Catherine of Aragon and Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, were married from 14th November 1501 until Arthur's death on 2nd April 1502, but did they consummate their marriage? They certainly slept in the same bed, but did Catherine of Aragon and Arthur Tudor have sex?
Find out what people said at the Legatine court hearing in 1529 and the Zaragoza hearing in 1531, and what Catherine claimed, in this talk...
Huge thanks to Lucy from the UK for asking such a wonderful question.
Further reading:
- Sister Queens by Julia Fox
- Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s Spanish Queen by Giles Tremlett
- Tudor by Leanda de Lisle
- Catherine of Aragon by Patrick Williams
- The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser
- Six Wives by David Starkey
- Catherine of Aragon by Garrett Mattingly
- Catherine of Aragon: An Intimate Life of Henry VIII's True Wife by Amy Licence
- Did Arthur Tudor consummate his marriage by Kyra Kramer - http://www.kyrackramer.com/2020/01/26/did-arthur-tudor-consummate-his-marriage/
- Catherine of Aragon: Spain’s Virgin queen? - https://www.historyextra.com/period/tudor/catherine-aragon-katherine-henry-viii-wife-queen-facts-virgin-sex-arthur-divorce-rome-how-why/
Thank you, Claire,
I love your educated level headed approach to all things Tudor!!
I believe Catherine because she appealed to Henry to witness to her virginity and he didn’t deny it; I can’t see why he wouldn’t have denied it if he could, or why she would have made that appeal if she’d known he could deny it.
Is it true that her brother’s death had been attributed to overdoing it on his honeymoon?
By the way, your assertion that she could have lied knowing that she only had to go to confession and get absolved is a misrepresentation of how the Sacrament of Penance works. Absolution depends on sincere repentance (ie wishing you hadn’t done it), a ‘firm purpose of amendment’ (ie sincere intention of never doing it again), and restitution where applicable (ie undoing the consequences).
She may have believed that a lie told for a good reason was not a sin, but if she hadn’t, then going to confession wouldn’t have allowed her to continue to uphold an untruth, nor to let people continue to believe it.