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0:00
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production
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of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild
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from Aaronminkie. Listener discretion
0:07
is advised. On
0:11
November eighth, fifteen forty
0:14
one, Queen Catherine
0:16
Howard was brought to a small room
0:19
to sit opposite Thomas Cranmer,
0:22
Archbishop of Canterbury. The
0:24
Archbishop had assured King Henry
0:26
the Eighth a few days prior that his
0:28
interrogation would be harsh and merciless,
0:32
that he would import on the King's young bride
0:34
the severity of her crimes
0:37
and scare her into full honesty.
0:40
But when Cranmore saw the young girl, he
0:43
felt his resolve drain away. She
0:46
was weeping, already frantic
0:49
with grief and terror, her
0:51
bloodshot eyes darting around
0:53
the room as if an executioner's
0:55
blade could appear at any moment.
0:59
But she also looked so small,
1:01
so young. She was a
1:04
nineteen year old girl, and she was
1:06
in a chair that looked far too big
1:08
for her. Grandmar
1:10
really had all the information already
1:13
that his investigation really needed.
1:15
Only two weeks ago, the allegations
1:18
had just been a rumor, a single
1:20
rumor from a single source. The
1:23
claim was this, that the new queen
1:26
had been less than virginal
1:28
when she had married the king. Someone
1:31
had informed the archbishop that
1:33
in Catherine's home growing up, she
1:36
had not one but two affairs,
1:39
first with her music teacher and then
1:41
with her grandmother's secretary.
1:44
Did you or did you not? Cranmar
1:46
began, as soon as Catherine had caught
1:48
her breath, have a sexual
1:51
relationship with your music teacher,
1:54
Henry Mannox when you were living
1:56
with your grandmother, the dowager Duchess
1:59
in Lambeth. Catherine
2:01
wailed, no, sir, it
2:04
was a flirtation, that's all. He
2:06
never knew me, and the way a husband knows his
2:08
wife. I have only ever been
2:10
true to King Henry. And
2:13
what of a secretary? Some time later,
2:16
a man named Francis Derham?
2:19
Did you know him? Intimately? Catherine's
2:23
breath began to quicken
2:26
erratically. Cranmar noticed
2:28
her cheeks and dressed sleeves were
2:31
both wet with tears. Be
2:33
honest, child, Granmar said,
2:36
The Lord is merciful to those who
2:38
are honest. As almost
2:40
an afterthought, he added, I
2:43
have already spoken to both men. Catherine
2:47
didn't respond, and Cranmar
2:49
continued, you and Derham
2:51
called each other husband and wife. Did
2:54
you not, Catherine nodded,
2:57
Were you formally bound to
3:00
Earham? The archbishop continued,
3:02
still unable to quite locate the harsh
3:04
tone that he had rehearsed. Did
3:07
you lie with him?
3:09
Once more? Katherine nodded her head.
3:12
We did lie together two or
3:14
three times in my bed in
3:16
the maidens chamber when I lived in Lambeth.
3:19
But I never betrayed King Henry.
3:21
I never betrayed my husband or sinned
3:24
against him in any way. But
3:26
she had already said enough. She
3:29
had betrayed the king, betrayed
3:31
him by pretending to be a virgin in
3:33
a lie by omission, humiliated
3:36
the king by now letting the whole
3:38
world know that he had been fooled
3:40
by a teenager. Catherine
3:43
broke down in sobs. As
3:46
he left, the archbishop quietly
3:48
whispered to the guards that they should
3:51
remove any items from her chamber
3:53
that might allow her to commit suicide.
