Tag Archives: book review

Queen Katherine Parr: “Britain’s Royal Families”

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The book, “Britain’s Royal Families”, was written back in 1989!! Alison Weir keeps reissuing her publications and doesn’t seem to update anything when she does. Would love to know her sources for some of these: the entry for Queen Catherine Parr. If you look at her entry—she has the grandfather of Parr’s actual husband as Parr’s husband. In actuality, Parr was married to Sir Edward Burgh, GRANDSON of Sir Edward, [2nd] Lord Borough, in 1529. The younger Edward died c. April 1533. Catherine would have been known as Lady Burgh or Borough (depends on how you spell it) as her husband was only a knight. She is not the subject of Holbein’s “Lady Borow”. It is now thought to be her mother-in-law. Parr’s marriage to Latimer took place in 1534 according to Dr Susan James and Linda Porter. Weir has that wrong too — stating 1530 or before the end of 1533. Catherine would have been known as Lady Latimer or Baroness Latimer (of Snape). She became Her Majesty, Queen Catherine on 12 July 1543. She was known as “Regent General of England” from July to 30 September 1544 and signed her name, “Kateryn, the Quene regente, KP”. On the death of King Henry she became Dowager Queen Catherine. She was to retain the title of queen even when she remarried. She took precedence over all the women at court, was allowed to keep the jewels of the queens of England until the next queen. There is no official date for Parr’s marriage to Sir Thomas Seymour. A lot of sources state in secret, May 1547. Janel Mueller states May 1547 due to a letter written by Seymour to the Dowager Queen. The marriage wasn’t made public until June. Weir incorrectly states before the end of April 1547. She would have been known as Queen Catherine as that was her highest honor, but she was technically Queen Catherine, Baroness (or Lady) Seymour of Sudeley. Weir says Catherine died on the 7th of September. Weir seems to not do her research here AGAIN as Parr’s FUNERAL was 7 September 1548 in Sudeley’s, St Mary’s Chapel. At Sudeley you can find a copy of what they inscribed on her lead coffin. It’s next to her tomb, which states the date of her death is the 5th. She is buried in St. Mary’s Chapel, Sudeley Castle.

Catherine’s daughter was Mary Seymour who was born on 30 AUGUST 1548. There is no death date for her as records on her disappear after her second birthday. Weir seems to think she either died in the 1560s or repeats the myth that she married.

References

Susan James, “Catherine Parr: Henry VIII’s Last Love”, 2009.

Linda Porter, “Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr”, 2010.

Janel Mueller, editor, “Katherine Parr: Complete Works and Correspondence”, 2011.

(c) Meg McGath, 8 March 2023

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Review of “The Royals” by Leslie Carroll

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This book was a major disappointment and had major flaws in The Tudors section. First off, Henry VII was basically skipped over, no picture — the Tudors section starts with the portrait of Elizabeth I. According to the author “Henry Tudor’s blood was barely blue being five generations from Edward III” and “Henry was not born to the crown” — the latter being true, but to skip such an important figure along with Elizabeth of York is unforgivable.

Image thought by some, uh who, to be Anne Boleyn

Another major error was the portrait of Anne Boleyn; the style of the clothes and hair is from the late 16th/early 17th century – Anne would not have worn the ‘Elizabethan collar’. It may be a modern interpretation, but to use it as the sole portrait of Anne is rather odd.

Queen Katherine nurses her husband the King.

I also disliked how Katherine Parr’s section was full of errors and made her look like a harlot after the death of Henry VIII.

First off, there is no proof that Katherine was romantically involved [meaning sleeping with] with Thomas Seymour before the death of Lord Latimer or before the marriage of Henry and Katherine. Also, Thomas was sent away on business for the king, he didn’t make himself scarce.

The statement that four out of six wives were redheads is incorrect.

Historians are not 100% sure that Katherine was part of Lady Mary’s household.

The discussion of theology became a problem when Katherine started preaching to the King — after the whole scandal they continued talking about religion, but it was more toned down.

I’m not sure where the info is coming from that Henry told his physician that he wanted to “get rid of” Katherine Parr. There were rumors, set up most likely by the Catholics at court, which also included Henry wanting to marry the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk, Queen Katherine’s friend, who was even more prone to speak her mind when it came to matters of religion. There was no doctor involved in telling Queen Katherine about Henry’s intentions. A warrant was drawn up which was taken to Queen Katherine. She went to King Henry arguing that she was “but a woman” and that she was merely trying to distract the King from his infirmities.

