Arthur Tudor (19 September/20 September,
1486– 2 April, 1502) was the first
son and, therefore, heir of King Henry VII of England and Wales, and
Elizabeth of York.
Early life
Birth
Henry VII, in order to strengthen his otherwise dubious claim to the throne (Henry came from bastard stock), set his personal
genealogists to trace back his heritage to Cadwallader and ancient British kings. Henry
identified Winchester in Hampshire as Camelot, and it was
there that the first Tudor Prince of Wales, Arthur, was born to Henry and his Queen,
Elizabeth of York. He was named after the legendary King
Arthur of the Round Table. His christening took place at Winchester Cathedral, his godfathers being Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby and John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford who was late to the ceremony. Elizabeth Woodville, his maternal grandmother, was his godmother and carried him during the
ceremony. He was made a Knight of the Bath at his christening. It is not known if
Arthur was a robust child when born. In Arthur's Church History it says: ". . . [Arthur Tudor was] yet vital and vigorous"
while Francis Bacon describes him as, "Born in the eighth month, as the physicians do prejudge," yet "strong and able". Some
historians suggest that he had been weak his whole life long, and that was what led him to his death.
The only original surviving portrait of Prince Arthur
His only original surviving portrait[1] shows a teenage
boy growing into his skin, though some say he looks weak in it. He certainly differed from his athletic younger brother, the
future Henry VIII. There is no evidence to show that Arthur did athletics, but he may have been fond of archery. In the
portrait he has the red Tudor hair, small eyes, and a high-bridged nose. He bears a
resemblance to both his father and brother.
Betrothal and alliance
Arthur's father, Henry VII, was eager to strengthen his kingdom through an alliance with newly-united Spain, seeking the
support of the Catholic Monarchs Isabella of Castile (Isabel de Castilla) and
Ferdinand of Aragon against French interests and possible aggression. When Arthur
was two years old, a marriage with the Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon (in
Spain, Catalina de Aragón) was arranged for him as part of the Treaty of
Medina del Campo. The auburn-haired Catherine was the youngest daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand. However, Ferdinand was
more than ready to break the treaty if all of the pretenders to the throne of England did not vanish. Isabella and Ferdinand were
in no hurry to have their daughter married, and, though a treaty had been made, they were still open. Therefore, in
1499, Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of
Warwick was beheaded, and the pretender Perkin Warbeck, who some contemporaries
asserted was Edward IV's illegitimate son, was hanged.
Childhood
When Arthur was a little boy of three, he was made the Prince of Wales and the Earl of Chester, and when
five he was made a Knight of the Garter. He,
being the heir, was trained specially. Some historians maintain that he had some kind of bond with Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk who was also the Earl of Surrey, and who defended the border of England whenever the Kingdom of Scotland attacked. His tutors were John Rede and the
blind poet Bernard André. When he was fourteen to fifteen years old Thomas Linacre (or Lynaker) began to teach him. His tutor, Bernard André, wrote an unfinished biography
of Henry VII in which he inserted the information that Arthur was familiar with all the best Latin
and Greek language authors. The Prince's governor and
treasurer was Sir Henry Vernon. Arthur may have frequently lived with Henry Vernon at his
house, Haddon Hall, in the peak of Derbyshire where there was an apartment called 'The Prince's Chamber', with Arthur's arms cut in several
places.
Marriage
For two years, Arthur wrote numerous letters in Latin to his bride, and she would formally
reply back. However, the letters were more polite than passionate, since the young couple barely knew each other. When Arthur was
fourteen, the Spanish monarchs promised that they were going to send their daughter Catherine over to England, but it was not
until after her bridegroom turned fifteen that Catherine and her retinue finally started their journey. The Spanish
Infanta (Princess) finally reached land in the autumn, and on November 4, 1501, the couple met at last at Dogsmersfield Palace in Hampshire. Little is known about their first
impressions of each other, but Arthur did write to his father- and mother-in-law that he would be 'a true and loving husband' and
he later told his parents that he was immensely happy to behold the face of his lovely bride. Ten days later, on November 14, 1501, they were married at St. Paul's Cathedral. At the end of the festive day came the Bedding Ceremony, in which most of the
court put the young couple to bed, and thus began one of the most controversial wedding
nights in history.
Death and aftermath
The couple soon went to Ludlow castle on the Welsh border,
where Arthur normally resided in his capacity as Prince of Wales and President of
The Council of Wales and Marches. He then abruptly died at the young
age of fifteen. The cause of his death is unknown. It may have been consumption,
diabetes, tuberculosis, or the mysterious
sweating sickness, which modern theorists tie to a hantavirus. Catherine was sick as well, but unlike her unfortunate husband, she survived. His brother,
Henry, Duke of York, became heir upon Arthur's death. He would come to the throne
in 1509, and would not be prepared. It would soon be obvious, for he would constantly be under
other people's influences, such as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Plans had been made for Henry
to enter the church, and maybe become Archbishop of Canterbury, but Arthur's sudden death left almost everyone confused. Henry was not made Prince of Wales, until everyone was certain that Catherine wasn't carrying Arthur's child. Catherine
would later marry Henry (who was six years younger than she was) after eight years, during which time Catherine was left in
penury.
