The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katherine Parr

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The life-story of Katharine Parr, from the time she became Henry VIII’s sixth Queen until her death, reads, in many respects, more like a tale of fiction than of fact. I feel therefore that I should say to those readers who are not fully acquainted with the events of this time, that although some of the extraordinary happenings related herein may seem incredible, I have founded my story on the basic facts recorded by historians of the period. As an example: Strickland, Tytler, Speed and Fox all record as historical fact the fortuitous dropping of the all-important document and the discovery of this by Katharine’s faithful servant; yet this incident might appar to be manufactured melodrama; and indeed, but for this event, Katharine’s story would undoubtedly have had a different ending, and Henry might have been known as the husband of seven instead of six wives.

Historians, while agreeing in the main as to events, disagree widely in their estimation of character. Froude, for instance, would have us believe that Henry was a hero; yet Tytler says of him: “It may be doubted whether in the wide range of English history, there is to be found any monarch whose moral features, upon minute examination, become more harsh and repulsive than Henry VIII. Vain, capricious, profligate and tyrannical, he seems, even in the generous season of youth, to have exhibited but few indications of a better mind.”

In view of the wide differences of opinion, I feel that my estimation of character is likely to be as near the truth as others.

I wish gratefully to acknowledge the help I have had in writing this book from the following:

The National and Domestic History of England. William Hickman Smith Aubrey.

The Lives of the Queens of England. Agnes Strickland.

Henry VIII. A.F. Pollard, M.A., Litt. D.

The Political History of England (1485–1587). H.A.L. Fisher, M.A.

The Private Character of Henry VIII. Frederick Chamberlain, LL.B., F.R. Hist. S., F.R.G.S., F.R. Ast. S., F.S.A., M.R.I. of Gt. Brit.

The Wives of Henry VIII. Martin Hume.

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Ed. by Dr. A. Clarke, M.A.

British History. John Wade.

A History of Everyday Things in England. Marjorie and C.H.B. Quennell.

Henry the Eighth. Francis Hackett.

England in Tudor Times. L.F. Salzman, M.A., F.S.A.

History of England: Henry VIII. James Anthony Froude.

—J.P.