Katherine of York

Katherine of York or Katherine Plantagenet (also written Katheryn or Catherine ; * August 1479 probably in Eltham Palace , † November 15, 1527 in Tiverton ) was an English princess from the House of York and thus a member of the royal House of Plantagenet . As the daughter of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville , she was a younger sister of the future Queen Elizabeth of York and thus the aunt of Henry VIII and his siblings. Under her brother-in-law Henry VII , her family fell out of favor, but her nephew Henry VIII always held her in honor and, after the death of her husband William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon , allowed her to use all of the lands belonging to his title keep your own right.

Life

childhood

Katherine (2nd from right) with her sisters Elizabeth , Cecily, Anne and Mary

Katherine was born the sixth of seven surviving children of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Eltham Palace is believed to be her birthplace. Her exact date of birth is not known, but historians assume a date shortly before or in August 1479, since expenses for the construction of her baptismal font are listed in the royal bookkeeping around this time. Her first wet nurse was Joan Colson, who was paid five pounds a year for her services. The marriage negotiations for the princess began at an early age. The preferred candidate was John of Aragón and Castile , son of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragón and thus the older brother of the future Queen of England, Catherine of Aragón . On August 28, 1479 a corresponding agreement was signed and on March 2, 1482 it was ratified by the Spanish ambassadors. Nevertheless, the engagement was broken off.

King Edward IV died in April 1483 and Katherine's older brother was sent back to England from Wales. Although he later became known as Edward V , he was never crowned. Despite Elizabeth Woodville's fierce opposition, he was placed in the care of his uncle, later Richard III. Together with her mother and sisters, Katherine went to church asylum in Westminster Abbey during the riots . Not long afterwards, the Bishop of Bath and Wells announced that the marriage between Katherine's parents had been invalid due to her father's previous engagement. This would make Katherine and her siblings all and all illegitimate, which would have excluded them from the line of succession. The rightful heir would therefore be her uncle Richard. Katherine's brothers were taken to the Tower, where they later disappeared without a trace , and Richard was crowned the new king. Elizabeth Woodville was stripped of her royal widow rank and Katherine herself and her sisters were declared bastards. Nevertheless, Richard III. later call his nieces to court.

Under Henry VII.

After Henry VII's victory , Katherine and her siblings were legitimized again. As the sister of the new Queen Elizabeth of York , Katherine made a good match in the marriage market. Heinrich first tried to arrange a Scottish marriage for her. In November 1487, he proposed that Katherine be married to James Stewart Lord Ross , the second son of the Scottish King James III. At the same time, he was hoping for a marriage between another sister-in-law and Stewart's brother, Crown Prince Jakob , who would later marry Heinrich's daughter Margaret Tudor instead . However, before an agreement could be concluded, Jacob III died. in June 1488.

In 1495, at the age of 16, Katherine finally married Lord William Courtenay (1475–1511). His father, the Earl of Devon , stood for his service against Richard III. high in the king's favor. Their marriage was ratified by the same parliament that ratified the marriage between Katherine's sister Anne and the young Thomas Howard . During this session of Parliament, the Earl of Devon gave his most important lands to a group of administrators so that William and Katherine could take full advantage of them. Queen Elizabeth was evidently very sympathetic to her younger sister and her husband, who paid for clothes for William Courtenay and all the expenses to raise her sister's children. The young couple settled at court. Katherine may have served her sister as a lady-in-waiting , as Elizabeth paid her £ 50 a year as principal lady .

In 1501 Katherine attended the wedding of her nephew Arthur Tudor with the young Princess Catherine of Aragón , and a year later the engagement of her niece Margaret Tudor . In the same year William Courtenay came under suspicion of colluding with Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk , against Henry VII, which led to his arrest in Calais and the removal of his titles and possessions. With that, his lands and titles returned to the crown after his father's death. Katherine, completely on her own and with three young children, found support from her sister Elizabeth. Among other things, the Queen brought Katherine's son Henry Courtenay to court and had him taught by the same tutor as her own children. However, Katherine's young son Edward died on July 12 or 13 of that year. From the royal bookkeeping expenses, it is concluded that Katherine was part of her sister's permanent entourage during this period. At Elizabeth's funeral in February 1503, Katherine led the funeral procession.

Under Henry VIII.

After her sister's death, Katherine lived in the household of her nephew Heinrich , who was now the official heir to the throne. Her living conditions were still modest, as the small gifts to her nephew attest, but at least secured. When Heinrich succeeded his father on the throne, Katherine was the first lady in waiting for her niece, Princess Mary, at her brother-in-law's funeral . Heinrich was extremely generous towards his aunt. Not only did she receive official recognition as the King's aunt when she was retired, but he also released her husband William from custody in Calais and bypassed the parliamentary act that said only Henry VII could restore Williams' title. Instead, he used a royal charter in May 1511 to reappoint William Earl of Devon. In return, Katherine renounced the County of March, which she was entitled to from her father's inheritance and which now reverted to the Crown. But before an official ceremony could make William Earl of Devon, he died of pleurisy just a month after the Charter was written.

