him of her forgiveness and unabated affection. The pathos of this epistle is said to have drawn tears from Henry. He had never presumed to call the virtues of his injured wife in question, and she certainly acted throughout with eminent dignity and consistency. Several devotional treatises have been attributed to Catharine which belong to Queen Catharine Parr.
Bibliography.— The Calendars of State Papers 'for the reign, edited by Brewer and Gairdner) (1880-90) ; and the Spanish theories (edited by Bergenroth and Gayango, Vol. II, 1868) ; Hall,