3:57
Katherine Howard and King Henry the Eighth
3:59
had only been married about sixteen
4:01
months, and now with her
4:03
past revealed, she knew
4:05
that her time as queen was over. With
4:08
Henry's history, she would be lucky
4:11
to make it out with her head for
4:13
a little while, it seemed as though she might. After
4:17
her interrogation, Catherine was
4:19
sent away from court to Sion
4:21
Abbey. It seemed as though
4:23
the King was going to show her mercy. Her
4:26
arrangement with Francis Dirham could
4:29
technically qualify as a pre contract,
4:31
which would mean her marriage to Henry was invalid,
4:34
getting him off the hook easy. Katherine
4:36
would have to give up her jewels and possessions
4:39
and live in exile, away from court
4:41
for the rest of her life. It looked
4:43
as though that was what was going to happen. It
4:46
looked that way for exactly three
4:49
days. Three days
4:51
after Katherine Howard's interrogation,
4:54
Francis Dirham revealed, under
4:56
torture something else about
4:58
Queen Catherine, something
5:01
that the King wouldn't be able
5:03
to look upon with mercy. From
5:06
that moment, Catherine's fate
5:09
was sealed. I'm
5:12
danishwartz and this is
5:14
noble blood. When
5:24
Catherine Howard, motherless girl,
5:27
was eight years old, she was sent
5:29
to live at the estate of her father's
5:31
stepmother, her stepgrandmother,
5:34
the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. The
5:37
Dowager Duchess seemed to collect
5:39
wards she had about a dozen
5:42
or so girls under her care, mostly
5:45
the daughters of poorer relations, and
5:48
the idea was that under the dowager
5:50
Duchess's supervision, the girls
5:52
would learn the skills of court and aristocracy,
5:56
although in effect supervision
5:58
was a little lax. The
6:01
year Katherine Howard turned thirteen,
6:04
two major things happened. First,
6:08
her cousin Anne Boleyn was
6:10
beheaded for adultery
6:12
during her marriage to King Henry the eighth.
6:15
Second, Katherine Howard
6:18
began a flirtation with her music teacher,
6:20
a man named Henry Mannox,
6:23
who had been hired to teach the girls
6:25
how to play the Virginals.
6:29
Mannox was exactly the type
6:31
of man that Catherine would fall in love
6:33
with for the rest of her life. He
6:35
was every stereotype of a poetic
6:38
musician, moody, romantic,
6:41
wildly passionate. We
6:43
don't know how old Mannix was at the
6:45
time. He could have been a teenager
6:47
himself somewhere around nineteen,
6:51
or he could have been approaching forty.
6:54
Either way, it was not a
6:56
relationship that an extremely
6:58
young aristocratic men should
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have been engaged in, especially
7:02
not in a world in which a woman's
7:05
sexual purity was her primary
7:07
currency. Catherine,
7:10
for her part, refused to let Mannox
7:12
go all the way. The relationship
7:15
occurred mainly in the hiding spots
7:18
around the estate grounds, where
7:20
they could kiss each other and whisper words
7:23
of love into each other's ears. That's
7:26
where the Dowager Duchess found them
7:28
kissing in an alcove near the chapel.
7:32
The Dowager Duchess slapped Katherine
7:34
twice and forbade the couple
7:36
from ever seeing each other again. The
7:39
warning didn't deter the pair. I
7:43
don't know why you're still seeing her, said
7:45
Mary Lassells one day to Mannix.
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Mary Lassell's was another young woman
7:50
under the Dowager Duchess's lack supervision,
7:54
but lower ranked than Katherine, and
7:56
so she felt a sort of kinship with Mannox,
7:58
who was more or less irvant. She's
8:01
much too high born for you, Mary said,
8:04
she's never going to marry you. You know that,
8:06
right. Mannax sneered
8:09
and curled his lip. He took
8:11
a step closer to Mary Lassells
8:13
and told her that he already
8:15
knew Catherine Howard by her private
8:18
parts. And he
8:20
said, she's already promised
8:22
her maidenhead to me. For
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Mary Lassell's word got
8:27
around and back to Katherine Howard
8:30
what Mannox had said. She
8:32
ended their relationship the next day in
8:35
the estates orchard. Mannox
8:38
pleaded that he was just so far in
8:40
love with her that he didn't know what he said,
8:43
but Catherine didn't care. Besides,
8:46
Mary Lassell's had been right. She
8:48
was too high born for him.
