‘A Wretched Sinner’- The merciless death and afterlife of Katheryn Howard
By February 13th 1542, Katheryn Howard had been held within the Tower walls for just short of 3 full days. She had been imprisoned within Syon Abbey beforehand, since the 11th November 1541. Katheryn is a figure whom, whenever her execution date is mentioned, is treated somewhat like a criminal compared to those like Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey. Due to the complicated circumstances of Katheryn’s downfall, historianssuch as Lacey Baldwin Smith, David Loades (both of whom wrote biographies on Katheryn), and Alison Plowden in her book Tudor Women, have simplified it for the masses. She was guilty of adultery. She deserved to die. As Lacey Baldwin Smith kindly wrote:
‘...the Queen never brought happiness or love, security or respect, into the world in which she lived. She enacted a light-hearted dream in which juvenile delinquency, wanton selfishness, and ephemeral hedonism, were the abiding themes. Who is to say whose fault it was - Catherine’s or that of her age?’ (Baldwin, 2011; p.189)
To simplify her case in this way is an injustice to the 19 year old who climbed the scaffold to her death and addressed a crowd of people who were there to feast on yet another display of Henry VIII’s ever increasing intensity of violence and cruelty. In fact, contrary to popular belief, Katheryn was not executed for adultery.She was convicted for concealing her past marital affairs before her marriage to the king (which, for context, was neither a law nor punishable when she married him. It only became a law one week before her execution date. That’s right, they had only just enacted this law so there was sufficient grounds to actually execute her). As Gareth Russell states in his book that between the 29th January and the 4th February, all the necessary arrangements had been made to condemn Katheryn and Lady Rochford to death (Russell, 2017; p364).
But what about Culpeper?
Thomas Culpeper was executed in December 1541, and was the gentleman who was accused of having an affair with the Queen. If they had not committed adultery, how was he executed?
During the investigation, Culpeper was interrogated. He had confessed he 'intended and meant to do ill with the Queen and that likewise the Queen was so minded with him' (Russell, 2017; p.329). However, both he and Katheryn, ‘til their final breaths, were adamant that no adultery took place. The only physical contact between them was a kiss on the hand, and as seen in this quote in Gareth Russell’s book Young & Damned & Fair, Katheryn emphasises her innocence through a couple of key witnesses; God and His angels:
‘As she knelt and prayed with White, Catherine reiterated what she had done with Henry Manox and Francis Dereham, but ‘took God and His angels to be her witnesses, upon salvation of her soul, that she was guiltless of that act of defiling the sovereign’s bed’. (Russell, 2017; p.365).
Even if there was not enough evidence to constitute treason for adultery, Culpeper’s admission that ‘he intended to do ill with the Queen’ was enough to constitute treason. Thinking, (or even perceived thinking in Katheryn’s case, as she never admitted any intent herself) was enough to get you killed in Henry VIII’s reign.
Historian Gareth Russell states that ‘…there’s this false assumption that what she did was treason. One of the most fascinating things I found out during research was the House of Lords and Parliament tried to stop the case against her because they were convinced that what she had done was not sufficient to constitute treason.’ He then goes on to state that at every given moment, it was Henry who pushed Katheryn’s case into the treason territory as a form of revenge due to the damage of his ego; calling this a ‘wretched thing’. (Faulkner, 2024).
And we return to the image of a 19 year old in front of a crowd, confessing ‘in few words that she had merited a hundred deaths for so offending the King who had so graciously treated her.’ (British History Online, 2024).
I Die a Queen:
Along with the many inaccurate narratives around Katheryn’s execution, Katheryn proclaiming that she ‘dies a queen, but would rather die the wife of Culpeper’ is probably the most popular, and absurdly incorrect. Due to Katheryn making no admission of any adultery taking place between herself and Culpeper, why would she make this proclamation in front of a crowd of people? And why is our only source for this fabrication written many years after her death? Why do we rely on such an inaccurate narrator?
If this was said, it would have been reported by ambassadors all over Europe. How scandalous that Queen Katheryn could make the king a cuckold in life and death!
But it was not. Charles de Marillac, French diplomat and ambassador, reported this of Katheryn’s death in February 1542:
‘After writing the above, was informed that to-day, Monday, 13th inst., the condemned ladies should be executed; and, indeed, about nine o'clock in the morning, this Queen first, and afterwards the lady of Rochefort, within the Tower, had their heads cut off with an axe, after the manner of the country. The Queen was so weak that she could hardly speak, but confessed in few words that she had merited a hundred deaths for so offending the King who had so graciously treated her. The lady of Rochefort said as much in a long discourse of several faults which she had committed in her life.’ (British History Online, 2024).