Katherine of York in a family tree

Widowed at thirty-two, Katherine decided not to remarry. Instead, on July 13, she took a vow of chastity in the presence of the Bishop of London:

“In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: I, Katherine Courtenay, Countess of Devonshire, widow and unmarried and not promised, promise and swear before God, our Lady and the fellowship of heaven in your presence, venerable Father in God, Richard Bishop of London, from now on to live physically chaste for the rest of my life and to remain truly and devotedly chaste according to the law of St. Paul . In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. "

On February 3, 1512, Heinrich granted his aunt all the lands that had belonged to her husband's title in his own right. This gave her free power to dispose of the property until the end of her life, although her son Henry officially inherited his father's title in November of the same year. From then on she signed and sealed her letters as "the illustrious Princess Katherine, daughter, sister and aunt of kings." Thomas More , who had supported her as a legal scholar in the course of the agreement with Heinrich, wrote about Katherine:

"She, tossed back and forth for a long time by changing skills, sometimes in wealth, often in adversity, is now finally, through the kindness of her nephew, King Henry VIII, in affluent circumstances, worthy of her parentage and virtue."

Although she stayed at court now and then, for example for the baptism of her godchild Mary in 1516, she preferred to live at Tiverton Castle in Devon . Through her estates, Katherine earned a princely annual income of £ 2,750, which enabled her to live as a rich, independent widow. Her household included singers and three fools whose names are listed in Katherine's accounts as Dick, Mug, and Kit. She was obviously popular with the Devonian prelates, having received gifts from the Bishop of Exeter and from the abbots of Ford, Buckland, and Newenham Abbey .

death

Tiverton Castle

Little is known about Katherine's final years. Historians suspect limited mobility because a sedan chair appears in their estate. On May 2, 1527, she wrote her will. In it she decreed that three priests in the presence of three poor people should read three masses a day and a weekly requiem for their soul in St. Peter's Church in Tiverton. For this service the priests would receive £ 21 a year and the poor eight shillings a week. According to the chronicler Edward Hall , she died on November 15, 1527 at 3 p.m. in Tiverton Castle. On the occasion of her death, her servants received an annual salary and black mourning clothes. The mourners of her burial on December 3, 1527 in St. Peter's Church in Tiverton included the abbots of Ford, Montacute and Torre. The service was held by a canon from Exeter. In addition, eight thousand poor received two shillings in return for prayers for Katherine's soul.

progeny

Marriage to William Courtenay produced three children:

• Edward Courtenay (died July 12 or 13, 1502)
• Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter (approx. 1498 - December 9, 1538) ∞ Gertrude Blount
• Margaret Courtenay (ca.1499 - ca.1525) ∞ Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester

Legend has it that Margaret Courtenay was choked on a fishbone as a child in 1512. On a crypt in Colyton is the inscription: “Margaret was the daughter of William Courtenay, Earl of Devon and the Princess Katherine. She died in Colcombe, choking on a fishbone AD 1512 ”. However, Margaret is listed as a lady-in-waiting to little Princess Maria in 1520. As the inscription was added later, it is very likely a forgery.

Pedigree

literature

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Volume 30: Jenner - Keayne. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861380-6 , pp. 891f.
• Nicholas Harris Nicolas: Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York: Wardrobe accounts of Edward the Fourth. With a Memoir of Elizabeth of York and Notes. William Pickham, London 1830.

Web links

Commons : Katherine of York  - Collection of Images

• Katherine on Tudorplace.com.ar
• Image of the Katherine of York on Flickr

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Margaret R. Westcott: Katherine . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Volume 30: Jenner - Keayne. 2004, pp. 891f.
2. ^ ^{A b} Nicholas Harris Nicolas: Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York: Wardrobe accounts of Edward the Fourth with a Memoir of Elizabeth of York and Notes. William Pickham, London 1830, pp. Xxiv.
3. ^ Nicholas Harris Nicolas: Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York: Wardrobe accounts of Edward the Fourth with a Memoir of Elizabeth of York and Notes. William Pickham, London 1830, pp. Xxv.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} David Starkey : Henry. Virtuous prince. Harper Perennial, London et al. 2009, ISBN 0-00-724772-9 , p. 108.
5. ^ Nicholas Harris Nicolas: Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York: Wardrobe accounts of Edward the Fourth with a Memoir of Elizabeth of York and Notes. William Pickham, London 1830, pp. Xxvi.
6. ↑ David Starkey: Henry. Virtuous prince. Harper Perennial, London et al. 2009, ISBN 0-00-724772-9 , p. 310.
7. ^ Nicholas Harris Nicolas: Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York: Wardrobe accounts of Edward the Fourth with a Memoir of Elizabeth of York and Notes. William Pickham, London 1830, pp. Xxvii.
8. ↑ David Starkey: Henry. Virtuous prince. Harper Perennial, London et al. 2009, ISBN 0-00-724772-9 , p. 312: “She, long time tossed in either fortune, sometime in wealth, often in adversity, at the last [...] is by the benignity of her nephew, King Henry VIII, in very prosperous estate, and worthy of her birth and virtue. "
9. ^ Edward Halle: Hall's Chronicle. Containing the history of England, during the reign of Henry the Fourth, and the succeeding monarchs, to the end of the reign of Henry the Eighth. In which are particularly described the manners and customs of those periods. Carefully collated with the edition of 1548 and 1550. J. Johnson et al., London 1809, p. 345.
10. ^ Catherine Plantagenet (C. Devon) . Accessed January 6, 2012.