Sunday, November 23, 2008

Question from Kerry - Factions for and against Catherine of Aragon

For my coursework i need to know- what factions supported Catherine of Aragon, and what factions wanted to get rid of her- any help would be much appreciated.

3 comments:

djd said...

I would say that the Catholics were supportive of COA. Those who wanted to see religous change were less supportive. Certainly the Boleyns and their relatives were against COA and pro Anne Boleyn. The Seymours were jealous of the Boleyns, and would have been happy to see them fall from grace. Other than that, I don't know much. I think the English people as a whole were supportive of Queen Catherine and hostile towards Anne Boleyn - at least initially. I also believe that many people supported COA in their hearts, but dared not voice that support for fear of Henry's anger. I know that the Historians on this site will know far more than me.

Anonymous said...

I would say that people who supported the catholic religion were supportive of Katherine. I think also some of the older families at court, such as the Seymours were also supportive, as i have heard that Jane wanted to go and pray for the soul of Katherine after she died. Also a lot of the english public supported Katherine, particulary women, who could see that when Henry gave her up, no women could be safe again as other husbands might choose to do the same. Hope that this helps!

Bearded Lady said...

I am certainly not an expert in this area, but I will take a crack at it and someone please correct me if I am wrong. Some of the people not mentioned yet:

Support
Emperor Charles V – In my opinion, the biggest force working in Catherine’s favor. According to Chapuys, the Emperor later hinted that there would be a renewed alliance between Spain and England if Henry got rid of Anne. The Emperor was always in the background trying to pull strings for Catherine but never committed any strong act of aggression in her favor.

Chapuys – Spanish Ambassador. If I remember correctly he had some nasty things to say about Anne and called her the king’s whore.

Bishop Stephen Gardiner – Obviously in support of the Catholics. later teamed up with Norfolk to work against the Boleyns

Against
Thomas Howard, Norfolk – Uncle of Anne B. Worked very hard to displace Catherine but then worked as equally hard to get rid of Anne. I see Norfolk as less of a religious man and more of someone who used religion as an opportunity to advance his own agenda.

Cardinal Wosley – less motivated by religion. More motivated by the fact that if Henry didn't get his divorce...he was going to be a head shorter.

I am sure there are more players but those are the ones that stick out in my mind.