The Executions of Kathryn Howard and Lady Jane Boleyn

Starting with Queen Kathryn Howard, who was executed first, it’s worth looking at her upbringing and time before she met the King of England. She was one of the children of the youngest son of the Duke of Norfolk. He was always in trouble financially and couldn’t afford to keep his daughter, so Kathryn went to live with her step-grandmother, Agnes Tilney, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.

The upbringing wasn’t quite the upbringing one would expect of a Howard lady. She was surrounded by many other young women, and some of those were servants. She had the minimum education, so could read and write, but it was nothing like any of Henry VIII’s other wives, including that of her cousins and second wife Anne Boleyn.

While in her step-grandmothers care, she met Henry Mannox, her music teacher. The attention he gave her was flattering and they started some sort of relationship. However, her love (not even that) for him was fickle and she quickly moved onto another man in Agnes’ employment, Francis Dereham.

Francis later admitted that they had a sexual relationship and referred to each other as husband and wife. Kathryn admitted the latter but not that she had carnal knowledge of the man. However, there was some sort of understanding of marriage, and even in spoken terms it meant that she was betrothed and could not have married the King of England when she did.

Kathryn attended court as one of Anne of Cleves’ ladies-in-waiting. It was there that she attracted the attention of the king, much like two wives before her Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour. The marriage to Anne of Cleves was over within six months and Henry VIII made it clear that he wanted to marry Kathryn. He was in his late 40s to early 50s, with a terrible ulcer on his leg and failing health and she was no more than 19-years-old.

However, she loved the attention and the pretty dresses and idea of power. Little did either know was that she was not suited as Queen of England. While she had a heart—and proved that when Margaret Pole was arrested and not given enough clothing to keep her warm—she didn’t quite understand the duty of being queen. She was never raised to do that.

She also had an admirer at court—and one her own age. Thomas Culpepper, who was her cousin through her mother’s side, wanted to be with her. The true nature of their relationship has never quite been proven, but there was a love letter that Kathryn sent to Thomas found in his home. Whether this was actually written by her is unknown. Their relationship was only found out because Francis Dereham made it clear that Kathryn’s affections had moved onto him.

Her age and upbringing cannot be completely to blame for her affair with Culpepper. They did meet in secret and she often told him not to admit to these meetings, even if he was giving confession. She feared that the King would find out. That doesn’t indicate that they were having an affair, but it definitely seems plausible.

It was Thomas and Kathryn who added Jane Boleyn’s actions into the mix.

After his death, she was disgraced and needed the help of Thomas Cromwell. She pleaded to him and he managed to get her back into court as lady-in-waiting to Jane Seymour. Some historians use this as evidence that she gave evidence against her husband and sister-in-law, but it could have been the fact that she stayed silent to save her own neck. She would have been terrified and the questions would have come thick and fast. She may have even said something and Cromwell managed to twist her words.

Nobody knows for certain, but that doesn’t completely explain how she became a conspirator with Kathryn Howard and ended up losing her own head.

Kathryn, since she had a higher position, was the first to be executed. The night before her execution, the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer visited her to take her confession. She apparently didn’t give her confession due to her lack of religious beliefs and just asked that the block be brought to her. She wanted to practise laying her head on the block so that she would die with dignity.

On the scaffold, she gave a short speech. In The Tudors, there is a line where she says “I die a Queen, but I would rather die the wife of Culpepper.” There is no evidence that she ever said those lines, and no accounts by the eyewitnesses; and that is not something they would miss out! It is very unlikely that she would have said anything of the sort.

However, Kathryn’s has never been found. It is thought that her young bones disintegrated quicker than the others and are now just part of the soil.

Did the two really get what they deserved?