Francis Dereham

Francis Dereham (* in the 15th or 16th century; † December 10, 1541 ) was one of the lovers of Catherine Howard , the fifth wife of Henry VIII. He belonged to the lower nobility.

He initially had an affair with Joan Bulmer, but left it in favor of Catherine Howard. This relationship began in 1538 in the house of the Dowager Duke Agnes Tilney , where Catherine Howard received a proper upbringing. Catherine Howard's date of birth is in dispute. She was most likely born between 1520 and 1525 and was possibly only 13 years old when the affair began. For the ambitious Francis Dereham, who was in the service of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk , Catherine Howard was of the Howards housean interesting game. In the later adultery trial against Catherine Howard, Francis Dereham emphasized a marriage vow, which together with the sexual intercourse constituted a legal marriage at the time.

The influential Dowager Duke Agnes Tilney was initially unaware of the relationship between Catherine Howard and Francis Dereham. A letter from Henry Manox , with whom Catherine Howard first had an affair, clarified what was going on at her home. The relationship between Catherine Howard and Francis Dereham was known to many members of Agnes Tilney's household. Agnes Tilney then sent Francis Dereham to Ireland. Shortly thereafter, Catherine Howard became lady-in-waiting in the household of Henry VIII's fourth wife, Anna of Cleves . There it soon caught the attention of the English king. Dereham became secretary at Hampton Court . It cannot be ruled out that Agnes Tilney gave him the job to ensure his silence about his relationship with her step-daughter Catherine.

After Henry VIII married Catherine Howard, Thomas Cranmer revealed Catherine Howard's extramarital relationships. Catherine Howard was arrested, along with her chambermaid Jane Boleyn , 3rd Duke of Norfolk, the Dowager Duke, Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpeper. The investigation revealed that Catherine Howard also had an extramarital relationship with Thomas Culpeper . Dereham was executed on December 10, 1541 in Tyburn by hanging, disembowelling and quartering , which was usually reserved for high traitors, Culpeper pardoned for beheading. Catherine Howard and Jane Boleyn died on February 13, 1542 on the scaffold in the Tower.

literature

• Joanna Denny: Katherine Howard - A Tudor Conspiracy . Portrait, London 2005. ISBN 0-7499-5120-6
• Antonia Fraser: The six women of Heinrich VIII. Claassen Verlag, Berlin 1995. ISBN 3-546-00081-1