Catherine of York

English princess (1479–1527)

Catherine of York (14 August 1479 – 15 November 1527) was the sixth daughter of King Edward IV of England and his queen consort Elizabeth Woodville. Soon after the death of her father and the usurpation of the throne by her uncle Richard III, Catherine was declared illegitimate along with the other children of Edward IV. The princess' mother, fearing for her children's lives, moved them to Westminster Abbey, where the late king's family received sanctuary and spent about a year; later she moved to the royal palace. When Richard III died, and Henry Tudor was on the throne under the name of Henry VII, the act recognizing the children of Edward IV as bastards was canceled. Henry VII married the eldest of Edward IV's daughters, Elizabeth, and Catherine became a valuable diplomatic asset: marriage plans with John, Prince of Asturias and later with James Stewart, Duke of Ross were made for her, but in both cases it did not come to a wedding. In 1495, Catherine was married to William Courtenay, son and heir of the Earl of Devon, an ardent supporter of Henry VII. In 1502, Catherine's husband was suspected of being involved in the conspiracy of the House of York pretender to the throne, Edmund de la Pole, and was soon arrested, deprived of his property and rights to inherit and transfer his father's titles and possessions to his children. Catherine herself, thanks to the patronage of her sister, remained at large. After the death of Henry VII in April 1509, the new king forgave William Courtenay and returned his confiscated estates to him; Catherine's father in law also soon died. In May 1511, William Courtenay was restored in his title of Earl of Devon, but a month later he died of pleurisy. Left a widow at the age of thirty one, Catherine took a vow of celibacy. In 1512, she received from the king the right to use for life all the possessions of the late spouse in the county of Devon, in the same year the title of Earl of Devon was transferred to the ten year old son of the princess, Henry Courtenay. After the death of her husband, Catherine rarely visited the court: one of the few visits was the christening of the daughter of Henry VIII, Princess Mary in 1516, in which Catherine was the godmother. In Tiverton, Catherine was the head of the most powerful family in the area and the owner of a large estate, so that she could lead a lifestyle consistent with her origin. Catherine died at Tiverton Castle at the age of forty eight and was buried with great ceremony in the adjacent parish church St. Peter. Of all the grandchildren of Edward IV, Catherine's children became the only ones who inherited claims to the English throne from the House of York.

The exact date of Catherine's birth is unknown. Documents have been preserved related to the manufacture of a baptismal font for her by Piers Draper; based on them, historians date the birth of the princess on 14 August 1479 or a little earlier. The alleged birthplace is Eltham Palace in Greenwich. Catherine was the sixth daughter and the ninth of ten children of King Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville. The princess' wetnurse was Jane or Joanne, wife of Robert Coulson, who in November 1480, received from the king an annuity payment of £5 per year for her services. Catherine had six sisters, of whom only four reached adulthood—three older (Elizabeth, Cecily and Anne) and one younger (Bridget); Mary, born in 1467, died at the age of 14 from some illness, and Margaret, born in 1472, died in infancy. Catherine also had five brothers: three elder full brothers who were sons of Edward IV, and two elder half brothers from her mother's first marriage to John Grey of Groby: Thomas and Richard Grey. The youngest of Catherine's full brothers, George, died at the age of about two years, while the other two brothers, Edward V and Richard, disappeared from the Tower in 1483 during the reign of their uncle Richard III. Her paternal grandparents were Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (who claimed the rights of the House of York to the English throne) and Cecily Neville, and her maternal grandparents were Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Dowager Duchess of Bedford.

