Katherine Parr

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On July 4, 1546, a notation made in King Henry VIII's Privy Council “the executors of John Smyth, late the Queen's receiver. . . allege that books remain in your custody to discharge these debts; we require you to show them.”1 It appeared that the king was going to dispose of his latest queen, Katherine Parr, as he had done to nearly every other wife he had until this time. It was through her education, kind nature and clever move of appealing to the king's pride that she was able to save her neck from the chopping block. Katherine was able to survive this episode and outlived King Henry VIII to be remembered in history as the wife who got away.
Katherine was born to Sir Thomas and Maud Parr in 1512. She had a younger brother and sister, William and Anne.2 Maud served Katherine of Aragon as a lady-in-waiting. It is possible that Katherine and Princess Mary, born only a few years apart, played or were briefly educated together.3 When Katherine was around five years old, her father died. Maud was left to raise her three young children, and from all appearances, took the job as mother and educator very seriously.4 Katherine learned to speak and write French as well as English, which was a remarkable feat considering most people could not read even English. Katherine's love of learning never ceased throughout her entire life. As an adult she pursued the study of Latin and Greek, as well as religious writings of the period. Katherine composed two separate books, Prayers and Meditations, and Lamentation of a Sinner.5
Katherine was married to Edward Borough at seventeen, but widowed two years later.6 Her second husband, Lord John Latimer of Yorkshire, was nearly twenty years older than Katherine. Latimer was widowed twice h...

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Latimer, Hugh Latimer, “Second Sermon, June 9, 1537” Sermons on the Card and Other Discourses, ed. Henry Morley. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2458/2458-h/2458-h.htm
“Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 21 Part 1: January-August 1546”. Editors James Gairdner and R. H. Brodie. British History Online. http://www.british- history.ac.uk/report/aspx?compid=80860. (Accessed 24 April, 2014).

PBS “The Six Wives of Henry VIII”. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/sixwives/meet/cp_handbook_main.html (Accessed 22 April, 2013).
Trueman, Chris. “Causes of the Pilgrimage of Grace.” http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/causes_pilgrimage_grace.htm (Accessed 26 April, 2013).

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