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That's why teenage Catherine felt
8:55
as though she was a much better fit for
8:57
Francis Dearham, the Dowager,
9:00
just as Secretary Darrem
9:02
already had a reputation and
9:05
seduced a good percentage of the women at the
9:07
estate, including Katherine's
9:09
Owes secretary. In fact,
9:11
it was she who recommended dear Him
9:13
to Catherine, praising him so
9:16
highly that Katherine couldn't help
9:18
but be intrigued. It
9:20
was the type of whirlwind passion
9:23
that only a teenager can have. Within
9:26
months, they were calling each other husband
9:29
and wife, planning for an imaginary
9:31
future together. They sent
9:34
each other gifts and wrote each other
9:36
letters. Katherine,
9:38
still under her grandmother's custody,
9:40
didn't have the income to buy the dresses she
9:43
wanted, and so Dearham bought
9:45
her beautiful fabric and taught
9:47
her which dressmaker to go to. I'll
9:50
pay you back, I promise, Catherine
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said. Dearham just smiled.
9:59
Though the girls the dowager Duchess's
10:01
estate slept in a single room,
10:04
the maiden's chamber, and though
10:06
the girls usually slept to a bed, there
10:08
were still ways for girls to entertain
10:11
male visitors. The
10:14
maidens chamber was locked every
10:16
night, to preserve the girl's virtue,
10:18
of course, but Catherine
10:21
had an answer for that. While
10:23
her friends giggled and encouraged her,
10:26
Katherine snuck into the dowager Duchess's
10:28
chamber while her stepgrandmother was sleeping
10:31
and stole the key, quickly making
10:33
a copy and replacing it. Men
10:35
snuck into the room. Then Katherine
10:38
wasn't the only one of the wards who had an illicit
10:41
boyfriend. The men brought with
10:43
them wine and strawberries and apples,
10:46
and the boys and girls would laugh and
10:48
talk or sneak off to beds together until
10:51
one or two in the morning. We
10:53
can be almost certain that Dearman
10:55
Katherine, who by this point had
10:57
been spending every moment together, were
11:00
having sex. Dearham
11:02
privately assured his friends that
11:05
he knew enough to ensure that Katherine
11:07
wouldn't get pregnant. Meanwhile,
11:11
Mannox, bitter music teacher, was
11:13
furious at Katherine and her new paramour.
11:17
In his neatest script, he wrote
11:19
a letter to the Dowager Duchess
11:21
informing her that if she were to come
11:23
to the maidens chamber an hour or so
11:26
after she normally went to bed, she
11:28
would see something she wouldn't like
11:30
very much, involving a certain
11:33
one of her secretaries. Mannix
11:36
anonymously left the note in
11:38
the Dowager Duchess's pew in the
11:41
chapel so she would find it. That
11:44
night, she stormed into the maidens
11:46
chamber to catch not Katherine
11:48
and Dearham, but a man named
11:51
Hastings, another one of her secretaries,
11:54
who had already been caught once flirting
11:56
with one of the other girls. Katherine
11:59
was in the here, but
12:03
Catherine knew who the note had been written
12:05
by, and she knew that it had been
12:07
intended for her, and Dearham agreed.
12:10
Puffing out his chest, Dearham
12:12
confronted Mannix, telling him
12:14
that his behavior made it appear as though he
12:17
never loved Catherine at all. Mannix
12:19
called him a cad. Two
12:22
jealous men dressing each other down
12:24
over their secret love affair. It
12:26
was like a scene from Gossip Girl, half a millennium
12:29
before its time. People
12:31
knew that Derrim and Catherine were having an affair
12:34
people other than the Dowager Duchess. But
12:37
people also liked Catherine. She was
12:39
a vivacious and funny and entertaining
12:42
Plus she was high ranking. They
12:44
had no reason to rad her out or risk
12:46
incurring the wrath of her grandmother for
12:48
being the ones to deliver the bad news.
12:52
But like almost all wildly
12:54
passionate love affairs, the one
12:56
between Derehm and Catherine became less
12:59
exciting. Catherine stopped
13:01
being entranced by Dearham when she
13:03
was presented with a new, gilded
13:05
opportunity. Her family
13:08
connections had secured her a position
13:10
as a lady in waiting for the new Queen
13:13
Anne of Cleaves, who would be arriving
13:16
to England later that fall. In
13:19
the same apple orchard where she had broken
13:21
up with Mannix, Katherine Howard
13:23
told Dearham that she was leaving. His
13:26
version of the story involves her weeping
13:29
with sorrow. Her version
13:31
is her losing her temper at his insistence
13:33
that they stayed together. It's
13:36
possible both of her. She cried,
13:38
and she lost her temper, and she
13:40
left Dereham, thinking that there was still a chance
13:42
they were going to end up together. But
13:45
there wasn't. She was just going.
