Catherine of Aragon's missing letters

(photo from Shakespeare's Secrets: A Hidden Cipher - wondersandmarvels.com)

 

Having spent some time looking through various letters to and from the English court in 1513, I’d found (or not found) some surprising things.  Firstly, Wolsey and Thomas Howard appear to be very tight in their alliance, Henry VIII is a poor correspondent to his queen, Margaret of Savoy seems to have the biggest political hand in the events of the time, and Catherine of Aragon is rather absent.  Or, at least her letters for many months do not at all represent the correspondence of a Queen Regent.

These missing letters are what I’d been searching for. While many documents were lost in fire, misplaced through time, or just so difficult to transcribe that they are skipped over, I had been expecting many lengthy personal letters between Catherine and Henry in regards to her becoming regent in his absence (fighting in France). There were a few short messages from Catherine to Wolsey, Howard to Catherine, or vice versa – Catherine asking for more updates on her husband, or Wolsey giving a very basic update on Henry’s whereabouts. A much lengthier letter from Catherine appears in the records after the battle of Flodden.

In September, 1513, Queen Catherine writes to Henry VIII about the victory at the Battle of Flodden. She writes: “Sir, My lord Havard hath sent me a letter to open to your grace within one of mine by the which ye shall see at length the great victory that our Lord hath sent your subjects in your absence: and for this cause it is no need herein to trouble your grace with long writing…”

Looking closely at the wording of Catherine’s letter, she suggests that there is an additional letter from her to be read in conjunction with Lord Havard’s letter. Yet, she has already told Henry she would not bother with long writing (which suggests to me, although this is the longest letter in record during for these few months from her, that her other letters might have been longer). So where are these longer letters (if any)?

It has been noted by some historians that Catherine started writing in cipher when she was betrothed to prince Arthur.

S. Tomokio writes in his article ‘Earliest English Diplomatic Ciphers’: “It appears that Catherine used a cipher different from that of the Spanish ambassador, considering Bergenroth noted during the middle of his research that Catherine's cipher was one of the three ciphers that he did not yet understand. On the other hand, it appears, as noted above, Catherine let De Puebla decipher Ferdinand's letter to Henry VII sent to her. Examination of the manuscript is desired (http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~room4me/america/code/henryvii.htm).”

This wonderful extract in Tomokio’s article shows us some excellent reference to the cipher used by Catherine and Henry: “‘Has learnt by her letter in cipher, and by the letter in plain writing of the King of England, that it is his intention to prevent the utter destruction of Venice,....
.....
‘The King of England must therefore henceforth write in his letters nothing but such things as the French may read without danger. All other communications must be made by her, and be written in her cipher, or in the cipher of the ambassador, until the new ambassador arrives. Has always observed, and will in future observe the same rule, namely, to write in common writing only what the French may see, and to write all that is important in cipher.
‘In answer to the contents of the letter of the King, and of her letter in cipher, there is little to be said, except ....’ Ferdinand to Catherine, 18 November 1509, (Calendared in Bergenroth pp.25-26)”

The newly published online (previously only in print) 'Henry VIII: April 1513, 1-10', Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1: 1509-1514 (1920)’ lists and transcribes all the letters in record for this time, but if a letter is in French, German, Latin or any other dialect, including cipher, it is noted as such and not transcribed. Many ‘in cipher’ letters appear (and sadly letters ‘too damaged to decipher), which leads me to think how wonderful it would be to find the key to unlock Catherine’s ciphered letters.

Whatever the reason, the archives have a scarcity of letters from Catherine which is a thrilling little mystery in its own.  Six months as Regent of the country, a decisive victory and the death of the Scottish King would surely amass more than a handful of stinted letters from this very powerful and passionate woman.

 

 

Battle of Flodden

The Battle of Flodden, which took place in Northumberland’s Brainston Moor, was a victory for England and the death of Scotland’s King James IV, who died in the battle. Although the English forces were headed by the Earl of Surrey (Thomas Howard, 2^nd Duke of Norfolk), it was Queen Catherine who, heavily pregnant, rode out in full armour to address the troops before battle.

War with Scotland was personal – it was the King’s brother-in-law, James IV who declared war on England while England was making war with France.  James IV wrote to Henry VIII on 24 May, 1513, stating that he had received word from France that England might invade, and that if Henry invaded France, Scotland in turn would invade England. Scotland’s alliance (known as the Auld Alliance) supported France and were anit-Papist reformers. More specifically, England and Spain were allies with League of the Cambrai, the Catholic League, which was under attack from France who was invading Italy. While England attacked France, Scotland supported France by attacking England. Queen Catherine, a daughter of Spain and devout Catholic, kept Henry’s England highly influenced by Spain and the Pope until she fell out of Henry’s favour many years later. Adding to this was the already turbulent relationship between Scotland and England which, never a strong alliance, had reached critical breaking point when Robert Kerr, a Scottish East March warden was murdered (not to mention that Henry outraged James by claiming Scotland as one of his territories).

Fighting on two or more fronts always weakens an army, so when the King and his troops gathered arms and fought for two years in France, it was up to Queen Regent, Catherine of Aragon to sort things out on the northern borders of England while Scotland was trying to invade. Catherine proved herself to be a trustworthy Regent and leader at the time. The Battle of Flodden was not the end of Anglo-Scots tension or wars, but with James IV dead and his son and successor only 17 months old, it cooled their attack for many years to come.

Catherine may have succeeded in rousing troops to victory, but her joy was short lived as her newborn child died only days after he was born in October.

 

sources: 'Henry VIII: May 1513, 21-31', Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1: 1509-1514 (1920)
Scottisharchivesforschool.org
and Wiki