Today in history – The execution of Kathryn HowardOn 13 February 1542 Kathryn Howard -the fifth consort of Henry VIII and cousin of his second consort Anne Boleyn who also faced the same end- was executed grounds of treason for committing adultery.
In 1536, at the age of 13, Catherine was molested by her music teacher, Henry Mannox. He would later give evidence against her. In 1538 Catherine was pursued by a secretary in the Dowager Duchess’s household, Francis Dereham.
They became lovers and referred to each other as “husband” and “wife.” It was ended in 1539 when the Dowager Duchess caught wind of their relationship. Catherine and Francis may have parted with intentions to marry.
Catherine’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, found her a place at court in the household of Anne of Cleves. She quickly caught the eye of Henry VIII who was clearly uninterested in Anne. The Howards took advantage of the situation and sought to gain the influence they once had during the reign of Anne Boleyn. They succeeded in this and soon Henry was bestowing gifts of land and expensive cloth upon Catherine.
Catherine married Henry soon after his divorce from Anne in July 1540. In her new position, Catherine was called upon for favors in return for silence by people who had witnessed her earlier indiscretions. She made a fatal mistake when she appointed Francis Dereham as her personal secretary. It’s alleged that in early 1541, she began an affair with one of Henry’s courtiers, Thomas Culpeper.
By November 1541, Henry was made aware of her earlier relationships. Not wanting to believe that his “rose without a thorn” had such a scandalous past, Henry ordered an investigation to find out who was slandering Catherine while she herself was kept locked up. Unfortunately for Catherine, the evidence was against her and the king could not deny her past. Catherine refused to admit to a marriage contract between herself and Dereham and instead claimed that he raped her. She did this in spite of the fact that if she had admitted to a precontract, Henry would have been able to save face and easily annul the marriage. She was stripped of her title and imprisoned in Middlesex.
Catherine remained in limbo until February 1542 when Parliament made it an act of treason for a queen consort to fail to disclose her sexual history to the king within twenty days of their marriage, or to incite someone to commit adultery with her. Catherine was then found unequivocally guilty of treason and sentenced to death.
The night before her execution, Catherine is believed to have spent many hours practising how to lay her head upon the block, which had been brought to her at her request. She died with relative composure, but looked pale and terrified, she required assistance to climb the scaffold. She made a speech describing her punishment as “worthy and just” and asked for mercy for her family and prayers for her soul. According to popular folklore, her final words were, “I die a Queen, but I would rather have died the wife of Culpeper”. Catherine was beheaded with a single stroke of the executioner’s axe.Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, was executed immediately thereafter on Tower Green. Both their bodies were buried in an unmarked grave in the nearby chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, where the bodies of Catherine’s cousins, Anne and George Boleyn, also lay. Other cousins were also in the crowd, including the Earl of Surrey. Henry did not attend. Catherine’s body was not one of those identified during restorations of the chapel during Queen Victoria’s reign. She is commemorated on a plaque on the west wall dedicated to all those who died in the Tower.Upon hearing news of Catherine’s execution, Francis I of France wrote a letter to Henry, regretting the “lewd and naughty [evil] behaviour of the Queen” and advising him that “the lightness of women cannot bend the honour of men”
The ghost of Catherine
When Catherine was arrested at Hampton Court, she broke away from the guards and ran down the gallery into a chapel where Henry was praying. She screamed and pleaded for her life, but Henry simply ignored her. The guards seized her again and dragged her screaming and kicking away. Catherine was quickly taken down a barge to the Tower of London, where she was beheaded. After her death, her spirit returned to Hampton Court where it can sometimes be seen running frantically along the same path, pursued by phantom soldiers. Her shrieks and screams are said to be bone chilling. This gallery, known as the Haunted Gallery, was closed up as a result of Catherine’s unrequited ghost for many years. However, in the 1900’s the Office of Works had the Haunted Gallery reopened and renovated in 1918. It is still known as the Haunted Gallery. Today, visitors on tours will often feel an eerie presence in the gallery. Those who are lucky can sometimes still catch a glimpse of the “Screaming Lady.”