Katherine Howard: Henry VIII's Slandered Queen

by Conor Byrne

Over the years, Katherine Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife, has been slandered as a ‘juvenile delinquent’, ‘empty-headed wanton’ and ‘natural-born tart’ who engaged in promiscuous liaisons prior to her marriage and committed adultery after her marriage to Henry VIII. This biography challenges these assumptions by drawing on seven years of research, demonstrating that Katherine’s reputation is unfairly deserved. It offers new insights into her activities as queen as well as the nature of her relationships with Manox, Dereham and Culpeper. Katherine was bright, charming and beautiful, but it was her tragedy that her premarital liaisons – in a climate of distrust and fear of female sexuality – led to her ruin in 1542. Conor Byrne challenges Katherine’s negative reputation and redeems her as Henry VIII’s slandered queen.

Genres: Tudor Period, History, Biography, Nonfiction, Historical

223 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2019

Reviews

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the one hand Bryne makes so deep political / socio-economic analyses of the Tudor court with fascinating reinterpretations of the primary sources, and on the other hand he seems to be saying to the other Tudor historians: "Come on guys, lay off, she's just a kid."

Bryne digs deep into the primary sources and places them in a cultural context that he points out almost every other Tudor historian has overlooked, savagely ripping apart the "love letter" theory, with excellent proof backing up his point, showing hard proof of how well Katherine Howard actually was performing her political duty as queen, the lack of evidence that she had any interest in the men she was/is associated with, and more.

What struck me the most was his reinterpretation of Katherine's comment about how "a woman may meddle with a man and yet conceive no child" which other historians have always jumped on as a sign Katherine practiced some sort of late medieval contraception. Bryne, however, points out the late medieval / early modern theory that a woman could not get pregnant if she did not orgasm - which he suggests means Katherine was actually talking about having sex that gave her no pleasure i.e. did not give enthusiastic consent. Wow. Mind blown.

Bryne also gets deep into the weeds over the motivations of everyone, and how different actions represented late medieval fertility rituals, or expressed deep rooted anxiety over male sexual performance, or shored up patriarchal honor systems, or represented the economic value of heteronormative marital/sexual behavior, etc.

He has a point, but I don't think he quite gets it just how unconscious these motives were. For example, somewhere in the world right now a man calls a woman a b*tch. There are undoubtedly socio-economic driven, ethnic-class, sexual-political environmental, reproductive anxiety based unconscious reasons behind this behavior. However, on a conscious level, it most likely merely "felt good" in the moment to utter that slur.

Howard, Mannox, Dereham, Culpepper and Henry VIII all had a long list of complex reasons why they acted the way they did - but I think Bryne gives them too much credit for the idea that they all knew at a fully conscious level all the whys and reasons for why they were doing what they did.

A good biography that asks some really good questions to shake up the status quo.

[Helene Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review - This book had an interesting premise that I think should have been explored long before now. The idea is that Katherine Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife wasn’t actually an empty-headed teenager who acted according to her basest instincts, but instead was a young woman who acted as best she could according to her experience and was sexually manipulated by the men in her life. This book challenges the more traditional view. The book could have been shorter had you taken out the repetitiveness, as I felt it was over-stated. However, it is well-worth reading as Conor Byrne discusses a new possibility on Katherine Howard’s sexual relationships and her suitability as queen consort to Henry VIII. It’s quite interesting and if you are fascinated by the six wives of Henry VIII it is accessible and erudite to read.

General Subject/s? - Historical Biography

Recommend? – Yes

Rating - 15

[Karen Mitchell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting enough, but very repetitive, could have been half as long. Emphasises how little historical information there is on Katherine.

[DrewB161 · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Although Anne Boleyn’s admission of innocence before the Sacrament on the eve of her death has been seen as compelling evidence by historians that she was guiltless of the crimes attributed to her, Katherine’s act of doing so has not prevented them from judging her to have been guilty...’

The above statement underpins much of Conor Byrne’s treatment of Katheryn Howard. In The Slandered Queen, a slight revision of his earlier New History, Byrne argues with conviction that Katheryn has received unfair treatment in the previous assessments of her life.

