Tudor Mirror World: Katherine Willoughby

This post is about Charles Brandon's fourth wife, Katherine Willoughby. I'm not sure what I'm going to write, and it'll probably have little structure, but I feel I need to write something, as I think I'm in love with her. She's a likeable strong female lead. She also seems to be central to my Tudor mirror world. As is her mother, the Spaniard Maria de Salinas.

Katherine Willoughby, miniature

Hans Holbein the Younger

I'll start by mentioning some of the similarities between Katherine Willoughby and her close friend, Catherine Parr, Queen of England.

As mentioned in the Charles Brandon post, both were goddaughters of Katherine of Aragon. Likewise, both were avid Protestant reformers. On top of this, both lost their fathers at a young age and both had connections to Lincolnshire via birth and marriage.

(The Two Kates)

Also, after the death of Catherine Parr, Parr's husband, Thomas Seymour (brother to Jane Seymour) requested that Katherine Willoughby take custody of their young daughter, Mary. Katherine did indeed take care of the child, though after a year or so the child seems to disappear from record. It's generally assumed she died around the age of two.

Interestingly, Willoughby encouraged and sponsored the publication of Catherine Parr's book, The Lamentation of the Sinner. A reformist work.

And again, we mentioned in the Brandon article that there were rumours that Henry VIII was planning to have his marriage to Catherine Parr annulled to marry Catherine Willoughby after Charles Brandon's death.

Finally, and I'm just sharing just anecdote because I like it, when Stephen Gardiner (the famed papist bishop from the period) was imprisoned in the Tower of London Catherine Willoughby was said to have commented loudly that, 'it was merry with the lambs when the wolf was shut up.'

[I should note that I came across this quote, along with much of the other information about Katherine Willoughby in the book, The Waiting Game, by Nicola Clark. A very well-written and well-researched book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this period of history.]

Maria de Salinas

Now we move onto Katherine's mother, Maria. She was a Spanish woman that came to England as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon. She then married into the English nobility, marrying William Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby de Eresby.

It's said that Henry VIII thought so highly of Maria that he named a ship the Mary Willoughby after her in 1522. So fond of both mother and daughter it seems.

Maria was a close friend and confidante of Catherine of Aragon. In 1532, shortly before Catherine's marriage to Henry was annulled, she was ordered to leave Catherine's household and to not make any attempts to communicate with her. Then, in 1534, when Catherine's health deteriorated, Maria begged to visit, but was denied. In January 1536 she forced her way into Kimbolton Castle to see the former queen, who died in her arms two days later.

It's interesting that Catherine of Aragon was obviously very Catholic, whereas Katherine Willoughby, Maria's daughter was quite the opposite.