of Wales and would have been educated accordingly. In his will, dated 14 October 1496, Jasper Tudor left his lands and wealth to Henry, to give some independence to the future king’s younger brother; the will specifically mentions that if Henry became Prince of Wales, the estate was to go to Henry VII, Jasper’s nephew, instead.
In 1494, John Skelton, an academic and poet, became tutor to Prince Arthur and later to Henry. Skelton was a notable Latin scholar, a skill much appreciated by Henry VII; he wanted the Prince to learn Latin as this was the language of kings, in which most communications were made. Henry VII himself had little Latin, and regretted it as this put him at a disadvantage in international circles.
By 1502, Skelton gave his services exclusively to Prince Henry. Delighted at the rank of his pupil, Skelton wrote in praise of his charge:
‘There grows from the red-rose bush a fair-flowering shoot, a delightful small new Rose, worthy of its stock, a noble Henry born of famous line, a boy noble in the nobility of his father; and furthermore a brilliant pupil, worthy to be sung as such …’7
Skelton taught Henry Latin grammar, rhetoric and logic; he further introduced arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music and theology into the curriculum. Skelton wanted learning to be enjoyable, so he let Henry read the Latin poets and historians. Lessons were taught in English, rather than French or Latin, so that Henry would be fluent in his native language. Skelton may also have mentioned to Henry his own ideas about how abuses in the Church and the State needed to be removed, whilst the actual Church and State were protected.
Skelton was with Henry for a greater part of the day. Up for matins at 6 a.m., followed by breakfast, Henry would have had classes all morning and into the afternoon, breaking only to eat at 10 or 11 a.m. He then took part in sporting activities until evensong and his next meal at 4 p.m. After this would be entertainment until bed at 8 or 9 p.m.
Lord Mountjoy was taken into Henry’s household as his companion, mentor and role model. Thirteen years older than Henry, Mountjoy’s job was to teach him to behave like a gentleman. Mountjoy’s grandmother was Anne neville, sister of Cicely who married Richard, Duke of York in 1438, the parents of Edward IV. Mountjoy was an ideal role model in many ways – elegant, handsome, serious, sensible, beautifully mannered, intelligent and good at sports and games. He had studied at Queens’ College, Cambridge and was a patron of the Dutch writer, philosopher and humanist, Desiderius Erasmus (1466?–1536). Mountjoy also liked women, marrying four times (the first time when Henry was six). Henry would have observed his mentor enter cheerfully into matrimony and would have learned a little about love and respect.
Skelton tried to teach Henry that his head should rule his heart and that he should not give way to passions, emotional or sexual. In 1501 Skelton wrote Speculum Principis (A Mirror for Princes), a textbook for young Henry with such aphorisms as, ‘Choose a wife for yourself. Prize her always and uniquely.’8 Skelton’s writings may also have informed Henry’s view that certain women were not to be respected – women who betrayed their husbands or lovers. In ‘Womanhood, Wanton, Ye Want’, comparing a woman’s chastity to a locked door, Skelton wrote:
Your key is meet for every lock,
Your key is common and hangeth out;
Your key is ready, we need not knock,
Not stand long resting there about;
Of your doorgate we have no doubt … 9
This philosophy is reflected in Henry’s attitude to several of his mistresses. They are the ‘wantons’ – ladies who betray their marriage vows, even with the King. They may be loved, but they can be left without feelings of guilt, as they are unworthy of his respect. The long-term mistresses may be found husbands, but they are faithful to the King; the husband is mere window dressing. They are worthy of respect as long as the King is their sole lover. Only when he was young and finding his feet did Henry take mistresses who had enjoyed previous relationships, Anne Hastings with Sir William Compton and Jane Popincourt with the duc de Longueville. In later years, Henry made a great fuss of demanding that his wives should be virgins when they came to the marriage bed.
The year before Henry’s birth, Prince Arthur, then aged two, was betrothed to Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, the rulers of Spain. The Spanish were constructing an alliance against the menace of France by marrying their children into the royal houses of England, Portugal and the Holy Roman Empire (based on Austria and the netherlands). Ferdinand and Isabella, however, were unwilling to send their daughter to England while there were questions as to the strength of the Tudors’ hold on the throne. In March 1500, after King Henry had executed a couple of Pretenders, along with the imprisoned, unfortunate Earl of Warwick who had a strong claim to the throne, the Spanish signed a treaty of alliance and said that Catherine would be in England in May (in fact she did not arrive until the following year). England was now safe. Even the young Prince could learn the lesson that a dead enemy is no threat.
When Catherine of Aragon arrived in October 1501, the Royal Family was at Richmond Palace. Henry VII waited until she was at Dogmersfield, where he went to meet her. Prince Arthur came to meet them from Ludlow. The Princess was then taken to Lambeth Palace in London and Prince Arthur went to the King’s Wardrobe, a royal residence near St Paul’s Cathedral. It had been decided that the 10-year-old Henry would escort Catherine into the City of London two days before her wedding, so she could see the pageants and tableaux set up in honour of the marriage on her way to the Bishop’s Palace, where she would stay until the wedding. All the displays praised Arthur’s regal manliness and emphasised Catherine’s role as the future mother of kings.
Henry also led the bride to church, and after the marriage returned Catherine to the Bishop’s Palace for the banquet. After the feast, came the much disputed wedding night. Arthur contended that his marriage had been consummated. The morning after, he called ostentatiously for wine: He is reputed to have said, ‘I have this night been in the midst of Spain, which is a hot region, and that journey maketh me so dry.’10 This was later denied by Catherine. She maintained, when the question arose, that Arthur had wanted to appear more healthy and manly before his friends and servants. She said that she was sexually ‘as intact as when I emerged from my mother’s womb.’11
As regards Henry’s marriage, there appears to have been one tentative suggestion that he might marry Eleanor, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian, whose grandson Charles was promised to Henry’s sister, Mary. Was this to reduce the number of heirs and claimants to the throne and to keep Henry from having a son for whom he might grow too ambitious? If Prince Henry did marry, it should certainly be to a lady who had no aspirations to the English throne through her own family or to a foreign princess who needed a resident prince consort to dwell abroad.
Shortly after Arthur and Catherine’s wedding, Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, the son of Edward IV’s sister Elizabeth and a claimant to the throne, who had returned to England under the King’s promise of safety, again fled to France, taking his brother Richard with him. Driven by suspicion, Henry VII took immediate action against all those remaining who had any claim to the throne. In March 1502, William Courtenay (husband of Queen Elizabeth’s sister Katherine), William de la Pole (brother of Edmund and Richard) and James Tyrrell (Governor of Guisnes, near Calais), who had received Edmund de la Pole when he fled in 1499, were all imprisoned in the Tower of London. William Courtenay was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death, but was merely imprisoned until Henry VII’s death, when Henry VIII released him. William de la Pole stayed in prison for 38 years, and died there. JamesTyrrell was executed in May 1502, having supposedly confessed, almost 20 years after the event, that he had arranged the murders of Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, the Princes in the Tower, under orders from Richard III.
On a happier note, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York were delighted with their son’s bride. Catherine of Aragon was pretty and mature beyond her years, only a year older than her husband. She had been brought up to play the part of the Princess of Wales and later Queen of England. She was