Catherine of Aragon by Theresa Earenfight

Author:Theresa Earenfight
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Catherine, of Aragon, Queen, consort of Henry VIII, King of England, 1485–1536, Queens—England—Biography, Great Britain—History—Henry VIII, 1509–1547
Publisher: Penn State University Press

RESONANT OBJECTS: A ROSARY AND A MUSIC MANUSCRIPT

Catherine took respite from Henry’s affairs and their growing estrangement in a familiar way: she turned to her friends. Outside of her immediate family in London, one of the most significant people for Catherine at this point in her life was Marguerite of Austria, daughter of Emperor Maximilian of Austria and Mary of Burgundy, and regent of the Netherlands from 1507 to 1515, and again from 1517 to her death in 1530.12 Marguerite was five years older than Catherine, and they first met in the autumn of 1496, when Marguerite came to the Spanish court to marry Catherine’s brother, Juan. After Juan’s death five months after the wedding, Marguerite stayed in Castile until 1499, and spent some of her time at court teaching Catherine how to speak French. They had very similar personal histories. Both were educated to be the wife of a duke or king. Both learned how to practice diplomacy from skilled women, Catherine from her mother and Marguerite from Anne de France (Beaujeau), regent from 1483 to 1489 for King Charles VIII (Mary of Burgundy had died when Marguerite was two years old) and author of a handbook of advice for elite women, Lessons for My Daughter (1517–21).13 This face-to-face education was a strong preparation for both of them to govern a court and a realm. They also were educated formally by prominent humanist tutors, and they had a serious taste for visual art, music, and learning. Their lives crisscrossed because their siblings married each other in a double royal wedding: Juan and Marguerite, Juana and Philip. They both married while quite young, were widowed within months of their weddings, and had difficult pregnancies. Both experienced the early death of a brother—Juan in 1497 and Philip in 1506. Both were politically active throughout their lives, and during their second marriages both governed as regent for a husband or nephew. There are some differences—Marguerite was widowed twice and never had a child survive to adulthood, Catherine had to endure the infidelities of her husband—but until Marguerite’s death in 1530, they stayed in touch across distances on a range of subjects both personal, as when Catherine needed a recommendation for a physician for Henry while he was in France, and political, when they helped people seeking places at court.14 And they exchanged gifts.

As women in positions of power, they were obliged to offer gifts to cement the diplomatic and familial ties. This high-level gift-giving was part of the “household of magnificence” and was fixed in its substance and meaning. Neither of them needed to be present to provide their gifts; messengers could be dispatched with money, plate, or other gifts, and could return with the approved offering from the monarch.15 What makes the gifts from Marguerite to Catherine and Henry more significant than most is that they were more than a political act. They reveal powerful personal and familial ties. Two gifts in particular, believed to have been sent by Marguerite to

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