KATHARINE PARR, SIXTH QUEEN OF HENRY VIII. CHAPTER I. Katharine Parr the first Protestant queen of England-Her royal descent→→→ Relationship to Henry VIII-Her birth at Kendal-castle-Death of her father-Prudent conduct of lady Parr-Katharine's learned education-Her royal destiny predicted-Her dislike of needlework-Sought in marriage for the heir of lord Scrope-Her mother's letters-Katharine weds lord Borough -His family-Katharine a widow at fifteen-Her residence at Sizergh-castle with lady Strickland-The queen's chamber at Sizergh-Katharine Parr's embroidery-She marries lord Latimer-Her rich dower-Her influence with the king-Cromwell's disgrace attributable to Katharine Parr-Death of lord Latimer-Katharine embraces the reformed faith-Religious assemblies at her house-Courted by sir Thomas Seymour-Her attachment-Compelled to relinquish him for the king-Her reluctance to the royal marriage-She is married to the king at Hampton-Court-Her attentions to her royal stepchildren-Presents to the princess Mary-Her friendship with Mary-Attachment of prince Edward-His letters-Henry's regard for Katharine Parr― She is appointed queen-regent Her government in king Henry's absenceReturn of the king-Painting of the royal family-group at Hampton-Court. KATHARINE PARR was the first Protestant queen of England. She was the only one among the consorts of Henry VIII. who, in the sincerity of an honest heart, embraced the doctrine of the Reformation, and imperilled her crown and life in support of her principles. The name of Katharine, which, from its Greek derivation Katharos, signifies 'pure as a limpid stream,' seems peculiarly suited to the characteristics of this illustrious lady, in whom we behold the protectress of Coverdale, the friend of Anne Askew, the learned and virtuous matron who directed the studies of lady Jane Gray, Edward VI., and queen Elizabeth, and who may, with truth, be called the nursing-mother of the Reformation. Katharine Parr was not only queen of England, but an English queen. Although of ancient and even royal descent, she claimed, by birth, no other rank than that of a private gentlewoman. Like Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, Katharine Parr was only the daughter of a knight; but her father, sir Thomas Parr, was of a more distinguished ancestry than either sir Thomas Boleyn or sir John Seymour. From the marriage of his Norman progenitor, Ivo de Tallebois, with Lucy, the sister of the renowned earls Morcar and Edwin, sir Thomas Parr inherited the blood of the Anglo-Saxon kings. Ivo de Tallebois was the first baron of Kendal, and maintained the state of a petty sovereign in the north. The male line failing with William de Lancaster, the seventh in descent, the honour and estates of that mighty family passed to his sisters Helwise and Alice. Margaret, the elder coheiress of Helwise by Peter le Brus, married the younger son of Robert lord Roos, of Hamlake and Werks, by Isabel, daughter of Alexander II. king of Scotland. Their grandson, sir Thomas de Roos, married Katherine, the daughter of sir Thomas Strickland, of Sizergh-castle, Westmoreland. The fruit of this union was an only daughter, Elizabeth, who brought Kendal-castle and a rich inheritance into queen Katharine's paternal house, by her marriage with sir William de Parr, knight. Sir William Parr, the grandson of this pair, was made knight of the Garter, and married Elizabeth, one of the co-heiresses of the lord Fitzhugh, by Alice, daughter of Ralph Neville, earl of Westmoreland, and Joanna Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. Alice Neville was sister to the king's great-grandmother, Cicely Neville, duchess of York; and, through this connexion, Katharine Parr was fourth cousin to Henry VIII.1 From the elder co-heiress of Fitzhugh, the patrimony of the Marmions, the ancient champions of England, was transmitted to sir Thomas Parr, father of queen Katharine. Her mother, Matilda, or, as she was commonly called, Maud Green, was daughter and co-heiress of sir Thomas Green, of Boughton and Green's Norton in the county of Northamptonshire. This lady was a descendant of the distinguished families of Talbot and Throckmorton. Her sister Anne wedded sir 2 Dugdale. Nicholas Vaux, afterwards created lord Vaux of Harrowden; and, dying childless, the whole of the rich inheritance of the Greens of Boughton centered in Matilda.' At the age of thirteen Matilda became the wife of sir Thomas Parr. This marriage took place in the year 1508. The date generally assigned for the birth of Katharine Parr is 1510; but the correspondence between her mother and lord Dacre, in the fifteenth year of Henry VIII., in which her age is specified to be under twelve,' will prove that she could not have been born till 1513. Her father, sir Thomas Parr, at that time held high offices at court, being master of the wards and comptroller of the household to Henry VIII. As a token of royal favour, we find that the king presented him with a rich gold chain, value 1407.-a very large sum in those days.3 Both sir Thomas and his lady were frequent residents in the court; but the child who was destined hereafter to share the throne of their royal master, first saw the light at Kendalcastle, in Westmoreland, the time-honoured fortress which had been the hereditary seat of her ancestors from the days of its Norman founder, Ivo de Tallebois. A crumbling relic of this stronghold of feudal greatness is still in existence, rising like a grey crown over the green hills of Kendal. It is situated on a lofty eminence, which commands a panoramic view of the town and the picturesque and ever-verdant vale of the Kent, that clear and rapid stream which, night and day, sings an unwearied song as it rushes over its rocky bed at the foot of the castle-hill. The circular tower of the castle is the most considerable portion of the ruins, but there is a large enclosure of ivy-mantled walls remaining, with a few broken arches. These are now crowned with wild flowers, whose peaceful blossoms wave unnoted where the red-cross banner of St. George once flaunted on tower and parapet of the sternly-guarded fortress, that for centuries was regarded as the most important defence of the town of Kendal and the adjacent country. VOL. III. 1 Baker's Northamptonshire, corrected from Dugdale. N |