Today in 1519 Katherine Willoughby was born. While she is most known for having married Charles Brandon after his first wife, Mary, Henry VIII’s sister had died (and Katherine had been Charles’ ward), she was also a leading Protestant. She had been the daughter of Catherine of Aragon’s lady in waiting Maria de Salinas, and she married Brandon when she was just thirteen to his fifty years.
In 1551, Katherine lost both her sons to the sweating sickness on the same day, and then during the reign of Mary I she had to flee to Europe, since she was a strong Protestant. She and her second husband fled to Poland, returning with her two new children by her second husband after Elizabeth became Queen. She lived a quiet life back in England until she died peacefully in 1580, aged 61.
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:
Episode 132: Tony Riches on Katherine Willoughby
Spring 2019 Tudor Summit: Tony Riches on Charles Brandon, Mary Tudor, and Katherine Willoughby
Book Recommendation – Henry VIII’s Last Love (Amazon Affiliate link)
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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.