Catherine of Aragon

CATHERINE OF ARAGON. - Queen of England, daughter of Ferdinand V and of Isabella the Catholic, b. at Alcalá de Henares on 15 Dec. 1485, d. in Kimbolton Castle on 7 Jan. 1536. An Anglo-Spanish treaty having been concluded in 1489, in an anti-

French function, C. was designated the bride of Arthur, prince of Wales. The marriage was celebrated in Nov. 1501, when the spouses had reached the suitable age. Left a widow six months later, C. became betrothed, having obtained the papal dispensation, to the new heir to the throne, the future Henry VIII, who was the brother of her deceased husband. The wedding took place on 3 June 1509, when the new king ascended the throne. Only one daughter, Mary, born in 1516, survived; four other children, two girls and two boys, were born dead or lived only a few weeks. The lack of an heir estranged Henry from C. Seized by a strong passion for Anne Boleyn, the king conceived the idea of divorcing. Alleging the supposed invalidity of the papal dispensation, the king in June 1527 informed his wife of the necessity of separating. C. opposed her husband's intention with all her might. After the king's attempt to obtain the annulment of the marriage from Pope Clement VII had failed, that annulment was pronounced by C. Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, and sanctioned by Parliament. After this C. spent the last years of her life devoted to religious practices.

Silvio Furlani