13:53
Katherine had grown up thinking her house in
13:55
Lambeth was grand. She had
13:57
no idea what would await her at
13:59
the court of Henry the Eighth. So
14:02
many people, so many dances,
14:04
so much food, so much
14:06
to learn For the confident girl
14:09
who had only ever been the queen b of
14:11
the band of teenagers in the maidens
14:14
Chamber, she was paid
14:16
ten pounds a year. With her
14:18
first paycheck, she sent money
14:20
back to dear Him to repay him
14:22
for the fabric he had bought her. The
14:26
new Queen of England, Anne of Cleave's,
14:28
wasn't set to arrive for another few
14:30
months, so in the meantime the
14:32
new ladies got to know each other and
14:35
got to know the men of court. For
14:37
Catherine, that meant being instantly
14:40
drawn to a gentleman named
14:42
Thomas Culpepper. Culpepper
14:45
was tall and athletic, the
14:47
type of man that Henry kept around him
14:50
because he made him feel young again. Culpepper,
14:53
for his part, had an incredibly
14:56
checkered past. There was a
14:58
rumor about him being convicted of
15:00
raping a woman in the village and
15:02
murdering a villager who saw them,
15:05
only to get off without consequences
15:07
with a royal pardon. Catherine
15:09
knew none of that. She only
15:11
saw the handsome, charismatic
15:14
man that women seemed to gravitate
15:16
towards, like hummingbirds to a flower,
15:20
and Culpepper saw Catherine,
15:22
a stunningly gorgeous girl of sixteen.
15:26
Every contemporary description of Katherine
15:28
Howard has that in common, the
15:31
understanding that Catherine was
15:33
uniquely pretty. For
15:35
a few weeks, Culpepper and Catherine
15:38
engaged in a typical court flirtation.
15:42
Catherine would report back to her fellow
15:44
ladies in waiting, giggling, helping
15:46
to decipher everything that Culpepper
15:48
had said to her that day. Catherine
15:51
knew that her virtue at court would be essential
15:54
in ensuring that she make an advantageous
15:56
marriage, and so when Culpepper
15:59
started making sexual overtures
16:01
expecting her to come to bed, she
16:04
declined, even as he professed
16:06
his courtly love. If
16:08
he loved her, Catherine believed he would
16:10
understand. But Culpepper
16:13
wasn't a man accustomed to sexual
16:15
rejection or even delay.
16:18
With Catherine's refusal, he shrugged
16:21
and set his sights upon a new girl.
16:24
It was Catherine Howard's first time
16:27
getting her heart broken. The
16:29
other ladies in waiting saw
16:31
her spend days crying and
16:34
ripping up his letters. Luckily,
16:39
Catherine wouldn't have to wallow too long
16:41
in heartbreak. Almost immediately
16:44
after Anne of Cleave's arrived in England,
16:47
Henry the eighth decided that he didn't
16:49
care for her and set about trying
16:51
to arrange an end to their arranged
16:53
marriage. In the meantime,
16:56
the king began doting on his new brides,
16:59
very pretty, very young lady
17:01
in waiting, Katherine Howard. He
17:04
sent gifts and gave her land
17:07
everyone saw, including Anne of Cleaves,
17:10
but she hoped it was just an affair. It
17:13
wasn't. Henry secured
17:15
the annulment from Anne of Cleaves within a
17:17
few months and married Catherine
17:20
Howard so quickly afterward that
17:22
people assumed that she must be secretly
17:24
pregnant. In fact,
17:27
Henry was just absolutely besotted
17:30
with his new bride, who was just
17:32
sixteen or seventeen years old.