And Ottwell Johnson, a London-based merchant who actually witnessed the executions wrote:
‘I saw the Queen and the Lady Rochford suffer within the Tower, the day following, whose souls (I doubt not) be with God, for they made the most godly and Christians’ ends, that ever was heard of (I think) since the world’s creation; uttering their lively faith in the blood of Christ only, and with goodly words and steadfast countenances.’ (Russell, 2017; p.367)
There is no protestation of love mentioned. No mention of Culpeper. No mention of adultery.Just a young woman protesting she deserved death for offending the king, because let’s be honest, all she actually did was offend him and his ego. Russell states that, yes, Katheryn did make mistakes, but she should not have faced death for it. It was Henry who made the decision to put her in an early grave due to the humiliation he felt. (Russell, 2017; 381).
After her speech, she gave the executioner his fee and alms for the poor. Katheryn’s hood was removed and her hair was tied up under a white linen coif, leaving her neck bare. Katheryn took her last look upon the world, and was then blindfolded.
By Way of Experiment:
The night before, knowing she was to die the next morning, she had made the request to ‘practice’ with the block she would lay her head upon, ‘by way of experiment’ (Russell, 2017; p.365). She did this over and over again.
Katheryn was incredibly well versed in the rigorous etiquette of the Tudor era. She was somewhat of a perfectionist, and was always commended for her politeness and her perfect behaviour in public. Russell explains that Katheryn took her lessons on etiquette very seriously, and very little things ‘seemed to cause her greater stress or anguish than the fear that she might make a mistake in public.’ He goes onto explain that Katheryn made mistakes rarely, and that ‘compliments on her polite gracefulness followed her into the grave.’ (Russell, 2017; 52).
Some of this rehearsal may have also been influenced by the botched executions of both Thomas Cromwell (which actually occurred on her wedding day in July 1540) and Lady Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. For Katheryn, this was an opportunity to ‘perfect’ the act of placing her head on the block to reduce the event of a botched execution. Katheryn aimed to gain control in a situation that had no control; and just like the rest of her reign, to make no mistake in public.Just as she had practiced, she knelt and placed her head on the block. Her last few moments spent with bated, shallow breath, waiting for the moment the axe would fall. As stated by Gareth Russell in a podcast on Katheryn’s life, ‘She had made it familiar. She would leave with dignity’ (Faulkner, 2024).
With one rise and fall, one stroke, the life of Katheryn Howard ceased. She left with dignity and control in a situation where control was out of her grasp.Her body was momentarily moved to the side while one of her ladies, Jane Rochford, was to suffer the same fate. She too was executed with one stroke of the axe.They were both buried in the nearby chapel, the chapel of St-Peter-Ad-Vincula within the Tower walls, and the canons fired out of London. The final performance was over. Today, there is a memorial plaque for Katheryn and her rough burial placement within the chapel. Her legacy is one usually dis-regarded, of little importance. Her person mutilated by inaccuracies and cruel assessments, even regarded as a ‘good time girl’ (Taylor, 2001) by one popular historian, and a ‘natural tart’ (Byrne, 2014; p5) by another.
As Gareth Russell states, Katheryn’s perceived insignificance is due to her lack of time in a difficult political climate, with a difficult husband. She was not insignificant, she just had little time; and little mercy. Little mercy that still transcends through the pens of some modern historians.
“There was no time, there was no grace, there was no mercy for her to build a legacy. So if there is anything like a legacy, it’s the absence of it. It is a life stripped of a tomorrow for one man’s rage”
Bibliography
Baldwin-Smith, Lacey. Catherine Howard. Chalford: Amberley Publishing Limited, 2009
Byrne, Conor. Katherine Howard : A New History. United Kingdom: MadeGlobal, 2014.
Faulkner, Jess, host.Herstory “Catherine Howard with Gareth Russell”, Herstory. November 15, 2024. Podcast, 1hr 38mins, https://open.spotify.com/episode/1B4ITd1ipyXjKLjaMPYOSi?si=668833ae894c46d6
James Gairdner and R. H. Brodie, eds., “Henry VIII: February 1542, 1-15”, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 17, 1542 (London, 1900), British History Online, accessed March 23, 2026, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol17/pp33-46.
Russell, Gareth. Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of King Henry VIII. 2018. United Kingdom: Harper Collins, 201
Taylor, D J. “David Starkey: The Apoplectic Academic”, The Independent, September 8th, 2001, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/david-starkey-the-apoplectic-academic-9269057.html.
Left Image Cover: VCR Giulio19. 2021. Tomb of Queen Catherine Howard. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tomb_of_Queen_Catherine_Howard.jpg.