Rather than a juvenile delinquent, Katheryn was a victim of misogyny and the beliefs of the modern period. Byrne repeatedly stresses that we must consider the accusations against the prevailing gender and cultural prejudices which fixated on the lust of women.

Conor Byrne argues his case well, but I remain unconvinced with regards to his view of the motivation behind the Culpepper affair and Katheryn’s age. He nevertheless casts a critical light on our double standards when viewing this young woman. Along with Gareth Russell's biography, I would recommend this text.

[Peyton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the information in this book was valuable. This book, just like Gareth Russell's Young & Damned & Fair, is a rare sympathetic view on Katheryn Howard. The book displays Katheryn as a person instead of as this air-headed girl, who only gave into her desires. It's a realistic view of Katheryn's relationships throughout her life. I think Conor Byrne's view on Katheryn's relationship with Henry Mannox and Thomas Culpepper are fairly realistic. Conor Bryne speaks of their character through contemporary descriptions. One example would be George Cavendish's comment on Thomas Culpepper, calling him brash, arrogant, and in general cruel and given the accusations against Culpepper during his lifetime Byrne's assessment suits him. He and Gareth Russell bring a new view on Katheryn and their works are very valuable.

[Ambrose Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would consider this more of a historiography than a true biography, and is occasionally a bit dry - but if you are already interested and actively reading about Katherine Howard, it is a fantastic resource. Byrne seeks to right many of the myths about Katherine, and provides alternate interpretations to many of the details we have about her through the frame of early modern gender relations, particularly the cultural beliefs and fears surrounding female sexuality. I wouldn’t recommend it as a jumping on point for learning about Katherine, because it spends a decent amount of time discussing the way past historians have depicted Katherine, but I read it shortly after reading Gareth Russell’s Young & Damned & Fair, and thought it was a great companion to that.

[NC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conor Byrne offers insightful and unique perspectives on the life of Katherine Howard. His theories are well made and supported throughout his text, as they were in his previous books ‘Queenship in England’ and ‘Katherine Howard: A New History’
I also enjoy reading his blog posts and am a follower on facebook where he reminds us of events that took place ‘on this day xxxx years ago’ All in all I would highly recommend this book and this author in general. 5 Stars, worth every penny!

[Olga Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book challenges deeply misogynistic perceptions of a young woman whose life ended in violence. A rigorous examination of Katherine’s historiography exposes stereotypes that are still deeply ingrained in popular history. Katherine’s story is told in the context of contemporary beliefs about women, sexuality, and queenship, drawing on both contemporary sources and feminist scholarship. There may have been empathetic views of Katherine previously, but Conor Byrne offers a truly unique perspective of Katherine’s feelings towards the men who brought about her downfall. This is an exceptional study, and a sorely-needed accessible feminist perspective.

[Areana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliantly written book in which the author's passion for the subject shines through. I very much enjoyed reading this and would recommend it whole heartedly to those who are seeking to learn about the much wronged Queen Katherine. A testament to historical scholarship and enthusiasm for the subject.

[Kyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed reading this and would recommend it wholeheartedly to those who are seeking to learn about the much wronged Queen Katherine.

Slightly repetitive at times (and sometimes in the same chapter), however, there is evidently no doubt about the passion the author feels for Katherine Howard and her story.

[Sue Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed and a bit repetitive in places, not easy to read but a fascinating account that looks at all angles of a young lady in Tudor England

[me · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the sympathetic approach to KH's life and the arguments are generally good ones but I found the writing quite repetitive, with the same terms and phrases popping up over and over on the same page, and the sentences themselves feel padded out to fill a book from the few sources available, many of which the author doesn't consider too reliable.

The repeated wording adds to an occasional feeling that the author is labouring the points a bit much, reminding us too often of the approach to sixteenth century gender politics and of viewing events and commentary in the context of the times.

Mixed bag, despite my four stars. Felt like it'd benefit from an edit for language rather than content, because what's being said is generally convincing and worth considering even if you're not so sure, but at times it reminded me of last-minute essays I did in undergrad without a good thesaurus and worrying about hitting the minimum wordcount.