17:34
Henry was fifty. They
17:37
were married the very same day
17:39
that Henry's former minister, Thomas
17:42
Cromwell, was executed
17:44
for securing the disastrous marriage
17:46
to Anne of Cleaves. The
17:53
middle aged Henry was so amorous
17:55
to Catherine Howard that it almost embarrassed
17:58
the rest of court. He didn't
18:00
take his hands off of her in public, caressing
18:03
her almost constantly, to the point
18:05
where ambassadors noted that he had
18:08
never been this publicly affectionate
18:10
with any of his wives to this extent
18:12
before. Of course,
18:15
Henry believed that his young bride was a virgin
18:17
and that he was the only man she had
18:19
ever laid with. Catherine
18:22
was so young and so beautiful
18:24
that she made Henry feel as though he were back
18:26
in his prime, even as it became
18:29
exceedingly obvious that he was
18:31
not. Pain in his legs
18:33
from his long troublesome ulcers kept
18:35
getting worse. Henry had
18:38
difficulty with impotence in the bedroom,
18:40
even as he made his attraction to Catherine
18:43
increasingly obvious outside
18:45
the bedroom. Henry's
18:47
doctors advised him to spend time
18:49
away from his new bride so that he
18:51
could recuperate. In
18:54
the meantime, they put him on a weight loss regiment
18:56
and wrapped his injured leg in boiled
18:59
olive, lee eaves and murder. Henry's
19:02
ill health and generally mercurial
19:05
nature, combined with his shame
19:07
at his inability to perform in the bedroom,
19:10
meant that he spent most nights away
19:12
from Catherine. A
19:15
year into their marriage, Catherine
19:17
had no pregnancy to show for it. Catherine
19:20
knew full well what happened to queens
19:22
who didn't give Henry sons. As
19:25
her relationship with the King continued
19:28
to strain, Catherine began
19:30
to shut herself away, unhappy
19:32
and anxious, refusing
19:34
to go to dances. Uncertain
19:36
of her future position. That
19:39
summer strain or not, Katherine
19:42
was to accompany Henry on the Northern
19:44
Progress, a show of force
19:47
and majesty to the rebellious northern
19:49
parts of the country. Catherine,
19:52
as the beautiful young queen, was an
19:54
essential prop for the outing, to
19:56
make Henry look all the more vital and powerful
19:59
with her at side. But
20:01
Catherine took ill on the journey, spending
20:04
days and nights alone in her room.
20:07
When the King sent a servant to her chamber
20:09
one night, he found it bolted. The
20:12
queen's ladies fretted about her
20:14
listlessness, but they also whispered
20:17
about the way she gazed down from
20:19
her window at Thomas Culpepper,
20:22
the young handsome man in the
20:24
King's entourage, who had caught
20:27
her eye from the moment that she had arrived
20:29
at court. The way she
20:31
looked at him with her hand cupped
20:33
in her palm, it was almost
20:36
like love. When
20:38
the trip to the north of the country ended and
20:40
they all returned to Hampton Court on October
20:43
nine, Henry gave a speech giving
20:45
hearty thanks for his good life with Catherine
20:48
and his trust in their happy future together.
20:52
The very next day, everything
20:54
would fall apart. Do
20:59
you remember Mary Lassell's
21:02
the girl from Catherine's time with the
21:04
Dowager Duchess Away
21:07
from court, Mary Lassell's brother
21:09
John was reprimanding her for
21:11
not being able to secure a position
21:14
in the new Queen's household. Didn't
21:17
you two know each other? John scoffed
21:19
at her. Mary Lassell's
21:21
bristled at her brother's derision. Yes,
21:24
I knew her. I wouldn't even want
21:27
to be in that household under a queen
21:29
like her. I remember how she behaved
21:31
back when she was in Lambeth. John
21:34
paused and asked for more
21:36
details. Mary
21:38
Lassell's told him about Henry
21:40
Mannox and Francis Dearham.
21:43
Everybody knows the Queen wasn't so pure
21:45
when she married the King, Mary said.
21:49
John stopped in his tracks and demanded
21:51
that Mary tell him everything
21:53
she knew, and John Lassell's,
21:56
a devout Protestant reformer, went
21:59
to tell the arch Bishop, Thomas Cranmer.
22:03
Cranmer was in a delicate position.
22:06
On one hand, this was just a rumor and
22:09
he didn't want to incur Henry's wrath
22:11
over nothing. But on
22:13
the other hand, if he didn't tell
22:15
Henry and somehow word got out,
22:18
he would be responsible. And
22:20
so on November two, in
22:23
incredibly measured words, Granmar
22:26
put the delicate claims in writing
22:29
in a letter and left it on
22:31
Henry's seat in Chapel. Henry
22:35
was, of course outraged. He
22:38
didn't believe the rumors for a moment, but
22:40
still he demanded a full investigation.
