Catherine of Valois (27 October 1401 – 3 January 1437) was the Queen consort of England from 1420 until 1422. She was the daughter of King Charles VI of France, wife of King Henry V of England, mother of King Henry VI of England, and through her relationship (possibly a secret marriage) with Owen Tudor, the grandmother of King Henry VII of England. Catherine's older sister, Isabella of Valois, was Queen consort of England from 1396 – 1400, as the child bride of King Richard II of England.
Catherine was buried at Westminster Abbey, and during the reign of Henry VII her coffin lid was accidentally raised, revealing her corpse, which for generations became a tourist attraction; Catherine's remains were not properly re-interred until the reign of Queen Victoria.
Early life
Catherine of Valois was the daughter of King Charles VI of France and Isabella of Bavaria-Ingolstadt. She was born on October 27, 1401, in Paris.
On June 2, 1420, she was given in marriage to King Henry V of England, but only after Henry's demand for return of Normandy and Aquitaine as part of the marriage pact which was triggered by the Battle of Agincourt and the subsequent Treaty of Troyes. As part of the treaty, Henry won control of Normandy and Aquitaine, became Regent of France during Charles' lifetime, and won the right to succeed on Charles' death.
If this had come to pass, France and England would have been united under one monarch. However, Charles outlived Henry V by two months and Catherine of Valois thus never became Queen of France.
Catherine of Valois was crowned Queen of England at Westminster Abbey on 23 February, 1421. The only issue of Catherine and Henry, the future Henry VI of England, was born on 6 December 1421. Then Henry V died on 31 August 1422. Catherine was given Wallingford Castle, where she retired, distant from the Court and from her infant son.
Second marriage
coat of arms of Owen Tudor
At Wallingford Castle, she turned for comfort to Owen Tudor, a direct descendant of Rhys Ap Gruffydd (a ruler of the kingdom of Deheubarth in South Wales), who would become the founding father of the Tudor dynasty. In 1428, Parliament reacted to the rumours about this relationship by forbidding Queens Dowager from marrying without the King's permission. There is no historical record of an actual marriage ceremony, and in the light of Parliament's declaration, any marriage which had taken place may not have been legally recognised. Nevertheless, Catheirne and Owen are recorded as having at least 6 children together:
- Owen Tudor (1429-1501). He was a monk at Westminster.
- Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond (1430 - November 1, 1456), married Lady Margaret Beaufort. Father of King Henry VII.
- Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford (1431 - December 21/26, 1495), married Katherine Woodville, daughter to Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. No issue. He did have two illegitimate children.
- Jacina Tudor (1433 - 1469).
- Daughter Mary Tudor born (1432). She married Thomas Gray (1430-1501); they had a daughter Jane Gray (1475-1509)--Note: This was an earlier "Mary Tudor" than Henry VIII's sister; and an earlier Jane Gray with different spelling of last name, than the 16th-century Lady Jane Grey. Jane Gray b. 1475, had a daughter Jane Mercer, and a granddaughter Jane Wilkinson. Ref. below: OneWorld Tree of ancestry.com
- Daughter Tudor. (born c. 1435) She became a nun.
- Margaret (Katherine) Tudor (born January 1437). Died young.
Death and burial
Catherine died on January 3, 1437, shortly after childbirth, in London, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Her second husband, Owen Tudor, was arrested on unspecified charges shortly after her death, but later released. He lived until 1461, when he was executed by the Yorkists following the Battle of Mortimer's Cross. Their sons were given Earldoms by Catherine's son King Henry VI. Edmund married a lady or Royal descent with their son eventually becoming King Henry VII.
The wooden funeral effigy which was carried at her funeral still survives at Westminster Abbey and is on display at the Undercroft Museum. Her tomb originally boasted an alabaster memorial, which was deliberately destroyed during extensions to the abbey in the reign of her grandson, Henry VII. It has been suggested that Henry ordered her memorial to be removed to distance himself from his common ancestry. At this time, her coffin lid was accidentally raised, revealing her corpse, which for generations became a tourist attraction. In 1669 the diarist Samuel Pepys kissed the long-deceased queen on his birthday:
On Shrove Tuesday 1669, I to the Abbey went, and by favour did see the body of Queen Catherine of Valois, and had the upper part of the body in my hands, and I did kiss her mouth, reflecting upon it I did kiss a Queen: and this my birthday and I thirty-six years old and I did kiss a Queen.
– Samuel Pepys
Catherine's remains were not properly re-interred until the reign of Queen Victoria.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Catherine of Valois
External links
References
Historical fiction
Catherine of Valois is the subject of Rosemary Hawley Jarman's novel "Crown in Candlelight" (1978)
|
