In Our Time

Catherine of Aragon


Listen Later

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), the youngest child of the newly dominant Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabella. When she was 3, her parents contracted her to marry Arthur, Prince of Wales, the heir to the Tudor king Henry VII in order to strengthen Spain's alliances, since Henry's kingdom was a longstanding trade partner and an enemy of Spain's greatest enemy, France. For the next decade Catherine had the best humanist education available, preparing her for her expected life as queen and drawing inspiration from her warrior mother. She arrived in London to be married when she was 15 but within a few months she was widowed, her situation uncertain and left relatively impoverished for someone of her status. Rather than return home, Catherine stayed and married her late husband's brother, Henry VIII. In her view and that of many around her, she was an exemplary queen and, even after Henry VIII had arranged the annulment of their marriage for the chance of a male heir with Anne Boleyn, Catherine continued to consider herself his only queen.

With

Lucy Wooding

Langford Fellow and Tutor in History at Lincoln College, University of Oxford and Professor of Early Modern History at Oxford

Maria Hayward

Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Southampton

And

Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer

Lecturer in Global Medieval and Early Modern History at the University of Bristol

Producer: Simon Tillotson

In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production

Reading list:

Michelle Beer, Queenship at the Renaissance Courts of Britain: Catherine of Aragon and Margaret Tudor, 1503-1533 (Royal Historical Society, 2018)

G. R. Bernard, The King's Reformation: Henry VIII and the Remaking of the English Church (Yale University Press, 2007)

José Luis Colomer and Amalia Descalzo (eds.), Spanish Fashion at the Courts of Early Modern Europe (Centro de Estudios Europa Hispanica, 2014), especially vol 2, 'Spanish Princess or Queen of England? The Image, Identity and Influence of Catherine of Aragon at the Courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII' by Maria Hayward

Theresa Earenfight, Catherine of Aragon: Infanta of Spain, Queen of England (Penn State University Press, 2022)

John Edwards, Ferdinand and Isabella: Profiles In Power (Routledge, 2004)

Garrett Mattingley, Catherine of Aragon (first published 1941; Random House, 2000)

J. J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII (first published 1968; Yale University Press, 1997)

David Starkey, Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII (Vintage, 2004)

Giles Tremlett, Catherine of Aragon: Henry's Spanish Queen (Faber & Faber, 2011)

Juan Luis Vives (trans. Charles Fantazzi), The Education of a Christian Woman: A Sixteenth-Century Manual (University of Chicago Press, 2000)

Patrick Williams, Catherine of Aragon: The Tragic Story of Henry VIII's First Unfortunate Wife (Amberley Publishing, 2013)

Lucy Wooding, Henry VIII (Routledge, 2009)

View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

In Our TimeBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

4,922 ratings


More shows like In Our Time

View all
From Our Own Correspondent by BBC Radio 4

From Our Own Correspondent

381 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,894 Listeners

History Extra podcast by Immediate Media

History Extra podcast

3,204 Listeners

Great Lives by BBC Radio 4

Great Lives

501 Listeners

Business Daily by BBC World Service

Business Daily

536 Listeners

More or Less: Behind the Stats by BBC Radio 4

More or Less: Behind the Stats

868 Listeners

World Business Report by BBC World Service

World Business Report

289 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,051 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,892 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

592 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

719 Listeners

In Our Time: Religion by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Religion

270 Listeners

In Our Time: Philosophy by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Philosophy

862 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

213 Listeners

The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

The LRB Podcast

283 Listeners

Dan Snow's History Hit by History Hit

Dan Snow's History Hit

4,595 Listeners

Newscast by BBC News

Newscast

687 Listeners

Evil Genius with Russell Kane by BBC Sounds

Evil Genius with Russell Kane

311 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,961 Listeners

The Ancients by History Hit

The Ancients

2,801 Listeners

The Rest Is History by Goalhanger

The Rest Is History

12,308 Listeners

Gone Medieval by History Hit

Gone Medieval

1,684 Listeners

Not Just the Tudors by History Hit

Not Just the Tudors

1,915 Listeners

Sport's Strangest Crimes by BBC Radio 5 Live

Sport's Strangest Crimes

69 Listeners

Uncanny by BBC Radio 4

Uncanny

742 Listeners

Dua Lipa: At Your Service by BBC Sounds

Dua Lipa: At Your Service

986 Listeners

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley by BBC Radio 4

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley

467 Listeners

Empire by Goalhanger

Empire

1,859 Listeners

Powerplay by BBC Radio 5 Live

Powerplay

5 Listeners

Believe in Magic by BBC Sounds

Believe in Magic

601 Listeners

The Global Story by BBC World Service

The Global Story

204 Listeners

Miss Me? by BBC Sounds

Miss Me?

296 Listeners

The History Podcast by BBC Radio 4

The History Podcast

15 Listeners