22:44
Man X and Dearham both confessed.
22:48
On November six, without telling
22:50
Catherine Howard, Henry the Eighth
22:53
left Hampton Court and rode to
22:55
Greenwich. She would never
22:57
see him again. Once
22:59
Henry was done with a wife, you wanted
23:01
her out of sight at
23:07
Greenwich, Henry held a midnight
23:09
meeting that lasted for six hours,
23:12
in which he and his ministers decided
23:14
what to do. At one
23:16
point, Henry broke down in tears.
23:20
Why have I had such bad luck in
23:22
meeting these ill conditioned women, he
23:25
cried. He grabbed
23:27
a sword. Maybe I should just go
23:29
and kill her myself. However
23:31
much pleasure she had in her sins, it
23:33
won't be half as much as her torture in
23:35
death, Henry's men
23:37
subdued him. He really had
23:39
been in love, he thought, with his
23:42
beautiful young fifth wife.
23:45
The next day, Catherine knew
23:48
something was a mess. No one
23:50
had told her anything. The investigation had
23:52
been completely secret, but
23:54
Henry was gone and had left no word
23:57
about where he was. She
23:59
could scent something in the air. When
24:02
her musicians started to play, she silenced
24:05
them. It's no time for dancing,
24:07
she said. That night,
24:10
she was brought before Thomas Granmar, where
24:13
she confessed. Henry
24:16
showed mercy enough that Catherine
24:18
should be spared death and a real imprisonment
24:21
in favor of a life of exile
24:23
at Ccion House. But
24:25
then a November, under
24:29
torture, Francis Dirham said
24:31
something new. No, he
24:34
promised he had never slept with the Queen
24:36
while she was married to the king, but
24:38
everyone knew Thomas Culpepper
24:40
did. Now
24:43
there is no heart evidence to prove
24:45
that Thomas Culpepper and Catherine actually
24:48
slept together. She went
24:50
to the grave denying it, but
24:53
soon details began to
24:55
emerge. In the
24:57
spring after her wedding, feeling
25:00
distant from Henry and lonely at court,
25:03
Katherine and Thomas began exchanging
25:05
love letters. They
25:07
sent little gifts back and forth.
25:11
Their letters became more and more
25:13
emotional and personal.
25:16
I trust in you that you will always
25:19
be as you have promised me, Katherine
25:21
wrote. She signed the letter
25:24
yours as long as life endures,
25:27
and that summer Culpepper had been
25:30
in the large group of courtiers who accompanied
25:32
Henry and Catherine on the northern progress.
25:36
Had she really been sick when
25:38
she insisted on staying alone in her
25:40
room? Ladies were interrogated.
25:44
Jane Rochford confessed
25:46
that at one of the stops, Culpepper
25:49
used a secret door that led
25:52
up backstairs directly
25:54
to Queen Catherine's bed chamber. Other
25:57
ladies were interrogated about whether Catherine
26:00
and Culpepper we're having an affair.
26:03
I don't know for certain. One lady said,
26:06
I am inclined to believe the queen, except
26:10
except the Archbishop prompted,
26:14
except the way she looked at Culpepper
26:16
from her window. I would
26:18
have believed her if I hadn't
26:21
seen the way she gazed at him.
26:23
Catherine had been in love, and
26:26
she hadn't been able to hide it. Dearham
26:35
was hanged, quartered and disemboweled.
26:38
Culpepper, as a gentleman, was
26:41
simply beheaded. Meanwhile,
26:44
Catherine waited at Scion House, knowing
26:46
her fate would be arriving swiftly.
