Today in 1541 London (and Katherine Howard) was reeling from the executions of Thomas Culpepper and Francis Dereham, that happened yesterday. Dereham had been arrested after Thomas Cranmer let Henry know that his fifth wife, Katherine Howard, was no virginal maid, and in fact had been with Dereham before she was married. Katherine admitted that she and Dereham had been together before she was married to Henry.
Then Dereham mentioned Culpepper, saying that he had been replaced in the Queen’s affection by Culpepper. Katherine denied any kind of physical relationship, though Culpepper admitted that they had both wished to do ill with each other. Culpepper had his head cut off, while Dereham suffered the full traitor’s death of hanging, disembowling, and being quartered. Katherine, who was still alive, couldn’t have felt any kind of confidence that her fate would be any different.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
2018 Tudor Summit: Claire Ridgway on Katherine Howard
5 Tudor Scholars who changed Learning in England
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.