Funeral
Arthur was buried in Worcester Cathedral where "Prince Arthur's Chantry" silently
stands today. Sir Griffith Ryce, a man part of Arthur's household, was an official
mourner, and his tomb isn't far away from Arthur's. Arthur's father, the King, did not attend the funeral. The reasons for his
absence are unknown, though many conjecture that the journey was too long or Henry
VII was too upset. Elizabeth of York did not attend the funeral either, and as
was the custom, Catherine of Aragon also stayed at home.
Question of consummation
Immense controversy surrounds this subject. Some think that if a young fifteen-year-old couple were to share a bed, the result
would naturally be sexual intercourse. There is also the fact that Catherine needed
to produce an heir for England, and the two (being royal, of course) would have viewed it as
their 'duty.' It was perfectly common then for a teenage girl to have her marriage consummated, as Margaret Beaufort had hers consummated at age twelve with
Edmund Tudor. But Doña Elvira, Catherine of Aragon's duenna said that the marriage was not consummated in any way. However, some
historians argue back that Doña Elvira was never close to the girl, for she would later betray Catherine. Arthur, before the
wedding night, said that he was feeling very 'lusty and amorous'. His friends also claimed that the following day, he proudly
called for some water, saying that he had "been in Spain" and being a husband was "thirsty work." It is not known if Arthur was
just saying this to cover up the fact that he failed, or if it really was the truth.
Arthur, as some historians say, was feeble and not robust, like Catherine's late brother, Juan, Prince of Asturias. Juan had been married to Archduchess Margaret of Austria, and, like
Catherine and Arthur, Juan died after six months of marriage. It was believed for a time that Margaret had ruined Juan's health
by seducing him too much. Some maintain that Arthur and Catherine had a normal sexual relationship throughout their marriage, and
that this, as with Catherine's brother, led Arthur to die of over exertion. Others suggest that the couple engaged in
sexual intercourse but did not do it properly.
What most find hard to believe is that the fervently devout Catholic Catherine would lie. In the Christian Bible it states that it is unclean for a man to take his brother's wife, and if a man did so, the union would be
childless. The first time Catherine publicly said that her marriage with Arthur was not consummated was when Henry sought a
divorce; it was never mentioned before that, and some historians say that it makes sense that Catherine would have lied to
protect her flawless reputation. Catherine claimed that they only shared a bed for seven days, though while in Ludlow, such was
not recorded. What Henry really wanted was a son, and though Catherine was pregnant many times during their marriage, only one
child survived infancy, the Princess who would later be Mary I. Henry was having a notorious love
affair with Anne Boleyn, who he would marry after divorcing Catherine, and claimed that his
marriage to Catherine had produced no living sons because he had disobeyed Scripture and married his brother's widow.
This dispute, and Henry's inability to obtain the Catholic dissolution of his marriage, would be the main reason for the
English Reformation. Catherine insisted that she was never Arthur's lover, and
was a virgin when Henry married her. Whether Henry found her a virgin during their wedding night or not has never been recorded;
however, when he was trying to annul his marriage with Catherine, he ordered bloodstained bedsheets, supposedly from his
brother's marriage, to be paraded around his palace as proof of the consummation.
Historical fiction novelist Philippa Gregory believes
that Arthur and Catherine's marriage was consummated, and that the pious Catherine lied; others, such as Tudor historian
Alison Weir, believe that Catherine was telling the truth.
Further research
Christopher Guy, the archaeologist of Worcester
Cathedral, said that he found it odd that, if Arthur was unhealthy, he was sent to the cold remoteness of Ludlow Castle. Peter Vaughan, of the Worcester Prince Arthur Committee, finds it strange as well. He says:
"He wasn't a strong character, unlike his younger brother. Could it be that his father was strong enough to see that the best
interests of the Tudors were to be served by Henry Duke of York, rather than Arthur?"
However, historians such as David Starkey and Julian
Litten have dismissed ideas of neglect or murder. "There is nothing fishy about his demise", said Litten. "He was in
Ludlow as an ambassador for a King setting up a new dynasty."
Litten believes that the real mystery in Arthur's death is the disease. If not consumption or the historical English sweating
sickness, it could have been a genetic condition that may have been passed on to his nephews, Edward VI and Henry Fitzroy.
Arthur in fiction
Arthur has appeared in several novels about Catherine of Aragon. One of these, The King's Pleasure, was featured in the
1969 issue of Reader's Digest Condensed
Books which also included My Life with Martin Luther King Jr. Katharine, The Virgin Widow by
Jean Plaidy has Arthur in it as well. Vanity
Fair magazine declared the book "Outstanding". The Constant
Princess, by Philippa Gregory, tells the story of how Catherine and Arthur
fell in love, consummated their marriage, and how he suddenly died. In it, Katherine promises Arthur she will become Queen of
England by marrying his brother. In order to do so, she must lie about the fact that their marriage was consummated. Gregory, who
also wrote the New York Times bestseller The Other Boleyn Girl,
leaves a note at the end of that book as well, saying she believes that Catherine lied.
Ancestors
Notes
- ^ Philip Mould (1995) devotes a chapter to the rediscovery of this portrait
and its validation through historical research.
Additional reading
- Fraser, Antonia, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, ISBN 0-7493-1409-5
- "Royal Tutors in the Reign of Henry VII", David Carlson, Sixteenth Century Journal Vol. 22, No. 2 (Summer, 1991), pp.
253-279
- Mould, Philip. (1995) Sleepers. London: Fourth Estate. ISBN 1857022181
- Weir, Alison The Six Wives of Henry VIII
- Weir, Alison The Princes in the Tower
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)