Katherine pushed Henry’s wheelchair in the gardens?? The correct info has the two sitting in the garden when they were approached by Henry’s guards.
The Queen Dowager, Katherine, waited a few MONTHS, not weeks, before re-entering into her “relationship” with Seymour. I don’t think Katherine would have been that disrespectful, but just to be clear — the King gave her the go ahead to re-marry who she wanted. They were thought to be married in the spring months, possibly May of that year.

Where the statement that Katherine was acting like a “trollop” came from, I would love to know. Seymour asked the King for permission to marry the Dowager Queen. Yes, Lady Mary was upset and thought Catherine should have waited a tad longer but in the two biographies I’ve read on Mary (Anna Whitelock and Linda Porter) she never once called Katherine a trollop. In fact, Mary disliked Seymour more than anything as he pestered her about matters of state. Mary eventually came to forgive Katherine — Katherine received a letter from Mary while she was pregnant and Katherine named the baby girl after her step-daughter.

The stories of Seymour and Elizabeth are quite interesting and many theories have been put out there, but what actually happened in that household is another story as Elizabeth’s lady, Kat Ashley, was the main contributor to the testimony. Kat herself encouraged Elizabeth to flirt with Seymour and had a crush on him herself. “But the doctor’s dirty hands caused an infection”… there are many contributing factors to the fever that caused Katherine to die, much like the death of Jane Seymour. And the last sentence of Lady Jane being raised as a surrogate daughter — she was a ward. This book and this chapter reads more like a romance novel then an actual history book.

The author put an actual biography of Katherine Parr (Susan James) within her chapter full of sources that is actually well respected; perhaps the author should have actually read the book before “quoting” it.

The chapter on The Tudors reads more like a romance novel than a history book; that might explain why the author chose the “romanticized” portrait of Anne Boleyn. No citations are given as to where the info comes from and major mistakes were made. The only good thing about the book is the reproduction of one of Anne Boleyn’s letters and the letter from Katherine Howard to Master Culpepper.

One positive note the author made about Katherine Parr:

“Perhaps the most mature and educated of Henry’s wives.”

So why did she paint Katherine as such a “trollop”?? You’ve got me! Other then that, don’t waste your money. Historically inaccurate indeed!

Review of The Broadview Anthology of Sixteenth-Century Poetry and Prose: Queen Katherine Parr

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The Broadview Anthology of Sixteenth-Century Poetry and Prose (Broadview Anthologies of English Literature)

The Broadview Anthology of Sixteenth-Century Poetry and Prose (Broadview Anthologies of English Literature)

Review of the Chapter on Queen Katherine Parr within The Broadview Anthology of Sixteenth-Century Poetry and Prose by Sandra Bell, Marie Loughlin, and Patricia Brace

First off, the fact that this book was published in 2011 gives them no excuse for the authors to get major facts incorrect in the chapter on Queen Katherine Parr; to top it off they use Susan James as a source! After all the recent biographies and research done on her there is absolutely no excuse for it. Katherine did not marry at age 13 to the Lord Borough of Gainsborough. She married in 1529 the grandson of the 2nd Lord Borough of Gainsborough who had not even been called to Parliament as such since he was declared insane. The two shared the same name and the younger Edward would have inherited the barony after his father Thomas’s death, but he died in 1533 before his father. Proof of who she really married is stated in her mother’s will.

What is interesting about the chapter is that the authors state that “Parr” became a lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon after the death of her first husband and that she was on her way to marry her second husband when the King married Anne Boleyn in 1533. FACT: In 1533, Katherine had just been widowed and was in no hurry to re-marry. She was never lady-in-waiting to any of Henry’s other wives. Her mother and her sister were the only ones to attend upon one of the wives; her sister served all six. Maud Parr, her mother, attended Queen Katherine of Aragon until her own death in 1531.

Moving on, Lord Latimer was not the “head” of the Uprising of the North. In fact, he himself was captured by the rebels while Katherine and her step-children were held hostage. The fact that Katherine changed her views after she married King Henry is simply untrue. There is no set date as to when Parr may have converted to Protestant views, but it is thought that it might have happened after the rise of Anne Boleyn or during the time that she was held hostage. As for the undertaking of translating Erasmus, Katherine Parr encouraged the Lady Mary Tudor to translate it and when she became too sick to complete it, it was finished by Mallet. Mary and Katherine got along and were good friends through out her reign. It is known to be the happiest time of Mary’s life.

I love how the author quotes using Susan James’s as a source for her biographical information when it completely contradicts what she actually wrote in her book. Apparently these authors did not read the book carefully enough.