Start Date
4-25-2022 9:00 AM
End Date
4-25-2022 12:00 PM
Disciplines
European History | History
Subjects
Nobility -- England -- History, Henry VIII (1491-1547) -- Marriage, Great Britain -- History -- Tudors (1485-1603)
Abstract
Often considered Henry VIII’s “wanton wife,” Katherine Howard’s story has been twisted and appropriated throughout the centuries to fit the propaganda of the court or the perceived love story between her and Thomas Culpepper. No older than nineteen at the time of her beheading, Howard supposedly professed “I die a queen, but would rather die the wife of Culpepper.” However, through an in depth analysis of primary sources and new scholarship, her story is far more complicated than previously considered. Transcripts from court documents, witnesses throughout her life, and her own words paint less of a romantic tragedy and more of the tragic end of a young woman, alone and abandoned by her family, a victim of sexual abuse, taken advantage of time and time again without the resources to defend herself. Looking both through a feminist and mental health lens, this paper intends to set the record straight on the often ignored tragedy of the young queen Katherine Howard.
Rights
© 2022 Samantha E. Knofler
Creative Commons License or Rights Statement
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/37553
Included in
All About Dynamics: Katherine Howard's Hidden Story
Often considered Henry VIII’s “wanton wife,” Katherine Howard’s story has been twisted and appropriated throughout the centuries to fit the propaganda of the court or the perceived love story between her and Thomas Culpepper. No older than nineteen at the time of her beheading, Howard supposedly professed “I die a queen, but would rather die the wife of Culpepper.” However, through an in depth analysis of primary sources and new scholarship, her story is far more complicated than previously considered. Transcripts from court documents, witnesses throughout her life, and her own words paint less of a romantic tragedy and more of the tragic end of a young woman, alone and abandoned by her family, a victim of sexual abuse, taken advantage of time and time again without the resources to defend herself. Looking both through a feminist and mental health lens, this paper intends to set the record straight on the often ignored tragedy of the young queen Katherine Howard.
Notes
2nd place winner of the Karen E. Hoppes Young Historians Award for Outstanding Research and Writing.