26:50
In January. An act of attainder
26:53
made it treason for a woman to marry
26:55
the king without plain declaration
26:57
of having previously lived in chase
27:00
life. That was it. The
27:03
final piece had been put into place to
27:05
ensure that Catherine would receive
27:07
the death that Henry wanted for her. Anne
27:11
Boleyn had been taken to the Tower of London
27:13
under full light of day. Catherine
27:16
had the privilege of arriving at night, although
27:19
when the guards arrived at Zion House to
27:21
take her to the barge, she collapsed
27:24
in a fit of panic. Lucky
27:27
it was dark during her boat ride
27:29
down the Thames or else she would
27:31
have seen the rotting heads of
27:33
Francis Dirham and Thomas
27:35
Culpepper leering down at
27:37
her from London Bridge. That
27:41
night, locked in the Tower of London,
27:44
she heard the gates playing shut and
27:47
the locks on the doors turn. She
27:50
was told that she would be killed two
27:52
days later. After
27:55
her final confession, Catherine
27:57
made a request that the guard take
27:59
a back. Couldn't refuse. She
28:03
asked for the block that she would be
28:05
be headed on to be brought to her
28:07
chamber so that she could practice.
28:11
Catherine wanted to at least die
28:13
with grace or as a little
28:15
humiliation as possible, and
28:18
she had heard stories of botched executions,
28:21
including the execution of Thomas Cromwell,
28:23
which it took four, five, even
28:26
as many as ten strokes for
28:28
the head to fully come off, and
28:32
so for hours on
28:34
her last day on earth, Catherine
28:38
Howard kneeled in her cell at
28:40
the Tower of London and raised
28:42
and lowered the pretty neck on
28:45
the black block. When
28:47
the time finally came and she
28:50
was escorted to the very spot where
28:52
her cousin Anne Boleyn had died
28:54
only six years earlier, Catherine
28:57
knew exactly what to do MH.
29:00
So she shook. She lowered her
29:03
head into the valley of the block with
29:05
well practiced ease, and
29:07
the executioner took her head
29:09
off with a single blow. She
29:13
had gone from orphan to lady to
29:15
queen. Two dead in
29:17
two years. Katherine
29:20
Howard hadn't yet reached her twenty
29:22
one birthday.
29:31
That's the very short, tragic
29:34
life of Catherine Howard. Stick
29:36
around after a brief sponsor break to hear
29:38
a little bit more about the consequences
29:40
of the investigation of Catherine's
29:42
infidelity.
29:53
Dearham Culpepper, Jane Rockford,
29:55
and of course Katherine lost
29:58
their lives in the aftermath of the investigation
30:01
of Catherine's affairs, But
30:03
there are two ladies whose fates
30:05
fascinate me. During
30:07
the course of the investigation, two
30:10
of Catherine's ladies were caught
30:12
gossiping idly about the king. What
30:15
kind of man is this king? I mean, how
30:17
many wives really have? The
30:19
two women were jailed for their
30:21
words, which just goes
30:24
to show. If I had been alive in Tudor,
30:26
England, with the way that I talked
30:28
casually to my friends about my research
30:30
for this podcast, things would
30:33
not have ended well for me. I
30:35
also want to offer a quick note about
30:38
Catherine Howard's age and her sexual
30:40
activity. It's troubling
30:43
it isn't quite possible to apply our
30:46
modern understanding of the age of consent
30:49
onto the behavior of historical figures
30:51
in the sixteenth century. Five
30:54
years ago, a girl was considered a woman
30:56
as soon as she began having her period, and
30:59
a teenager marrying a man twice
31:01
or even three times her age, far
31:03
from being seen as an active abuse
31:05
or pedophilia, was unfortunately
31:08
incredibly common. Still,
31:11
it's important to understand that these are real
31:14
people. Katherine was
31:16
a teenager, and her decision making
31:19
and experiences were those of someone
31:21
incredibly young. Personally,
31:24
I find it most helpful not to
31:26
make broad declarations about Katherine
31:29
as a villain or a victim,
31:32
but just to do my best to try
31:34
to understand her with the
31:36
most empathy I possibly can. Noble
31:42
Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and
31:44
Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky.
31:46
The show was written and hosted by Danis Schwartz
31:49
and produced by Aaron Mankey, Matt Frederick,
31:51
Alex Williams, and Trevor Young.
31:54
Noble Blood is on social media at Noble
31:56
Blood tales, and you can learn more about
31:58
the show over at Noble blood Tails dot com.
32:01
For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit
32:03
the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
32:06
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
32:09
M HM
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