Katherine of England (
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
: ''Katerine''; 25 November 1253 – 3 May 1257) was the fifth child of
Henry III and his wife,
Eleanor of Provence
Eleanor of Provence (c. 1223 – 24/25 June 1291) was a French noblewoman who became Queen of England as the wife of King Henry III from 1236 until his death in 1272. She served as regent of England during the absence of her spouse in 1253.
...
. According to 13th-century chronicler
Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris ( la, Matthæus Parisiensis, lit=Matthew the Parisian; c. 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey i ...
, when Katherine died she was
deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
and may have had an
intellectual disability
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signifi ...
, though it is unclear whether this is true. Some modern historians have theorised that Katherine alternately may have had a degenerative disease or a childhood illness; historians disagree on what disease or disability she may have had, or if she had one at all.
She died when she was three years old. Her parents "celebrated her birth and commemorated her in death."
Birth
Katherine was born early in the morning at Westminster Palace, Westminster, London. She was christened by the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is J ...
,
Boniface of Savoy, Katherine's maternal great-granduncle, who also stood as her godfather. She received the name ''Katherine'' because she was born on the
feast
A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...
of Saint
Catherine of Alexandria
Catherine of Alexandria (also spelled Katherine); grc-gre, ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς ; ar, سانت كاترين; la, Catharina Alexandrina). is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, w ...
. A few days after her christening, on the day of Saint
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.
Edward was the son of Æth ...
's death, 5 January 1254, the king held a massive banquet, to which he invited all the nobility, including Emma le Despencer and her son, John. The provisions for this banquet included "fourteen wild boars, twenty-four swans, one hundred and thirty-five rabbits, two hundred and fifty partridges, fifty hares, two hundred and fifty wild ducks, sixteen hundred and fifty fowls, thirty-six female geese and sixty-one thousand eggs".
Life
Soon after the banquet, the queen had to leave England and join her husband in
Gascony
Gascony (; french: Gascogne ; oc, Gasconha ; eu, Gaskoinia) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part o ...
, leaving the infant Katherine at
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original ...
. The aforementioned Emma le Despencer was appointed governess
and her aides were two
wet nurse
A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, or if she is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cu ...
s, Agnes and Avisa. The next year, the king and queen returned and the king ordered "gold clothes, with borders embroidered with the king's coat of arms", on 2 May 1255 for Katherine.
Death
In the autumn of 1254, Katherine became gravely ill and was sent to Emma le Despencer's house in
Swallowfield
Swallowfield is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England, about south of Reading, and north of the county boundary with Hampshire.
Geography
The civil parish of Swallowfield also includes the nearby villages of Riseley and Farley ...
.
She had few companions of her own age so the king sent one of his men into
Windsor Great Park
Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of , including a deer park, to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park was, for man ...
to capture a roe deer for his daughter to play with. The change seemed to benefit the sickly princess, and she was brought back to Windsor around or before February 1256. But, she had a relapse in late 1256. By the king's command, a report of her condition was sent to him by a special messenger during his expedition to France and when he heard of her convalescence he ordered that a "silver image made after the likeness of a woman" should be placed in Westminster Abbey as a votive offering, and the bearer of the news was given "a good robe". Katherine died on . After her death, chronicler
Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris ( la, Matthæus Parisiensis, lit=Matthew the Parisian; c. 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey i ...
described her as "the most beautiful girl, but mute and useless", which has raised the question of whether she had a disability throughout her life.
Burial and legacy
Katherine was buried in the ambulatory in Westminster Abbey, in the space between the chapels of King Edward and St. Benet, close to the tomb of her uncle
William de Valence. A splendid monument was raised to her memory by the king, rich with serpentine and mosaics, and surmounted by a silver image of his child.
The Hermit of Charing was paid fifty shillings a year as long as he lived, that he might support a chaplain to pray daily at the Chapel of the Hermitage for the soul of Katherine; this was "a common aspect of Henry's commemoration of his deceased relatives".
After the deaths of Katherine and her brothers, both Henry and Eleanor were heartbroken, the queen becoming sick with grief. They did not have any further children. Their youngest child, Henry, died later that year.
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katherine, of England
1253 births
1257 deaths
13th-century English people
13th-century English women
English princesses
House of Plantagenet
Deaf royalty and nobility
Deaf people from England
Children of Henry III of England
Burials at Westminster Abbey
Royalty who died as children
Daughters of kings