Almost from birth, Catherine was a desirable bride and in the future could become a pawn in the politics of dynastic marriages. Soon after her birth, in August 1479, a proposal was received for Catherine to marry the heir to the Catholic Monarchs—John, Prince of Asturias, who was a year older than the princess. On 28 August 1479, a preliminary marriage agreement was concluded; on 2 March 1482, this agreement was ratified by the Spanish side. However, in April 1483, the princess's father suddenly died, and the negotiations were terminated. Edward IV's death was followed by a political crisis that dramatically changed the position of the former queen and her children. Catherine's older brother, Edward V, who succeeded to the throne, was captured by his uncle Lord Protector Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and Anthony Woodville and Richard Grey (Catherine's uncle and half brother, respectively) who accompanied the young king, were arrested. The king was moved to the Tower of London, where he was later joined by his only full brother, Richard; together with the rest of the children, among whom was Catherine, the dowager queen took refuge in Westminster Abbey. Two months later, on 22 June 1483, Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was declared illegal; all the children of the late king were declared illegitimate by the act of parliament Titulus Regius and deprived of the right to the throne and all titles. A few days later, Anthony Woodville and Richard Grey were executed. On 6 July 1483, Richard of Gloucester was proclaimed king under the name of Richard III; shortly thereafter there was no news of Catherine's brothers locked up in the Tower. On Christmas Day 1483, Henry Tudor, whose mother was plotting with Elizabeth Woodville against King Richard III, swore in Rennes Cathedral that he would marry Edward IV's eldest daughter, Elizabeth, or the next Cecily (if the marriage with Elizabeth for some reasons will be impossible) after he takes the English throne. However, the uprising of the Tudor party, led by the Duke of Buckingham, failed even before this oath. After the failure of Buckingham's rebellion, Richard III agreed to negotiate with his brother's widow, Elizabeth Woodville. On 1 March 1484, the king swore publicly that the daughters of his late brother would not be harmed or molested; in addition, Richard III promised that they would not be imprisoned in the Tower or any other prison, that they would be placed "in respectable places of good name and reputation", and later be married to "men of noble birth" and given dowry lands with an annual income of 200 marks each. The princesses moved under the care of their "gracious uncle", who gave them rooms in his palace. Tudor historian Edward Hall writes that Richard III "made all the daughters of his brother solemnly arrive at his palace; as if with him new—familiar and loving entertainment—they were supposed to forget the trauma inflicted on them and the tyranny that preceded this". According to the generally accepted version, Catherine moved to the royal palace with her sisters, but there is an assumption that Catherine and her younger sister Bridget stayed with their mother after leaving the sanctuary. Two years later, in August 1485, Richard III died at the Battle of Bosworth and Henry Tudor became the new king by right of conquest under the name of Henry VII. He fulfilled his promise and married Elizabeth of York, and also canceled the Titulus Regius act, which deprived the children of Edward IV of titles and rights to the throne. The act of Titulus Regius was removed from the archives, as were all documents related to it. In 1492 Dowager Queen Elizabeth died; Catherine took part in her funeral ceremony, becoming one of the youngest mourners at the royal funeral. Left an orphan, Catherine finally settled at the court of her sister the queen.

Henry VII, once on the throne, began to build grandiose matrimonial plans for his wife's relatives. First of all, he wanted to establish peace with his northern neighbour—the Kingdom of Scotland. In November 1487, a preliminary agreement was concluded on the marriage of Catherine with the second son of King James III, James, Duke of Ross, who was almost three years older than the princess. According to the same agreement, Catherine's sister Cecily was to become the wife of the heir to the Scottish throne, James, Duke of Rothesay, and James III, widowed by that time, was to marry the mother of the princess, Dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville. But James III was killed in June 1488 before these marriages were made; negotiations were interrupted and never resumed. On the right (sinister), arms of the English royal House of York: Quarterly 1st: royal arms of Edward IV; 2nd & 3rd: Or, a cross gules (de Burgh), 4th: Barry of six or and azure, on a chief of the first two pallets between two gyrons of the second over all an inescutcheon argent (Mortimer). These arms were also borne, with baton sinister, by Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG, (died 1542), the illegitimate son of Edward IV. In October 1495, of the heir to the throne, Henry, Duke of Cornwall, who was born on 1 January 1511. Catherine's father in law died in 1509, and formally her husband became the heir to the Earl's title and possessions, however, in order to receive the inheritance, William needed the approval of the king and the repeal of the act of deprivation. Until all the formalities were met, Catherine, "the king's dearest aunt", was assigned annuity payments in the amount of 200 marks. Despite the friendly attitude towards his aunt and her husband, Henry VIII put forward a number of conditions under which William Courtenay could transfer the title and possessions of his father. One of these conditions was the renunciation of Catherine's claims to the lands of the Earldom of March (to which she was also entitled as one of the descendants of Anne de Mortimer), and as her father's personal, non crown property. Catherine, having neither the means nor the desire to fight for the possessions of the Marches, accepted the proposal of her nephew, and on 12 April 1511, the parties signed an agreement. On 9 or 10 May 1511 the title of Earl of Devon was recreated for William Courtenay, and the act that prohibited the succession of titles to his children was repealed. The king guaranteed the transfer to the couple of some possessions, seized in favour of the crown from Thomas Courtenay during the reign of Catherine's father. In addition, several estates were personally transferred to Catherine with the right to transfer them by inheritance.

By the time all the formalities related to the transfer of the title to William Courtenay were completed, he was already seriously ill; on 9 June 1511 he died of pleurisy in the presence of the Bishop of London, Richard FitzJames. Being by nature very active, Catherine devoted the rest of her life to putting things in order in her possessions and those of her son. On 3 February 1512, she received from the king the right to use for life all the possessions of the late spouse in the Earldom of Devon. In February 1512, Catherine sent a petition to Parliament on behalf of her son, in which she asked to consider the issue of inheriting the title and possessions of his late father by young Henry Courtenay. The petition was read three times in the House of Lords, but consideration of the issue was postponed due to the need to discuss it with the king. The reason for the delay was the fact that some of Henry's ancestral property had been transferred by the king to the Courtenays before William was reinstated. Another reason was the claims to the possessions of Thomas Courtenay by the husbands of his co heiresses sisters: Sir Hugh Conway (husband of Elizabeth Courtenay), and Sir William Knyvet of Buckenham (husband of Joan Courtenay). In October 1512, Catherine, through the mediation of the Bishop of London, managed to negotiate with both applicants: some lands were transferred to Conway for life use, and a life annuity of £177 was also promised; Knyvet's claims were withdrawn in exchange for a lifetime annuity of £200. In November 1512, Parliament approved the transfer of the title and lands of the late William Courtenay to his ten year old son Henry, and over time, Catherine's son joined the circle of those close to the king. She herself also enjoyed the favor of the king and she signed her letters and documents as "Princess Catherine, Countess of Devon, daughter, sister and aunt of kings". In addition, she adopted as her personal coat of arms the royal coat of arms of England, combined with the coat of arms of Courtenay and the addition of the arms of the Earls of Ulster and March. Settling the affairs of her son, Catherine did not forget about her only daughter: in 1512 she began to look for a groom for Margaret. Catherine sent letters to the royal servants with a request to determine the most profitable candidates for the Margaret's husband. Further events are described by historians inconsistently. Mary Anne Everett Green retells a local legend that shortly after her marriage to Henry Somerset (son and heir of the Earl of Worcester), Margaret, during a visit to her mother at Colcombe Castle, choked on a fish bone and died; the same version is confirmed by the inscription on her grave. However, other sources report that Catherine's daughter visited her cousin Mary in 1520. There is no further information about Margaret, and her husband, who inherited his father's title in 1526, was by this time married again.

After the death of her husband, Catherine was rarely at court, preferring to live in Tiverton or Colcombe Castles in Devon, although she often received guests in Colcombe. One of the few appearances of the princess at court was the christening of Henry VIII's daughter Mary in 1516, at which Catherine was the godmother. A year earlier, Elizabeth Grey, Viscountess Lisle, was placed under her care and became the first wife of Catherine's son Henry, who was granted several mansions and other benefits. In Tiverton, Catherine was the head of the most powerful family in the area and the owner of a large estate. Her estates, managed by a network of employees, brought Catherine an annual income of about £2,750 –a large amount on which the household was supported. In 1519, Sir Hugh Conway died, claiming some of the possessions of Courtenay, and Catherine, through an act of Parliament, was returned the lands that were in the life interest of the deceased. Detailed records from the early 1520s show that Catherine lived a life befitting her origins: she regularly bought luxury items such as spices, French and Rhenish wines, and expensive fabrics (such as velvet and satin). The princess' chapel had many beautiful vestments, sacred vessels, religious books and images of saints. Catherine was on good terms with the prelates of Devon, received gifts from the Bishop of Exeter and from the abbots of Ford, Buckland and Newenham. In the 1520s, the princess was fond of hunting, listened to minstrels, kept three jesters; on New Year's holidays in 1524, several troupes of actors visited Catherine's house, as well as epiphany singers from Exeter. She often traveled around her possessions, and by the age of 45 she was still active: she rode a lot, hunted and did business. However, the fact that the inventory list of Catherine's property, compiled after her death, included a cart with horses, may indicate a decrease in the activity of the princess in her later years. Catherine maintained good relations with the royal couple: it is known that in 1524 the princess sent them £20 as a gift. She regularly gave gifts to her son, in particular, for the birth of her grandson Edward, she sent Henry £200 and gave another £40 to the messenger who announced her the birth. Historical documents describe the princess as a very kind person: she never quarreled with her neighbors if they happened to shoot game in her possessions, and did not severely punish the poor if they decided to eat strawberries or a rabbit on her land; in addition, she regularly distributed generous alms. In the spring of 1524, Catherine fell ill. Two doctors were called to her bedside; she sent orders to her domain, probably in case of her death, which may indicate the seriousness of the disease. In nearby churches they prayed for Catherine's health. On 2 May 1527, Catherine made a will in which for the most part she took care of her soul: she ordered the payment of £21 a year for an unlimited period to three priests who were to say mass daily in St. Peter's Church in Tiverton in the presence of three poor men, who also received payouts once a week. Catherine died on 15 November 1527 at Tiverton Castle at the age of about 49 years and was buried on 2 December with a magnificent ceremony in the local church of St Peter's Church. By her order, all servants were to attend the funeral in black robes and receive an annual salary. Also present at the funeral were the abbots of Ford, Montecut and Torre; the sermon was read by a canon of Exeter Cathedral. Eight thousand poor people were given money to pray for the soul of Catherine. On the grave of the princess, by order of her son, a horizontal effigy was installed. During the English Reformation, the chapel in which Catherine was buried was destroyed by Protestants. Subsequently, a burial was discovered that contained the remains of several people, so it was not possible to determine which of them belonged to the last princess from the House of York.